Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-17

Mems Christian Associations. He was sec
rotary of the second convention at Cincin
natl, in 1855, and appointed on the central
committee; also elected foreign secretary
of the confederated associations and local
secretary for Maryland, District of Column
bia, Delaware and Virginia. In 1856 he was
secretary of the third convention Of the Y.
NJ. c. A. at Montreal and member of the
central committee. In 1S59-60 he was a
member and secretary of the committee of
the Washington city Y. NJ. G. A. to prepare
and publish volume of sermons, entitled
1.-THE Union Pulpit by representative
clergymen in the country, the expense of
which was born by a Mr.. w. T. Smithson,
a member of the association. In 1859 he
was secretary of the Troy convention, Y.
M. c. A.; in 1860 reappointed on central
committee and secretary Of the sixth dis
trict.
In 1861 he was chairman of the commit
tee of the Y. NJ. c. A. to distribute religious
and secular literature to the soldiers ar
irving in Washington or vicinity, and Sc
cured the use of a large room in the gen.
eral Post Office Department, where the
business Of receiving and distributing the
books, tracts, stationery, ETC., was carried
on.
In 1864 Mr.. Rhees was vice president of
the Boston convention of Y M C. A. and
elected on the executive committee. In 1853
Mr.. Rhees was appointed chief clerk Of the
Smithsonian Institution, and private sec
rotary to Professor Joseph Henry, which
position he held until the latter's death.
He continued as chief clerk under Pro-
fessor Baird, and under a special act of
Congress and appointment by Chief JUS
tice Waite was acting secretary of the insti-
tuition when Professor Baird was absent.
In 1865 a fire at the Smithsonian Institu-
ton destroyed a large collection of Y. NJ C.
A. documents which Mr.. Rhees had made,
and fearing another loss of this kind he
deposited nearly all the material he then
had in his possession, including large
number Of documents sent him by Richard
G. Mccormick of New York, afterward a
member of Congress from New York. in the
Library of Congress, where they are now
permanently preserved.
In 1890 Mr.. Rhees presented his letter
books. ION association business and many pa
pers to the historical library of the Y. M. c.
A. at Springfield, Mass, and he prepared a
special collection of interesting and valu-
Bile material for the exhibit of the Washing
ton Y NJ c. A. at the Boston jubilee in
June, 1901.
William Chauncey Langdon.
William Chauncey Langdon was born in
Burlington, VT, August 10, 1881. He was
very bright boy and invented a game of
''kings and queens" to be played in the
same way as the popular game known as
authors" He made a tour of the coun-
try selling his cards with success, and was
versity, where he was graduated at the age
of nineteen. Having given special atten-
ton to astronomy he delivered number Of
popular lectures in the west and secured
appointment as adjunct professor of as
tronomy and chemistry in Shelby College,
Kentucky, in the year 1850.
In May, 1851 he was appointed an assist
ant examiner in the United States patent
office and was later chief examiner.
While employed in the patent Office in
June, 1852, he became interested in the
formation Of young Mems Christian Asso-
citation and entered with unbounded enthu-
siasm into the work He was elected the
first corresponding secretary of the Wash
ington association at it's organization, June
T. 1852.
In 1857 he went to Europe to take part in
organizing international arrangements with
the associations Of England and other Eu-
ropean countries.
Mr.. Langdon entered the ministry in
1858. He served for a year as assistant
phia, and in the autumn Of that year
went abroad While absent he became
deeply interested in the promotion of Pro-
testant Christianity in Italy and founded
serving as the first rector. Returning to
the United States, he was rector Of St.
Johns Church, Havre de Grace, Md, from
1862 to 1863.
In the general Episcopal convention of
1855 Mr.. Langdon brought forward the
subject of Italian Catholic reform and was
appointed a member of a committee and
sent to Italy in this behalf in January,
1867. While abroad he made an extensive
visit to Florence, where he remained until
1873, acting as the agent and instrument Of
intercourse between the bishops and clergy
of the Church of England and of the Amer
lean church and those members of the
Latin churches that were inclined to re-
form. He was present at the old Catholic
congress in 1872 in Cologne. and also at
several subsequent congresses
He founded a church in Geneva, Switzer-
land, in 1873, and was in charge until 1875,
when he returned to the United States and
accepted the rectorship of Christ Church,
Cambridge, Mass. in 1876. but toward the
close of the second year Of his work there,
his health being greatly broken, he re-
signed and retired from the active ministry.
In 1888 he became rector Of st. James
Church. Bedford, Pa, where he resided
until 1890. when he removed to Providence,
r. l. His death occurred October 2S 1895,
at the age of sixty-four.
He was prolific writer, fluent and elo:
quent speaker and an earnest worker.
Some Of his published works are: Some
Account of the Catholic Reform Movement
in the italian Church. London, 1868; ..The
Defects of Our Practical Catnolicity," New
York. 1871: plain Papers for Parish Priests
and People," 1S80-S3; Conflict Of Practice
and Principle in the American Church
Polity," Cambridge, 1882.