Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-16
SAVING "CLD SOUTH" CHURCH.
The Debt Which the Country Owes to
Mrs. Hemenwav.
j. L. Harbour in St. Nicholas Magazine.

]. L. Harbour in ST. Nicholas Magazine
The ground on which the "Old South"
stands was the dwelling place OF Gov Win
throp. Benjamin Franklin was baptized in
this meeting house The voices of Adams
and Hancock and Warren and WASHINGTON
have been heard within its walls You will
see, back of the pulpit platform and below
the quaint old sounding-board, the very
window through which Gen. Joseph Warren
came to deliver his famous grafton on the
anniversary of the Boston massacre be-
cause the crowd in and around the church
was 80 great that he could not enter by
the door.
In this church were held some of the
great meetings leading up to the famous
Boston tea party. Indeed. 1t was from
this sanctuary of freedom" as 1t has been
called, that the band of men disguised as
Indians started for the wharf to board the
ships and throw overheard the taxed tea
that had created such turmoil In Boston.
II you should follow the exact route taken
by that band of "Mohawks' on that event.
ful december day in the year l773 you
would finally reach a modern building on
me site OF Grifiin's wharf, at which lay
moored on December 49, 1878, the three
British ships with cargoes of tea This
house bears a tablet concentrating the
famous Boston tea party which threw
the cargoes into the sea
Did you ever hear the story OF how tha
"Old South" was "saved"2 Reverence for
historic landmarks did not run so high
thirty or forty years ago as 1t does today
and In our centennial year Of 1876 it was
proposed to sell the "Old South simplv
for the value of Its bricks and timbers, and
tear 1t down that a modern business block
might be built on It's site. Indeed II was
knocked down" at auction TO a bid
der for the meager sum of 81 315i
suddenly a wave of patriotic feeling
swept over the city of Boston The papers
and some OF the people began to protest
against the tearing down Of the old sane
tuary of freedom, and q movement was
set on foot to raise funds to buy the church
from its purchaser and to buy also the
ground on which Il stood. This good plan
might never have succeeded had 1t not
been for one noble and loyal woman In
Boston, Mrs. Mary Hemenway of hallowed
memory. When the difficulty of securing
FUNDS for the purchase of the old meeting
mousse became known to her she came for
ward with gift of 800 600 and thus the
old meeting house was saved. to stand ss
an object lesson to the children Of future
generations.
Having given such large sum to help
save the ''Old South" meeting house Mrs
Hemenway felt that 1t should be something
more than q mere silent monument She
determined that 1t should be a real living
force In our country, and particularly 10
the children of Boston She determined
that 1t should renew and increase its fame,
as temple of freedom and that its sacred
walls should again echo and re-echo to the
sound of patriotic utterances and that
some OF these utterances should come from
the lips of the boys and girls of Boston:
and thus the "Old South lecture course
and the ''Old South" prizes were estab-
lished. Each year prize of $40 and anoth-
er OF S25 are given to the graduates Of tho
Boston high schools who write the best es-
says on historic patriotic topics Tho
committee having this work in charge an
nounce the subjects in June. just before tho
schools close, and the competitors must
submit their essays the following January.
Then Washington's birthday there Is q
patriotic gathering of the school children
of Boston In the old meeting house and the
names of the prize winners are announced.