The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-11-11
NESTOR'S VISITS TO CHURCHES IN
WORCESTER SIXTY YEARS AGO

lighted to honor,-and upon women, the
very elite OF Worcester society. Had
he known this he would have been
abashed at his temerity.
The pulpit was a matter of curiosi-
ty to the boy. He was not much ac-
quainted with pulpits, but this diff
fered from any he had seen in Wor-
cester for that matter. and "Nestor"
has never seen one like 1t anywhere
else. From the gallery one could look
down into it as into the end of a square
box; it was a double decker and like
a box all the way down. There were
no visible stairs as he had seen con-
nected with all the others, and how 1T
could be entered was a mystery .upon
which the boy was bordering, when
he saw two men in gowns seemingly
rising up from the back floor of the
enclosure. An old man, somewhat fee
bic, whom he afterwards learned was
DR.. Bancroft, and a man in the prime
and vigor of life, his colleague, DR.. Hill,
came to the trent and the service be-
gan. The old man preached with an
earnest manner but memory does not
recall a sentence, to 'NestorS" great
regret, because it proved to be, if rec
objection is correct, the last sermon Dr.
Bancroft ever preached to his people.
"Nestor" cannot fix the date, nor
REMEMBER WuelHSI lie SeINiCS w do OIL
ordinary or a special occasion. 1t was
early in 1889. 1t may have been New
Years or the anniversary of the doc
tors settlement (about February ID, or
it may have been Fast Day. 1t would
seem that it was something out of the
common that called the aged pastor
to this unexpectedly last conference
with his people.
Dr. Bancroft was accustomed to pray
with his eyes wide open, and this in
novation on the ordinary ways Of cler-
gymen addressed itself to the outer
eve of "Nestor," who was there ito
see things" and permanently fixed his
personality upon his memory. And as
this was "Nestor's" first visit to the
Unitarian Church, and the first ana
only time he saw Dr. Bancroft While
living, the visit is a marked occasion
in his memory
few months after the body of the
aged pastor was borne into the church
he had SO long graced by his life and
words, the walls of which were heavily
draped with the emblems of mourning,
to the sweet and solemn strains OF the
old organ, for the last time, to wait at
the altar where he had so long min
istered, while the eulogy was spoken,
the prayer offered and the goodbye
look of his people given. Then 1t was
tenderly borne away with the old or
CAMS friendly farewell, to rest in the
arms of the universal mother in the
midst of the old friends who had gone
that way before him.
In "Nestor's" home there had been
few books but the few were good ones
Among them was THE Life of Wash
ington," which was a favorite with the
boy. and which he read through and
through and through and with renewed
interest at every reading. He did not
then know how to comprehend the fas-
cinating power of a scholarly simplicity
in language, every word of which he
could understand. Then he could al
most repeat narrative word for word.
Now, after three score Of added years,
it's incidents are very clear in memory
About the author there was not much
thought only that he was some great
and good man whose personality was
hidden in the shadows of the greater
life about which he wrote. 1t was some
years before the comprehension came
TO "Nestor' that the clergyman who
prayed with his eyes wide open, and
the writer of 1.-THE Life of Washington"
were one and the same person. Small
lev. in his Worcester Pulpit" abiding
to this popularity of DR.. Bancroft in
praying, says that an inmate of the
County House where the doctor occa-
sionaIly held service, said he liked that
way. at looked so social" Had it not
been for this popularity which adj
dressed itself to the outer senses of the
how who was there to ''see things" it,
is likely the aged preacher would have
been lost to memory as though he
had never been seen, just as 'Nestor."
in his long life, has seen, heard and
forgotten scores of clergymen who had
crossed his transient vision. The les
son to be drawn from this is that Pc
culiarities sometimes have their uses.
'Nestor'' has been led to question
whether in the actual politics of the
Revolutionary War DIR. Bancroft was
not in feeling a neutral, although as a
Harvard student he shouldered a gun,
and. in company with his classmates,
did military service in the siege OF
Boston during vacation. He certainly
did not go away with the army, but
returned to his studies, which he pur-
sued until graduation.
In a history of Yarmouth, n. s., pub
nshed a few years since, and sent to
.Nestor'' by friend who occupies a
life-seat in what is practically the
House of Lords of that province, among
the pastors of the ChebOgue Church
in that town. he finds the name of
Aaron Bancroft in 1880 So it seems
that in the midst of the great struggle
he took a pastorship in the enemy's
country. where he remained for three
years, until peace was declared, when
he resigned and hurried home.