Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1926-11-10

ventilate and permit the tobacco to
cure properly.
We reached Rockville and easily
found the parsonage. 1t Is hand
some house on slight emdnence
| overlooking the main highway. The
rooms are large and splendidly
arranged. The grounds in the rear
are kept in fine condition by the jan
itor of the church. There is a two
car garage, and in the rear Of that
an excellent tennis court.
Grapes grow in profusion in that
part of Connecticut, and nature has
not sighted Mr.. Brookes in that
respect, for in the rear of his house
is handsome grape arbor and
although we were late in the season
in visiting them, there still were
! many grapes on the vines I'M
gathered Mrs. Brookes said that
she had so many grapes she did not
know what to do with them. Along
one wall of the lot another grape
vine grew luxuriously, and was also
laden with fine fruit.
After looking over the parsonage
grounds, we went to the church,
which is only short distance away.
| 1t is a marvel of completeness and
| beauty. Built of stone, 1t dominates
that part of the city in which 1t Is
| located. On the ground floor there
are spacious rooms for the use of
| the various societies of the church.
| I was particularly impressed with
the reading room, which Is kept
open every day in the week, and in
| which saw practically all of the
magazines of any Importance pub
| lished in the eastern part of the
United States, and also all the i'm
portant newspapers. There is also
! fine library. That there were ves-
tries and recreation rooms, Sunday
| school rooms and a cOmmodious
| kitchen, goes without saying.
We then went upstairs to see the
auditorium and chapel. The chapel
is on the same level as the auditor
ium and separated from it by great
doors which noiselessly sink out of
sight at slight pressure, leaving the
two rooms in one when desired. In
the auditorium is a great organ with
four banks of keys, and a grateful
parishioner has given to the church
fine set of organ chimes which
operate from certain set Of keys
on the organ at will. These chimes
are hidden in space near the CELL
ing, and ring with wonderful melody
at the will of the organist.
To my surprise I found that this
marvellous church is not satisfied
with having a great organ in itsaudi
torium, but has another organ nearly
as large in the chapel Immediately
in the rear of the auditorium. These
organs are connected electrically, so
that either organ can be played from
the other at the will of the organist.
The organist happened to be in the
church that afternoon, and very
graciously played for us. A wonder
full effect was produced by playing
for little while upon the organ in
the main church. and then instantly
shifting to the organ in the chapel,
ESQ that the tones from the chapel
seemed like an echo from great
distance, but very clear. We found
the acoustic properties of the audi
torium to be remarkable. Mr..
Brookes stood at the pulpit while
went to the farthest corner of the
gallery, and l could distinctly hear
all of his words as he whispered to
me.
/
then went to call with Mr. Brookes
upon some of his parishioners. We
| first called upon Mr. and Mrs. Sykes,
with whom I had had some CORE
spondence in the past They expected
us to stay with them over night on
our visit to Rockville, and graciously
pressed the invitation when they
met us in person, but we were unable
to stay longer than few hours in
Rockville. We also called upon
Mrs Martin and her daughter
Barbara Both the Sykes and Mar
tin families live in beautiful homes
with every evidence of wealth and
prosperity. In fact think that for
town it's size Rockville has more
beautiful, substantial dwellings than
any similar town I have ever SEEN
The wealth appears to have been
derived from the mills in town which
have been running for many, many
years, the stock of which is owned
largely by the townspeople.
Close by the parsonage we saw
magnificent building called the Max
we'll Memorial Library, built OF
granite and marble, and given to the
town by one of Mr.. Brookes' parish
| toner's
Night had closed in upon us, and
regretfully we said goodbye to our
friends, old and new, and returned
to the home of DR.. and Mrs. Simon
| ton.
| It will without doubt interest the
old friends of Dr. Simonton and MS
wife to know that they are very SUD-
stantially placed in Thompsonvllle,
in a fine, well-located home, and the
| doctors only trouble seems to be to-
avoid working himself to death.
| We drove to New York the next
day and spent four delightful days
in the big city with our daughter
Dorothy, and then returned TO our
own vine and fig tree in Ellsworth.
We Travelled LOO miles over Won