The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1910-10-19
PARSONAGE ONCE
CHURCH GALLERY
Old New York EdifiCe Solves
Economy Problem.
BIBLE SILENCED DIRECTORS.


Eight Room Flat Only Inconvenience
to Butchers Boy, Who Has to Climb.
In Greenwich village, the quaintest
section of New York city. there is
little red brick church. Upon the
broad stone steps Of the church is
generally a group of children with
their playthlngs. Not infrequently.
just inside the doors of the church. is
another pile of toys. roller skates and
perhaps cushions for use upon the
stone steps.
Occasionally grocer's boy or a
butchers boy approaches the steps of
the church. but he does not pass by.
Instead he enters the front doors and
ascends by stairway to the east that
usually in churches leads to the gal
lery.
And then the secret is out. The
home of the children and Of their
parents as well is in the church. To
the Rev. Ezra T. Sanford. pastor of
the North Baptist church. belongs the
credit for this solution of one of the
problems of the downtown churches
whose finances are necessarily re-
stricted by the movement of popula-
ton from the old residence districts.
Converted Gallery Into Home.
Pastor Sanford surveyed the large
gallery of the church auditorium prop
err and decided it was too much TO ex
pect in a downtown church that II
would ever be filed by the congrega-
ton So he cut the gallery in two and
moved the rear wall forward eighteen
feet This gave him space running
for seventy-tve feet across the front of
the church and eighteen feet deep. In
this he built an eight room apartment.
where he now lives with his wife.
three children and two young relatives
of Mrs. Sanford.
81 think ! have china closet tina
is unique among the china closets o.
women" said Mrs. Sanford when !
cannot go to church and am lonely
go into the dining room and hear my
husband preaching through the chine
closet. and that is company for me.
On the level of the gallery in the
Sanford apartment are Kitchen. bath.
dining room. two large bedrooms and
two living rooms. A stairway leads to
the former attic Of the church and the
bell tower In the attic Pastor San
ford has built two large bedrooms. one
for his son. now n sophomore in Cor
nell. and one for his daughter Ruth
One drawback which Mrs. Sanford,
who is a practical housekeeper, finds
with her church apartment is that.
unlike her neighbors on the opposite
side of the street. she has no dumb
waiter. Grocers and butchers must
tramp through the main door of the
church and up the two flights of gal
lery stairs with her supplies
when | wanted to have this apart
ment built" said Mr. Sanford. there
was considerable opposition in the
church. They seemed to think it was
beneath the dignity of church to
have living rooms for its pastor in it.
Quoted Words of Jesus.
"But | quoted to them the words of
Jesus when he fed the multitude on
the loaves and fishes, Gather up the
fragments; let nothing be lost And
pointed out to them that here in the
midst Of downtown New York was a
church that needed conservation If 1t
were to endure.
But some of them were still OBJ
durate. Then l showed them a new
reading for an old text
"In my Fathers house are many
apartments l said to them. They
thought / was soothing and said that
Jesus hadn't meant to build flats In a
church. l answered them that in the
temple at Jerusalem there were many
little apartments for the priests and
rabbis and that Christ had been re-
ferring to the temple, and Of course
by analogy to heaven, when he said
that there were many mansions Tor as
1t may be translated, apartments) in
his Fathers house. After that there
was no more trouble"
A year ago little Anna had measles.
Then came a problem for the health
authorities. At one time 1t was
thought that the whole church would
be quarantined and services ended for
time, but when 1t was realized that
the church apartment could be COM
pletely isolated from the church proper
only the apartment was quarantined.