Putnam patriot., 1916-07-07
COMMUNION SET
Pewter Service Made in I'll Restored
 to Woodstock Congregational Church
Interesting Service. Presentation Made
 hy Miss Agnes Bowen

 an unusual and interesting feature in the restoration to the church by Miss Agnes Bowen of Pleasant Valley a very valuable pewter communion set origi- nGlly presented to the church l75 years ago. Miss Bowen Is daughter of Edward Eaton Bowen and sister Of Dr. George Austin Bowen.
 1 The church was erected with tho founding Of the settlement in loS6. In TAI, William Lyon, a deacon in the i church purchased the communion set, | probably seven pieces in all, and pre-. sented 1t to the church. Edward Eaton 1 Bowen, sixth great grandson of one of the original proprietors of the town and descendant of John Eliot, apostle to the Indians, discovered four pieces l of this communion set, discarded, in the basement of the church, and pur- chased them, thinking that at some 1 future date the church would realize their value, and appreciate their re- turn, Twice during his lifetime he offered to present the set to the church, but the church appeared indifferent i in the matter, and the pewter set re mained in the Bowen family. It was his wish, however, that the pewter might sometime be returned to the church. His daughter, Miss Agnes fathers desire in the matter, recently offered the set to the church, and her offer was gratefully accepted.
 The exercises on Sunday opened with praise service at which were sung many of the hymns In use at the time the set was presented by William Lyon In TAI, The clerk, Henry T. Child, then read the letter from Miss Bowen offering to restore the set to the church, and also the letter of ac- ceptance from the deacon and clerk of the church, after which Miss Bowen described the pewter, and formerly presented 1t toAthe church.
 The set was placed on n communion table, the gift of "Deaconn Kimball in lS05 The table Is of mahogany, of Sheraton design with halt moon top, this conforming to that of the reading desk of the old pulpit, in front of which 1t was placed. The table was the handiwork of Hezekiah Palmer, a | renowned cabinet maker of Wood- stock.
 On nearby table was exhibited communion set of interesting design, which was the successor to that given by William Lyon, and which was sue ceeded by silver set, the gift of tie late Henry C. Bowen. The silver set was also in evidence.
 In making the presentation Miss Bowen said:
 When my father, the late Edward Eaton Bowen, sometime in the eigh- teen forties, obtained this pewter, with the intention of holding it for tine church 1t was with full appreciation of it's historical and intrinsic value. For he was one to whom the study of his tory made fervent appeal, l have al- ways felt9 strong sense of gratitude to him for the enrichment of my own lie which came from the national and io' cal history which he taught me, tn in- teresling form, in stories mainly As 1 have grown older and gained In ex. perienee 1 have found his deductions made from his study of history to be exact and Illuminating to ones Inter pretation of fife. History taught him the value of taking possible action to it's last analysis before putting 1t Into effect and gave him a supporting phil. osophy of life.
 Also, IL taught him the correlation of studies. In that way both he and my mother made my school life inter- es,ine. As an instance Of how he would teach let us take this' pewter it's shape would suggest It's descent from the early Greek forms, modified by the dwelling of the art or craft in Italy, France, Flanders and Norman England, and would thus allow him to impress the idea that our culture came to us by way of the south of Eu' rope and obtained something from each land in which it sojourned. By this track we obtained the Hebraic cui- ture which gives us our religious cult. On this he or mother would hinge what the Hebrews took from the Felig- ious culture of the BabyIonian icities and from the Chaldeans. The use to which this pewter was put would bring out more ideas of the Hebre" culture land how 1t was modified by lhe Greek belief in the resurrection. Then how the early christians and the Roman Catholic church crystalized the form of the communion which we use. The story of making sof pewter and incidentally other facts Of metal lurgy, would be related,a and something would be said of the arts ol writing 1 and Of printing and their line oi de- scent. thus finishing the study of this pewter with the latest thing to pc done 10 1t materially, that Is, the cut- ling of the inscription. There might have been also study of.the cleaning material used upon It. This would tn- yoIve the chemistry of soap and water, the geology of lhe securing sans: q dl-
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