New-York tribune., 1903-03-08
LAST DAYS OF ST. AMBRosE's.
Soma Of It's Yicissitudes.

Feel? How do ] feel? Why, how would anyoooy
feel with his occupation gone and the assoclA-
tlons Of half lifetime snapped" said Herbert d
Steele when last night In his little nome oii
CharIton-st 81 wish l could wipe the rest OF me
Sundays out of my life. Last Sunday ana To-
morrow these are the first in twenty-eisht years
l.at have not been in my place at the keyooaru'
Mr. Steele has been organIst for that length Oh
time at the Church of st. Ambrose. Prince and
Thomson sts which is TO be torn down IN ApTh
to make room for a ten story tenement mouse
Twenty-four rectors have come and gone Iurlhs
my twcnty-eight years service, continued MT
Steele nineteen of them during the last fourteen
years but l. like the brook have gone on forever
Neyy-Yerk won't be the same place without tnat
old gray pile of stone and mortar
Had its ups and downs. though? Well shouiu
say so. In the way of yictssttudes oIo SI- Am
brose's tips the balance. Why, 1t seems 10 me e
seen everything there but free hght. Anu oliee -
came mighty near that, when some OF the cohsre-
cation accused rector Of packing the ballot al
a vestry meeting. They said he brought HleHus
from Jersey and The Bronx to gain MS point
Some say the English left i'll luck with IT. Ihe
ste was originally that of fort. you know cur
ing British occupation, and afterward USED Dy our
own soldiers as a garrison. You can see where the
cellar walls are all stoutly buttressed. Tnousahos
of pounds of gunpowder have been stored there al
cne time The story got about once that some nao
been discovered, and great hue ana cry was
raised about the janit0r carrying lighted canoIes
dou,n there when he went for coal. But ST. Am
broses was destined to go down, not up II seems"
AFTER the war closed? oh, yes, 1t was then useu
for government stores and by the city TIL the Pres
byterians got hold of it, in 1915. and made cnurJ @
Of IL But in 1889. hopelessly bankrupt tney Sr SO
out to the Episcopalans Ola 81 u on sc.bo 9ei
oF ease or overflow mission, as we say nov. =
carries st the old stone cross that 81 InOlaS ~
longer needed when the church n moye9 @ nR Rapel ne Or
present Site in Fifth-ave Then II was GLapTI 2p "
ease 10 the Church of the Annunciatlon IN Ta
teentE-st., and for some years iInily ton
heen maintaining German mission eOnS'
"Poor old St Ambrose's! II has never known tne
neaceful Individual existence which otheF cnurSnSS
pPn{o, Al one time though 1t used to be croWoeu'
long row Of coaches stood before ls I 193as oTa
service ard many of the citys ol1 TaInlLIss dora9
TTS5nSsTbiIt and Gerry General Barnard. r. Fulton
Cutting and A. T. Stewart, whose nome was tl aTt
in Suvan-st. But Of late years tne GhVir mas StsT
numbered the congregation. which nave otI5. i5t
oay es Savv az six or seven The last SUNDAY nlgnI
ServIce though there were more than Two nun nun
dred and nifty, mos OF whom hao Deeu pII'ai
Use and many OF Them had been at least casuaI
Attendants for upward of forty years. . san.
mo we didn't have much OF a service Tc.t "a
5res9ee Lyare made but we closed the regular ser
vices early to give the people chance 70 I
is was more like family reunion arnlnd ana there
tiiI lonq after 10 o'clock Incidentally, there mas
been no clock in the church for the last nVG 10
and never within my Teconec90n 90eTStitfoTs CSitI Well
goTns peouIe felt so-sald judgment oty was III! tE
ever hanging the place But my @ tT.re
- vibration caused by the heavy trucks IS enough
tn ruin any timepiece ever maze. An ue nS az
and stovepipes sagged on accouuI QI ,L. az. now
u-ooduy0rk of the gallery was bent IKE a o0N:
BIT fhe funny thing about the clocks was tnat
they all stopped r. Wind ana WatCn III IIIehI h
ne might sooner later every one OF lneL1 nGL
IN jts hands on the meridian. AND iast SUNDAY
morning the small iron safe IN MnlGn tnS | I'm N
munion service is kept turned coHlPiet0Iy " ~