Evening star., 1934-12-23
BY ROBERT CRAWFORD.

BY ROBERT CRAWFORD.
In the mad rush preceding the
Christmas holidays just bit OF rest
and maybe meditation on the things
that have gone and the things that
are to come was needed, so little
pilgrimage was made to the Wash
ington Cathedral of st. Peter and
st. Paul out on Mount St Alban.
The pilgrim did not get very far into
the cathedral, however, for there.
facing the temporary entrance to the
Great Choir, was beautiful chapel
which turned out to be the children'S
chapel.
1t may not be generally known that
in all the world of houses of worship
there are but two chapels known as
children'S chapels, and one OF these
is in the Washington Cathedral and
the other in the cathedral at South
wark, London. OF course, there are
children's corners. children's arches
in certain parts Of the fabric OF all
cathedrals, but it remains for the
two mentioned to set apart an altar
and place of worship for children
alone.
The guides at Mount st. Alban-
fortunately there were none about
that day when meditation was up
permoSt in the mind-will tell you
that the little chapel lis located close
to the heart of the cathedral fabric
in the salient which marks the inter-
section of the choir and the south
transept," but every one knows it
also marks salient point close to
the heart of Bishop Freeman, whose
dream is the completion of the ca
thedral, which was also the vision Of
the first Bishop Of washington, Henry
Yates Satterlee, and his immediate
successor, Alfred Harding, that be-
loved man who never refused call
to the sick or suffering of whatever
communion, and whose daily life was
q living example of what he preached.
Suffer little children and forbid
them not, to come unto me-" is in evil
dence everywhere in this exquisitely
lovely chapel of the late fourteenth
century English Gothic. The carvings
and the reredos portray personages in
Scripture and Christian History who
loved and taught little children. A
little girl who did not mean to be
sacreligious pronounced it the duck
lest, sweetest thing in all the world
and then demurely kneeled before the
altar where the rail was just her
height A low rail for the little ones.
No chairs are yet placed in the chapel,
but they will doubtless be comfortable
ones, so that the children's feet can
touch the floor. 1t is said that in
Southwark Cathedral, London, where
a larger number of less fortunate
children go, there are sometimes found
soiled, broken toys near the altar,
placed there by some tiny hand in the
hope that a new one will replace the
old plaything.
The student body of the University
of Maryland has agreed that the
Bishop of Washington, James Edward
Freeman, D. D., is jolly good fellow,
and in comforting on him an honorary
membership in the Greek letter So
ciety, Omicron Delta Kappa, honor
ary leadership fraternity, they were
whole hearted in expressing their
DIS Woll as duIllll dIlOll lOl OllC
bishop. Young people sometimes fiat
ter themselves that they are not un-
derstood by their elders and go around
with a chip on their shoulders instead
of talking it over frankly with what
they call "the old man"-the check
book. But this was not the feeling
the men expressed for Bishop Free
man after his talk to them about
leadership. They felt he talked up
to them instead of down to them.
Among other things he told the boys
that those who feel that luck" is
against them in the States, due to
the recent years of depression, should
go travelling bit in foreign countries,
where the struggle is SO much greater.
The bishop told them that their op-
portunities are greater than those
afforded young people in 1882, when he
went to work for the New York Cen
trail Railroad, where he rose from a
clerkship to an executive position.
During that time he was active in
church work, and through the influ-
ence of the late Bishop Potter-that
prince of churchmen-of New York
he studied and took orders.
When Bishop Freeman refers to
the Cathedral as a house of worship
for all people, it's not just figure OF
speech; he means it. One hears
there men Of all denominations; lead
ers in the financial, labor and pro-
fessional world. He has a happy
way of referring to his radio parish"
which includes thousands of people,
some of whom write to him. He was
the founder of Hollywood Club of
Yonkers, N. Y, club for working
men. This gained such a wide repu-
tation that he developed similar clubs
in Minneapolis and other places. The
bishop likes golf and particularly en-
joys a round with the chaplain Of
the Senate, Dr. Phillips, rector of
Epiphany Church.
That recalls a story told oD a
former rector of Epiphany parish, the
late Doctor Randolph McKim. The
doctor frequently played golf with
Justice Harlan, the giant of the Su-
preme Court, and on one unlucky day
after Doctor McKim had dug up
mounds of turf in trying to drive his
ball, he stopped dead still and gave
look that should have annihilated any
golf ball ever made. Justice Harlan
smiled and said: "McKim, that is
the most eloquent silence l have ever
witnessed"
The Christmas season will not see
the Glastonbury thorn out at the
Cathedral in bloom this year, for the
little tree was a bit premature and
bloomed several weeks ago. The
thorn tree blooms very irregularly,
but sometimes blooms on Christmas
DAY. The tree near the Little Sanctu-
ary-the chapel over the gate out at
st. Peter and st. Paul Cathedral
grew from a cutting from the original
thorn at Glastonbury, in England,
which tradition says was growth
from the staff of Joseph Of Arimathea.
The tradition connected with the