Omaha daily bee., 1902-05-11
THE ILLUSTRATED BEE.
Contribution Plates

The contribution plate Of the present
day." said a maker of and dealer in church
furniture and equipment, quoted by the
New York Sun, lis made of wood. of oak
or of walnut, in the greater number OF
oak, and it is made twice as deep as the
old-style metal plate in order to give am
pie room for contributions in envelopes
There are now many churches that are run
on the envelope system. These plates of
wood cost SO to $25 each.
THE plate sold at SO is perfectly plain.
but of a graceful design, made of selected
wood and finely finished. Covering the bot
tom of the depression In the plate is a
disk of velvet, stamped with an ecclesiasti-
cal design. The ~costlier plates Of wood are
more deliberately finished, some having
scripture texts carved around upon the
surface Of the rim and some being carved
also with designs Of a decorative character.
But even the simplest of these plates is
beautiful, as a plate of such material,
handsomely polished, could not fail to be.
In old times there was used in some
country churches for the collection Of con-
tributions a continuance consisting of a
close-meshed net with a handle three or
four feet long-something not unlike a
small crab net. The netting was made
'''N ~ AAaN Nblho Ouluu l kO
through it. The handle, of course. was to
enable the person taking up the collection
to reach with the net to the remotest per-
son in the pew. Such contribution nets as
these, lined with velvet, are still in use to
a considerable extent in England. 1t
might be that you would find some still in
this country.
Another form of contribution receptacle
which once had vogue was the contribution
box, made of oak or mahogany or black
walnut, and consisting of an oblong, velvet
lined box, about eight by five by two
inches in dimensions, having attached a han
die about three feet in length, the person
carrying it being enabled by means Of this
handle to reach to the inner end of the
pew. This handle always made the con-
trlbutlon box rather an awkward thing
to manipulate, to get one in and out of a
pew in a graceful and dignifed manner
calling for the exercise OF some care and
skill; but the chief objections to it was
its liability to upset when partly filled with
coin. You couldn't very we'll upset a net.
but you easily could a shallow box thus
weighted and carried at the end of a handle
Of that length.
"All of this time, in the old days, there
was widely used a contribution plate Of
some sort, often called the penny plate.
because In those days there were many
pennies dropped into it, the penny plate
being practically like a pie plate as to
form and dimensions.
This kind OF contribution plate was, in
fact, in some form, long a standard thing.
Many OF these contribution plates were of
plated ware and some were Of silver; there
were plates hat were both handsome and
costly, and they came in time to put vel
vet coverings on the bottom of the plates
to break the sound Of the first coin dropped
into 1t, these velvet pads incidentally i'm
proving the appearance of the plates as
well. In some form the metal contribution
plate was long the standard article for this
purpose, and for that matter there are
churches still using silver plates for taking
up the contributions.
"a comparatively modern variation OF thu
plate, used for reasons of economy, is the
contribution basket, consisting of a sew
ing basket of suitable dimensions lined with
silk. Contribution baskets Of this sort will
still be found in use. But the thing Of the
day for taking the collection, which has
wholly or in great measure displaced all
others and which at the same time Is the
most digni1ed, slightly and convenient thing
yet devised for its purpose is the contribu.
ton plate OF wood"