The Press., 1921-03-24

mother and other relatives in Spring field, Mass, over Sunday.
 Domenico Sartori of Springfield Mass, was the guest of his parents, MT. and Mrs. Lawrence Sartori, over the weekend.
 MT. and Mrs. ". II. Dunt ar of Bos- ton and Mir and Mrs. c. J. Clark and family of Ellington were the guests of Mrs. Etta Durham on Sunday.
 Misses Dorothy Belcher and Blanch Hanna leave town Friday for Wash ingtOn, D. C., with the Stafford high school senior class for a weeks visit
 Miss Violet Viegaska, who has had employment in New Jersey, has re- | signed and returned to the home of her sister, Mrs. Phillip Hery, on Tues 1 day.
 MT. and Mrs. A. Arthur West, who have been visiting MT. and Mrs. Philo West for few weeks, returned to their home in Springfield, Mass, last Friday.
 Mrs. Lima Booth, who has been with her daughter, Mrs. Allen S. West, and 1 family, in Springfield, Mass, for seven weeks, returned to her home last Thursday.
 The EpwOrth League will hold an entertainment in the M. E., vestry this Thursday evening at 7.45, consisting of out of town talent from South Man 1 chester, Stafford Springs, Stafford Hollow and local talent. Ice cream will Ee on sale. Admission for adults 20 cents, children 10 cents. The school closed this afternoon for an Easter vacation. The teachers have returned to their homes; Miss Eva Richardson, teacher of the 1st grade, to her home in Leominster, Mass; Miss Edna Rowe, of the End and 3rd grades, to Springfeld; Miss Irene Merriam, of the 4th and 5th grades, and Miss Frances Hodgson, of the grammar school, to Acton, Mass. West Stafford.
 La Vergne Dimock has sold his cot tage at the Lake to Conrad Rau.
 Mrs. Charles Glazier has returned home from the Johnson hospital.
 MT. and Mrs. Carlos Chaffee are spending a few days with relatives in Boston.
 Mrs. Ernest Edson and son, Robert,
 
 Mrs. Frank Edson.
 Emerson Davis has finished the winter short course at Storr's college and is at his home for the present.
 Everett Perkins underwent an Oper- atiOn for appendicitis on Sunday at the Johnson hospital. He is resting comfortably.
 Misses Ella Lusa, Mary Scranton and Gertrude Frazier, attended the silk show in South Manchester, Thurs day afternoon.
 w. O. AtchinsOn received a severe injury on the side of his head, from falling timber in his tarn. It re- Quired four stitches to close the wound.
 In the Congregational church next Sunday morning, Easter day service, Rev. w. O. Berckman will preach his last sermon as pastor, having resigned last January, giving the church, as per contract, three months notice. This will close his ministry here of approximately three years. During this period several items are of inter est. The inauguration of the every memker canvas ,- the adoption of the duplex, envelope system, resulting in large local support of the ministry and larger missionary giving. The various war and postwar drive have been recognized. The Pilgrim Memo rial fund was over subscribed on the quota The Congregational World movement approximated seventy-five per cent of the quota. Contributors for American Near East and Central European famine fund were given. The services of divine worship and | midweek prayer meeting have had steady attendance and gratifying aver age The. other departments, Sunday school Christian Endeavor and La dies Aid society have continued their even path, sustained ty interest ed groups The WOman's Missionary Circle, for systematic and compre- hensive study of missions, was organ | ized and conducted by Mrs. Berckman, holding it's helpful and interesting sessions in the parsonage. During his pastorate tWenty-One persons uni ted with the church; five by letter and sixteen on confession of their faith. Of the twenty adults, twelve were men. The pastor has carried out his plan to have the church serve as a community church and center and di- rected all his activities to this end for the intellectual, moral, and spiritual uplift of the local community. Be- side local pastoral duties MT. Berck- man served for three months as a member of the "Connecticut team workers" of the Pilgrim Memorial fund, presenting the cause in eighteen churches of the state, and was pre- vented by illness from serving in the same campaign on the Pacific coast and in the southern states to Florida Besides delivering twenty-fOur edu- cational, patriotic and missionary lec- lures on the Life of the Southern Mountaineers'' in as many COnnecti- cut churches. The pastor also attend en twenty-six "Out of town special gatherings, conventions, conferences and associations. Mrs. Berckman has very helpfully and happily entered in to her husk and's ministry throughout especially in the missionary and spir- itual activities and in the visitation of the sick and troubled. During this pastOrate MT. Berckman received from
  ger and more conspiciOus for ministe- rial service, but declined each in turn A call came from the First COngre- gatiOnal church of Colchester, in December to MT. Berckman for his service as pastor beginning January first. The call was accepted begin ming April first, the Colchester church cautiously extended the time for the pastors coming. MT. Berkman before coming to West Stafford was for fif- teen years superintendent of the American Missionary Association Southern Mountain work and Super intendent of the Congregational Home Missionary society and Congregation al Sunday School Extension society for Kentucky and Tennessee. The fol- lowing note was received February 4th, from the Rev. Chas. B. Burton