The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-02-23

duties had been the care Of tho vicars
bankbooks.
II never heard Sexton Walter uttef
a respondent word until last week.,
said the vicar. Then he said that the
monotony and loneliness Of the life
were getting on his nerves, and that
he regretted he was too old to f1nd
other occupation"
A shadow falls upon the deputys
face when he refers briefly to the
tragedy of st. Paul's belfry. There 10
a new sexton now. a young man; bue
the deputy says that he, Faithful Paul.
expects to stay on to the end.
81 am a bachelor" he saya "TnnA
makes II better"
'Why better?"
There's no one at home to fret be-
cause the sexton must be at his work
early and late. Mr.. Walter was right
He told me never to marry. that the
life Of sections wife was too lonely.
Once 1 knew a little school teacher
who set me thinking about a homo
and a family. But the more thought
of it the more I knew it wouldn't do.
Yes, she is still single. too
Much Thinking on Death.
Much thinking upon death Gains the
pulses and brings philosophy. But
| it is not wholesome topic for con-
slant thought. Yet the thought II
| inescapable to one who opens old St.
Paul's in the morning and locks 1t at
| night and In whose waking hours ths
graves are constant companions. The
old stones shine at him under the
! nd VA aha has
in the night hours. There Is not now
even the variety of funerals St. Paurs
that once had the vault Of the Ogdens
and where other families Of wealth
once reposed, is seldom the scene Of .
burial, rarely of a funeral service. The
funeral services for Harriet Hubbard
Aver, the writer, drew large congre-
cation of representative persons. II
was the last sevice there performed
or n notable.
"Theres only been poor funerals in
the last few years" says the deputy
sexton. And there hasn't been any
for two or three"
Humble dwellers in the environs Of
| the old church whisper that II u
| haunted. Came trembling to Mr..
Schaefer n frightened woman who said
she couldn't sleep because OF screams
she heard from the belfry. Burdened
as he was with memories, he assembled
the belfry stairs to investigate. In
the dusk all was silence. He de-
seconded and treasured the woman.
Somebody must have been singing,
or maybe quarreling, in ono OF tho
Office buildings"
Maybe" she said, but her face was
very white in the dusk, and as she
walked away she cast frightened
glances back toward the belfry. shak-
ing her head
In one sense Washington's church
is, indeed, haunted: haunted by the
memory of the tall, stately man Of
few words and mighty achievements,
who went often to st. Paul's and
wrote in his diary. Went to st. Paul's
at noon for Christmas service:
haunted by thought of Gen. Clinton,
who had knelt in the opposite pew: by
the tale of how DIR. Auchmutz, It's
rector. had fled from its pulpit into the
British lines in New Jersey when tho
colonies were in the first fiery fermenit
of war;
The church, though stamped with
Tory traditions, Is associated with
events in the birth Of the republic. It's
proudest memory is of that April 80,
1883 when George Washington. his
inaugural ceremonies being finished in
Wall street, went with members OF
both houses of Congress TO offer pray
ers of thanksgiving for the grading Of
~ ow nation. -~e>k o1Esk him Thomas.
jefferson and John Adams Aaron
Burr and Alexander Hamilton. In tho
professions were Jays and C1intons
and Livingstons, representatives OF
, names that are miestones of the prog
ress of the greatest city in the world.