Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-20
special Cablegram to The Star.

special Cablegram to The Star.
LONDON, December 19.-Church res
toration has reached its climax during
the present year in the United Kingdom.
Ivy-grown ruins that were pointed out
as dating back to the days before the
most famous Of the King Henry line and
were only a heap Of irregularly piled
stones, with hero and there the merest
outline of the glorious church building.
have been denuded OF their leafy cover
ing and with the aid OF the best archi-
tects have given place to structures that
differ little from the original and then
only in minor points.
Several million dollars will hardly cove.
what has been and will be done before
the work Of restoration is completed
Glastonbury and Hexham abbeys are bu!
| two Of the greatest feats Of the mason
and the decorator in working out the de-
signs of the architect and the ecclesiolo-
gist.
London alone seems to have escaped
The majority Of the city churches have
remained untouched. There are the re-
mains of medieval times, the gradations
from Norman to early English types, the
decorated and perpendicular denoting the
period of the English Gothic and Wren
period following the great fire and then
the Hanoverian. which comes up to the
present day.
The fact is that there are so many
trouble enough keeping up their work
without talking of making any changes.
The superabundance rises from the move
ment OF the population. When the greater
part of the churches were built London
proper had six times Its present number
Of residents. 1t was place Of converts
and churches. 1t became one Of residences
and then passed on to collection of
warehouses, 1t is depopulated on Sun
day. Tooley street Is typical of many
other portions OF the metropolis.
On this bustling thoroughfare weekdays
there are heavy-laden vehicles passing
back and forth from the wharves. There
are thousands OF persons croWdlng Its
sidewalks. On the Sabbath the Offices and
warehouses are deserted except for the
caretakers. Then St. Olave's Church is
opened and the congregation is not as
numerous as the watchmen. One morning
there were six men, four women and
forty-five children in its pews; In the
evening of the same day six men. six
women and twenty-five children, a total
for the day OF eighty-nine. The church
seats 053 persons and the crown is the
patron OF the living, which is valued at
about s., 400.
X
Over in the Chelsea section Of the city
is another church rich in memories that
will probably pass much as st. Olave's Is
doing. Four hundred years Of memory
are crowded into the old Chelsea Church,
where the late Rev. r. II. Davies min
istered to small flock for so many years
that he came to know all the trials and
tribulations of every one Of them. When
he died all the little shops in Church
street and that part Of Cheyne walk which
struggles past the old church were shut
tered. He was almost as we'll known a
monument of Chelsea as the church itself.
or it's sun dial on which appears ut vita.
finis tia" motto that might have been
accepted without fear by the old pastor.
The church stands almost on the pave
ment, and neither its tower nor the body
CT the church nor its huddled graveyard
look as IL they had much to do with each
other. hundred years slipped away as
the visitor pushed open the baize door.
stepped into the aisle and stood in the
shadow of one Of the irregularly placed
pillars. Some pews had red curtains on a
brass rail-, some reu cushions and great
hlssocks. so that when kneeling the wor-
shipper was as high the bookrest.
Through diamond-paned windows sunlight
streamed to light up the old parishioners
and make clear the lettering on the old
monuments. In just the same way the
light poured in and the Thames murmured
beside the church when Sir Thomas Moore
and his daughter Margaret knelt here to
pray. Margaret Roper sat there wife
and mother after her fathers death. but
did not long survive him. 1t Is said she
buried the body of Sir Thomas in the cid
church, and certain 1T is that an epitaph
Is cut deeply on one of the monuments,
but no one knows where the body rests.
Old Chelsea Church has preserved I'M
broken the serenity OF its ancient years,
as it's chained Bible shows and those
can testify who saw the aged minister
read the lesson through a huge magnify
Ing glass and listened to the long doc
trinal sermon that followed.
Whitechapel Parish Church is another
waymark of the old city. The present
handsome edifice replaced the white
chapel of Stehonheath and was erected
some thirty years agO at enormous cost
by q brewer. In the old church in the
days of Queen Anne a certain tory rector
wished to be revenged upon White Ken
net. the whig pamphleteer. who had re-
ceived the deanery of Peterborough as
reward for his political apostasy. The
rector therefore set up an altar piece OF
the last supper in which Kennel, wear
ing full canoncals. was depicted as Judas
Iscariot All London Hooked to laugh at
1t, until finally the bishop interfered and
Kennels portrait disappeared.
x
The creatures Of Henry VIII and