UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
LIBRARY
Class
Book
c
Volume
FIFTY YEARS OF UNITARIAN LIFE.
UNITARIAN LIFE.
BEING A RECORD
OF THE PROCEEDINGS ON THE
1 OCCASION OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST UNITARIAN SOCIETY OF
GENEVA, ILLINOIS, CELEBRATED JUNE TENTH,
ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH,
1892.
EDITED BY
T. H. EDDOWES. FRANCES LE BARON,
GEORGE BRAYTON PENNEY.
PRINTED BY THE
KANE COUNTY PUBLISHING CO.,
GENEVA, ILL.
1892.
ui
uj
I HE celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of a
Unitarian Society in the West is not an event
A of such common occurrence that it should
receive only passing notice. The moral and spiritual
significance of such an occasion comes with such stimu-
lating force to all who are fighting the battle of freedom
p* for mind and soul, that it has seemed to many who were
present at the semi-centennial exercises of the Geneva
Society that the spirit of the occasion should be perpetu-
$$i ated in some enduring form, and it was in response to
the expressed wish of members and friends of the Society
that the publication of this volume was undertaken.
The work has grown on our hands and instead of
presenting a few pages of matter of purely local interest
we feel that in this little volume we are making a unique
contribution to the literature of the denomination, with a
value far exceeding the limits of local association and
personal reminiscence, for in these pages may be traced
the evolution of a typical Liberal Church.
We have been greatly aided in a somewhat difficult
203101
viii. Editor^ Preface.
task by the friends who have kindly furnished and revised
manuscripts, and especially are we indebted to Rev. W.
W. Fenn of Chicago for the manuscript of his sermon
on "Some Religious Changes in Fifty Years" which
properly stands at the opening of the book and by its
breadth and catholicity interprets the spirit of the anni-
versary occasion. For drawings of the church and par-
sonage we. are indebted to Mr. S. Nelson Abbott and to
Miss Grace D. Long, both of the Society and we would also
acknowledge the service rendered by Mr, Chas. B. Mead
of the Kane County Publishing Company, who not only
took the contract for the work at a figure which precluded
profit but has given his personal attention to details.
The absence of some very familiar names from the
Historical Sketch, which will perhaps strike some readers
unpleasantly, was unavoidable. The time allowed to the
paper was limited and many honored names were to
have been mentioned at the afternoon session by a speak-
er who was at the last moment prevented from attending.
A letter had also been promised from Col. Jno. C. Long
of Chicago, touching upon the army life of Mr. Conant,
but owing to a press of other matters Col. Long was una-
ble to furnish it.
With the large faith that has made this record possi-
ble we give it forth to the circle of friends and relatives
of the Geneva Society and to the larger world which it
may, perchance, here and there reach.
T. II. EDDOWES,
FRANCES LE!JARON,
GEORGE BRAYTON PENNEY.
GENEVA, November, 1892.
I. SERMON Some Religious Changes in PAGE.
Fifty Years, 1
II. Order of Proceedings, 21
III. Address of Welcome, - 22
IV. HISTORICAL SKETCH,
Organization, 23
Personal, - 28
Church Building, 39
Pastorates, ' , - 47
By the Way, 51
V. Anniversary Hymn, 57
VI. Character Sketch of the First Pastor, 58
VII. Dedication Hymn, 75
VIII. Incidents and Reminiscences, - 76
IX. , Random Reminiscences, 84
X. Memories of Early Days, 88
XI. COLLATION Responses and Letters, 94
A Cambrian Prophet, 95
A Man without Guile, 96
Other Pioneers, 100
x. Contents.
Letter from Robert Collyer, - 102
Early Women, 105
The Original Geneva, - 106
Poem Fifty Years, 107
Letter from Rev. Jno. R. Effinger, 108
Letter from Prof. Samuel Clarke, 109
CuiBono? 110
A Living Saint, 112
Response, 113
Letter from Rev. Chester Covell, - 114
The Illinois Conference, - 114
Letter from Rev. Jas. H. West, 117
Freedom of Thought and Speech, - 120
Woman's Relation to Religious Freedom, 122
The Literary Value of the Liberal Faith, 124
The Centennial Celebration, 125
XII. CONGRATULATORY LETTERS.
From Edward Everett Hale, D. D. 128
" Marie L. Lamb, 129
" Thomas Moulding, 129
" C. A. Philips, 130
" Hon. J. C. Sherwin, - 130
" Col. Jno. S. Wilcox, - - 131
" Paul R. Wright, 131
XIII. Sunday School Session, - 133
XIV. Historical Chapter, 135
XV. Sunday School Memories, - 139
XVI. The Parsonage, - 145
I. CHURCH BUILDING, Erected 1843, FRONTISPIECE
(Drawn by S. Nelson Abbott.)
II. AUGUSTUS H. CONANT, Page 59
III. THE PARSONAGE, "
(Drawn by Grace Long.)
"Love, labor, progress! this the constant story
That God in Nature speaks:
Love, labor, progress! this the tireless glory
Of the Eternal weeks!"
' 'SOME RELIGIOUS CHANGES IN FIFTY YEARS. ' ' PREACHED AT
THE OPENING OF THE CELEBRATION, FRIDAY EVENING,
JUNE 10TH, BY REV. W. W. FENN,
Pastor of the oldest Unitarian Society in Illinois, the Church of
the Messiah, Chicago, organized in 1836.
TEXT: The Way of the Lord is Strength. Prov. 10-29.
)f MONG the most suggestive phrases in He-
^C\ brew literature are those which imply that
^\ lu _^ there is a way of the Lord, that there
are paths in which the Almighty walks. Primitively,
these expressions carried a significance quite different
from that which we find in them, conveying merely the
notion that there were certain spots which the Gods liked
best to frequent; but as under the lead of the Prophets
belief in a purposeful God bent on righteousness develop-
ed among the Jews, "the way of the Lord" came to have
an ethical import which insures it a permanent place in
our religious vocabulary. For us, the way of the Lord is
the path along which humanity, quickened and guided by
the indwelling God, has moved and is moving towards
consummate holiness; he is walking with God who is ad-
vancing toward the perfect manifestation of truth and
2 Svme Religious Changes
love; he is working with God who is striving to bring
men into the realm of spiritual facts and under the sway
of spiritual forces, for thus God walks and works. Hence
it behooves us, individually and corporately, to "consid-
er our ways" that we may know whether they are the
way of the Lord, whether our progress is in the track of
advancing humanity. Amid the congratulations and re-
joicings of this anniversary occasion, this serious duty
should not be overlooked, for no greater blessing could
come to pastor and people out of these days of reminis-
cence and communion than the settled conviction that
this church in its teaching and practice has been walking
with God. "The way of the Lord is strength."
"Thy way, O Lord, is in the sanctuary." It is in
the church, or rather in the impalpable but very real
"Christian consciousness" of the community, that we may
seek most confidently arid find most easily the course of
the spirit. Therefore, complying with a request from one
of the members of your Committee, I ask you to consid-
er with me this evening some of the changes that have
come over religious thought and life during the past half
century, that we may discern if possible the general di-
rection of movement. To-morrow, others shall speak
particularly of this church and its history, but to-night
we are to establish the criterion by which the work of the
church must be determined. Our duty to-night is to dis-
cover if we' may the way of the Lord, to-morrow it will
become apparent, I trust, that that has been also the way
of this church.
Not even the most casual observer can fail to discern
a wide difference between the church as it is now and the
church as it was fifty years ago. Although one had
never heard a sermon or been inside of a church, he
might guess even from the externals of church architect-
In Fifty Year*. 3
ure that the uses of the building had altered. Church
edih'ces nowadays are evidently designed to be less formal,
more social, home-like and inviting than they were fifty
years ago. If, now, one compares the interiors of two
churches, one built fifty years ago and the other just com-
pleted, the change is even more apparent. In the one
case we should probably find only a large barren audience
room, while in the other we should certainly see parlors
and a kitchen, possibly also a reading room and a stage.
As Brooke Herford has said, tjie proverb "As poor as a
church mouse" was coined before kitchens had become an
essential part of church architecture ; nowadays church mice
ought to be as plump and sleek as old time ecclesiastics con-
sidering the debris after our church festivals and fairs.
And so the interior of the church deepens the impression
made by the exterior that a change has come over our ideas
as to the function and place of a church in the community.
Then, even Sunday schools were not in full favor and the
multifarious social activities of the modern church had not
come into mind. Similarly, we may see how the place
which a preacher is expected to occupy in a church has un-
dergone marked alteration. Instead of a box-like, gloomy
pulpit, stilted way above the heads of the congregation,
there is now only a low platform with modest reading desk.
The preacher of to-day must show the iron and clay of his
makeup as well as the head of gold and shoulders of silver
which formerly were alone visible over the enclosing and
concealing pulpit. The Scripture reads "I will lift up
mine eyes unto the hills whence cometh my help" not, I
will lift up mine eyes unto the pulpit. In many a country
church the Scripture used to be literally fulfilled when the
youngsters, and some of the older folk, too, turning away
from . the preacher droning away overhead, looked up
through the unshaded, small-paned windows to the distant
4 Some Religious Change*
hills and drew from that quiet vision of beauty help which
the pulpit denied them. One can not repress a suspicion
that much of the stiff-neckedness for which our ancestors
are sometimes blamed, and deservedly, perhaps, may be
traced to those high pulpits which obliged them to hold
their heads in tilted constraint during interminable sermons,
till it is no wonder they got a permanent crick in the neck
because of it. And who can blame them for being straight-
backed considering the pews they had to sit in. The de-
cadence of the skyey pulpit signifies that the preacher no
longer speaks as from some inaccessible height of wisdom
and sanctity which his people cannot hope to attain, but
from their level; he no longer thinks of "preaching down"
to his congregation.
In one of Homer Wilbur's screeds prefixed to the
Bigelow Papers Lowell suggests that the visual angle
made by a ray of light coming from a high pulpit to the
eye of an auditor is such as to induce somnolence. The real
reason, however, why people go to sleep in church is be-
cause they have no vital interest in what the preacher is
saying; yet perhaps this real reason is not unconnected
with the fanciful one proposed by the erudite pastor of
Jaalam, for when a preacher draws near to his congre-
gation and preaches to them eye to eye, it is inevitable
that he should be led to speak of subjects in which they
are interested and in a style which carries home. One se-
cret of the effectiveness of the best modern preaching is
that the preacher has got near enough to his people to
"see the whites of their eyes." The speech of the street
is becoming the speech of the pulpit that the thought of
the pulpit may more promptly become the thought of the
street. If a preacher to-day is so old-fashioned as to say
"My hearers" the probability is that he might more
truthfully say "My slumberers;" they are absent-minded
/// Fifty Years. 5
if not absent-bodied. The thought of the pulpit is cast
in a style vital and not conventional, real and not formal,
suggestive rather than authoritative, And this implies that
the thought of the pulpit is not quite what it used to be.
Topics that were once the staple of pulpit discourse are
now rarely alluded to Your pastor is not half so much
interested in the past of Israel as he is in the future of
America; he deems it far less important to show that God
could harden Pharaoh's heart and still be just and loving
than to thunder into the ears of modern Pharaohs of lust and
greed "Let my people go;" he is not so firmly convinced
that Jonah could live in the whale's belly, as he is deter-
mined that present-day children of God shall not live in
vile tenement houses; he will not seek to convince you that
Baalam's ass spoke to the ancient prophet, but he will
seek to open your ears to the appeal of the entire brute
creation for sympathetic protection and kindness. The
ideal of the modern sermon is perfectly given by Pres.
Hyde of Bowdoin College in the current Forum. "A
young preacher," he says, "once read me a sermon filled
from beginning to end with abstract propositions about
the proper relation of the soul to its maker. When he
had finished, I said to him, that is a first rate sermon of
its kind, but for every sermon of this kind, you ought to
write one of the other kkid. 'What other kind ?' he asked.
Why, I said, this is all about the way to save a soul.
The other kind of sermon should show what use to make
of the soul after it is saved; how the saved soul should
behave in the home; how it should do business: how it
can make the community happier and better; how to ful-
fill the duties of husband or wife, of father or son, of
neighbor or friend, of workman or employer, of owner of
wealth, of holder of office, of citizen or patriot." That
"other kind" of sermon is indeed almost the only kind
6 Some Religious
that is preached in the foremost pulpits of America to-day
and I hope it will not be declared fanciful if I suggest
that nothing else could ever be preached, except from a
pulpit far removed from a congregation. The change
from pulpit to reading desks marks a change in the quali-
ty of sermons. A sermon can no longer be a narrow,
shallow rivulet of an idea meandering aimlessly through
flowery meads of rhetoric, it must be a mountain brook
of fresh thought directed to the doing of the world's
work. When the preacher came down from his factitious
elevation to the level of his fellows, pulpit utterances ac-
quired the human touch, became practical, clear, direct,
and couched in the ordinary speech of men.
So much, then, for superficial change in the religious
life of the past half century as revealed in church archi-
tecture and pulpit utterances, and now we must ask
whether these are merely superficial or indicative of pro-
found modifications in thought and sentiment. It occa-
sionally happens that doctrines lapse for a time, which,
nevertheless, are still an integral part of the prevailing
system and only await an opportune moment for reap-
pearance. During such periods, it may seem as if the
beliefs in question were no longer held, whereas in reality
they still belong to the current theology and are only in
abeyance. Consequently what pass at face value for great
religious reformations are often only shiftings of emphasis,
while the structure of doctrine or polity remains the same.
At the present time, for instance, in the so-called Evan-
gelical churches, a prominence is given the humanity of
Jesus which once would have been deemed subversive
and dangerous, nevertheless the doctrine of his deity is by
no means denied but is in fact constantly assumed. Are
the changes which we have already mentioned and others
which doubtless have occurred to you, changes of this
In Fifty Year*. 7
sort or are they evidences of real growth and progress?
One who compares carefully and candidly the Ortho-
doxy of to-day with that of fifty years ago, as represented
by its leading exponents then and now, will have to con-
elude not only that there is hardly a single doctrine which
has escaped alteration, but that there has been a radical
arid all important change in the point of view and method
of approach. For the sake of illustration, let us refer
briefly to four leading doctrines of Orthodoxy its thought
'concerning the Bible, man, salvation and God.
1st. The Authority of Scripture. It was Chilling-
worth who said "-The Bible and the Bible only is the
religion of Protestants." The testimony of the Bible
was decisive and its judgment final. Theological disputes
turned upon the interpretations of texts whose infallibil-
ity, when their meaning was ascertained, neither party
questioned. But the leading Evangelicals to-day, men
like Briggs, Gladden, Abbott and Ladd, have entirely
abandoned the claim of Biblical infallibility, while Prof.
Ladd of Yale College, in setting up the "Christian con-
sciousness' 1 as the ultimate criterion, seems to have re-
' verted substantially to the Roman Catholic view. Preach-
ers and theologians are not content with proving that a
doctrine is Biblical, they deem it incumbent upon them
also to show that it is rational or at least not irrational.
Nor is this position maintained only by a few heretics in
Orthodox circles, who are called leaders merely because
they happen to be conspicuous by reason of their heresy.
That they fairly represent the acting opinion of the rank
and file appears from the treatment that has been accorded
the Revised Version of the Bible. Let me recall a few
of the changes in the New Testament alone.
The favorite and only decisive proof text for the doctrine
<of the Trinity that concerning the three Witnesses has
8 Some Religious Changes
dropped away without even a note of explanation or
apology, and doubt has been thrown upon "the church of
God which he purchased with his own blood," as well as
upon the identification of Jesus with God in the doxology
in Komans. On the other hand, the personalty of the
Devil is recognized in the Lord's prayer and it is intima-
ted in John 1, 18 that Jesus is called "God only be-
gotten." Such changes, and these are but samples,
would have been greeted with mingled glee and acrimony
a half century ago; as it is, they have been given hardly
a passing thought. There can be no question, I suppose,
that the movement in Orthodoxy is toward viewing the
Bible as literature, open to correction and amendment and
by no means as infallible, or even final authority. And
if reason is to be applied to the Biblical records, the out-
come is not doubtful. As the testimony of Genesis with
relation to the six days creation is no longer allowed to
invalidate the witness of Geology, so the record of the
miraculous birth of Jesus will soon cease to be of suffici-
ent authority to overthrow the presuppositions of experi-
ence and the contradictory hints elsewhere in the Gospels
and Epistles. One is tempted to dwell long upon this
changed attitude towards the Bible because of its immense
significance, but time forbids. Let me quote, however,
a single passage from an unimpeachable authority Prof.
J. Henry Thayer, Prof, of N. T. Greek in Harvard Uni-
versity, whose judgment has weight, not only from his
ripe and accurate scholarship, but also because he is an Or-
thodox in conviction as well as in ecclesiastical standing:
"The critics are agreed," he says, "that the view of the
Scripture in which you and I were educated, the view that
has been prevalent here in New England for centuries is
untenable." The critics have found it so, the people feel
it so; silently the change has come, no book or preacher
1-n Fifty Yearn. 9
has wrought it, but it has come and its influence upon our
religious thinking is well-nigh incalculable.
2nd. The Doctrine of Man. Along with the crumb-
ling belief in Biblical infallibility has gone a change in the
thought of man, for concerning the creation and primitive
condition of man the teachings of the Old Testament and
of modern investigation are irreconcilably at variance.
It is taught in the Bible that man was brought into being
by a special creative act of God; that he was created holy,
but by one act of disobedience lost that holiness and passed
into a state of alienation from God, of which physical
death is the token, in which all his descendants were in-
volved. Upon this Biblical preaching rest the Evangeli-
cal doctrines of the fall of man and his consequent inabil-
ity to think truly or act rightly until after he has been re-
generated by the Spirit. As logical inferences came the
belief that revelation and salvation must come from with-
out as gifts to an unworthy race and not from within as
finest fruits of a perfecting humanity, and the pernicious
notion that since the truth of God was alien to the nature
of unregenerate man, the "carnal reason" was utterly in-
competent as a test of truth. ' ' Credo quia impossibile, ' ' I
believe because it is impossible. The more monstrous
what passed for revealed truth seemed to the natural in-
stincts of man, the more depraved those instincts were
thereby shown to be.
On the other hand, competent scholars tell us now
that man is the consummate product of along development
through the animal world, that his noblest powers so far
from being decaying relics of a purer past, are bright-
ening prophecies of a glorious future. I need not linger
here to point out how this thought of man introduces a
totally new point of view and requires a totally different
method of approach in our religious thinking, but I would
10 . Some Religious Changes
assure you that this new thought of man of which I have
been speaking is not the whimsey of a few disgruntled
"scientists" animated by "hostility" to the Bible and the
church, but is the deliberate conclusion of every living
student of nature, qualified to have any opinion at all up-
on the subject. In the "New World" for June I find this
sentence in an article by Minot Savage: "In a private
letter to myself , dated Oct. 29, 1890, Mr. John Fiske
writes, 'I do not know of any living scientific man of any
account opposed to Darwinism as a whole, though of course
there is, as there ought to be, much diversity as to subsidi-
ary questions. ' ; Quite apart, however, from scholarly
research and opinion, the old belief about man has been
practically disowned, as Dr. Hale has shown, by our prac-
tice in citizenship and education. As the foliage on the
branches of a tree keeps green long after the tree itself has
been girdled, so some of the inferences from this discredi-
ted theory still persist, though their real vitality is gone.
Here again as in the case of beliefs concerning the Bible,
the change is due not So much to the publication of any
epoch-making book, whether Spencer's "First Principles"
or Darwin's "Origin of Species," as to the gradual and
imperceptible transformation of popular sentiment. But
the change has undeniably come and its effect upon our re-
ligious life is central and far-reaching.
3rd. The Doctrine of Salvation. Hitherto we have
considered doctrines which may be classed as speculative
and which, while they affect vitally the thought of the
church, may have nothing to do with its practical work,
but in the doctrine of salvation we pass directly from
theory to practice, for from the beginning until now the
church has felt the salvation of men to be its distinguish-
ing function. If, therefore, the conception of salvation
changes, the activities of the church must pass through a
In Fifty Year*. 11
corresponding modification. When man was believed to
be in a state of alienation from God because of Adam's
transgression, and the work of the church was to bring man
and God into a state of reconciliation, the idea of salvation
was mechanical and the method, by the vicarious atone-
ment, was also formal. But with the incoming of the
new thought of man, the idea of salvation has become
'vital. Salvation requires not change of state, but change of
character. Sin is not so much an insult to God as a wrong
done one's own nature. Hence forgiveness of sins cannot
be a merely judicial act, it must be the restoration of the
spirit and temper lost in transgression. Hence it would
hardly be said now that a man's morality or immorality
has nothing to do with his salvation. On the , contrary it
is generally held that, to quote a famous Orthodox clergy-
man, "righteousness is salvation." From every quarter
comes the demand for character and not creed. Even
staunch Evangelicals will say sometimes of a man "He's
a good Christian," thinking simply of his conduct and
not at all of his theology. Where the uncouth Evangelist
from Georgia cries "Quit your meanness" he is at one
with the gentle Quaker poet, who sings
''To be saved is only this,
Salvation from our selfishness."
Consequently the way of salvation is not now presented as
of old. That Jesus suffered upon the cross the agonies
that the elect wouid have suffered, but for him, through
the unending aeons of hell seems a belief too mon-
strous to be entertained for a moment, yet it was taught
once. But that vulgar commercialism has gone forever.
That death scene on Calvary, we are told by Orthodox
preachers, was designed to melt the heart of man, not to
appease the wrath of God; it was a matchless setting forth
of God's love of man and hate of sin. The death of
12 Some Religious Changes
Christ avails for our salvation only as it leads us to a like
self-sacrifice. Identification instead of substitution is now
the word and we hear of imparted instead of imputed
righteousness. And as the ideas of the nature of the way
of salvation have altered, there have come glimmerings
of the revolutionary thought that the work of the church
is the education of the sons of God and not the conver-
sion of sons of the Devil.
4th. The thought of God. That the old teaching
concerning the method of salvation seems repulsive to us
nowadays is mainly, I fancy, because of the thought of
God that lay back of it. God, the Father, seemed to be
full of wrath, a Shylock bound to have the full measure of
his bond, if not from the man who had sinned, then from
an innocent and august substitute. Wrath seemed to be
embodied in the Father, mercy and tenderness in the Son.
Men shuddered as they repeated "It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God, " apparently quite unmind-
ful that the Hebrew, living before the revelation of God in
the face of Jesus, had prayed "Let me fall into the hands of
God and not into the hands of man." But now God is
drawing ever nearer to the world in love, and the loving
Father, who welcomes every returning prodigal with ten-
derness eternal, is becoming the God of Christendom.
Nowhere is the change more manifest than in the hymns
of the church.
Merely for the sake of illustration, let me read you
two hymns found in psalmodies that were in vogue fifty
years ago and contrast them with two hymns taken from
a modern collection. That the older hymns are revolting
to the staunchest Orthodoxy of to-day, I am perfectly well
aware as well as that it would be easy to find other hymns
of the same period which breathe in lofty strains the no-
blest ideas of God. Yet the thought of God presented in
In Fifty Years. 13
these hymns was held and taught to the horror of many
souls. It is with no design of ridiculing the faith of the
past, but with profound pity for those whose lives were
overshadowed by such frightful fears, and with deep
gratitude that nearly all churches have awakened from
such horrible dreams to more trustful thoughts of God,
that I read two hymns by Watts with which many of you
must be already familiar:
"My thoughts on awful subjects roll,
Damnation and the dead;
What horrors seize the guilty soul
Upon a dying bed!
Then swift and dreadful she descends
Down to the fiery coast,
Amongst abominable fiends;
Herself a frighted ghost.
There endless crowds of sinners lie,
And darkness makes their chains;
Tortured with keen despair, they cry,
Yet wait for fiercer pains."
Compare, or rather contrast, with this Anna War-
ing's beautiful hymn
"Go not far from me, O my God,
Whom all my times obey;
Take from me anything thou wilt,
But go not thou away,
And let the storm that does thy work
Deal with me as it may!
On thy compassion I repose
In weakness and distress;
I will not ask for greater ease,
Lest I should love thee less.
Oh, 'tis a blessed thing for me
To need thy tenderness!
When I am feeble as a child,
And flesh and heart give way,
Then on thy everlasting strength
With passive trust I stay,
And the rough wind becomes a song,
The darkness shines like day.
14 Some Religious Changes
Deep unto deep may call, but I
With peaceful heart can say,
Thy loving kindness hath a charge
No waves can take away;
Then let the storm that speeds me home
Deal with me as it may!"
One dreads to turn from this lyric strain of trust and
hope to read another hymn by Watts which as I have been
credibly informed was actually sung by Evangelical con-
gregations fifty years ago.
"Far in the deep, where darkness dwells,
The land of horror and despair,
Justice has built a dismal hell
And laid her stores of vengance there.
Eternal plagues and heavy chains,
Tormenting racks and fiery coals,
And darts t' inflict immortal pains
Dyed in the blood of damned souls.
There Satan the first sinner lies
And roars and bites his iron bands,
In vain the rebel strives to rise
Crushed with the weight of both thy hands.
There guilty gh'osts of Adam's race
Shriek out and howl beneath thy rod;
Once they could scorn a Savior's grace
But they incensed a dreadful God.
Tremble my soul and kiss the Son!
Sinner, obey thy Savior's call;
Else your damnation hastens on
And hell gapes wide to wait your fall."
With the thought of God and the future thought in
this hymn, what can offer more significant contrast than
Chad wick's beautiful song:
"It singe th low in every heart,
We hear it each and all,
A song of those who answer not,
However we may call.
In Fifty Yearn. 15
They throng the silence of the breast;
We see them as of yore,
The kind, the true, the brave, the sweet,
Who walk with us no more.
'Tis hard to take the burden up,
When these have laid it down:
They brightened all the joj> of life,
They softened every frown.
But, oh! 'tis good to think of them
When we are troubled sore;
Thanks be to God that such have been,
Although they are no more!
More homelike seems the vast unknown,
Since they have entered there;
To follow them were not so hard,
Wherever they may fare.
They cannot be where God is not,
On any sea or shore;
Whate'er betides, thy love abides,
Our God for evermore!"
Thanks be to God that out of the flame shot shadows
of Hell the world has emerged upon the gentle slope that
leads to the light that crowns with ineffable radiance the
home-land of the soul. Thank God that the "awful rose
of dawn" now touches with celestial beauty the limit
which all our feet must over-pass, where hung once cur-
taining storm clouds of wrath eternal. Henceforth let
none step into the unknown with fear, since we have
learned to trust there as well as here the love from which
not even our sins can permanently separate us. "Help
for the living and hope for the dead" is the word of the
modern church because we have learned of God, who
worketh unceasingly and forever that he may bring love
to perfect manifestation.
From our consideration of the doctrines formerly
held and those which now prevail in Orthodox circles con-
cerning the Bible, man, salvation and God, it appears un-
mistakably that the superficial changes which we notice
16 Soifie Religious Changes
at the outset are not accidental but symptomatic. They
are outcrops and not boulders. That aloofness of relig-
ion from the rest of life which we saw expressed in church
architecture and in the ideal of church and minister, found
its inner correspondence in doctrines which vanished the
instant that a demand for unity penetrated religious
thinking. The doctrines to which we have referred were
tenable only because they were deemed so sacred as to be
beyond the scope of criticism. The feeling for unity
would brook no contradictions in the nature of God; his
wrath and his love must be one; his revelation in the
world could not contradict his revelation in the Bible ; if
man was able to discern the truth of God as revealed-in Na-
ture, he was able also to discern God in the. more immedi-
ate workings of the Spirit. All the changes that have come
in Theology are traceable to the growing conviction that
God is one, that the world is one because the expression
and revelation of God, that man is one because he is of
the world and only a more perfect manifestation of the
Divine unity. If this interpretation of religious changes
is correct, we shall expect to find two things: first, that
the world has been growing more religious, for the de-
mand for unity is only another name for the conscious-
ness of God; and, secondly, that the changes in other de-
partments of life are traceable to the same source, for re-
ligion is only one phase of man's mentality and shares
his intellectual fortunes. As regards the first, it is note-
worthy that the changes which have been mentioned have
come from within the church and not from without it.
The new thought of the Bible, for instance, has been
reached by men intent only upon the truth, men, for the
most part, whose fine religious feeling is apparent on
every page of their writings. No one can doubt that the
new ideas are more purely and deeply religious than the
In Fifty Years. ' 17
old. Never was there more devotion to high ideals than
now, never was there truer, more searching or self-sacri-
ficing love of man than now, never was the trust in the
eternal goodness more wide and firm, never, in a word,
was the world more religious than it is to-day. Indubit-
ably the movement has been not a human drifting into
evil, but a divine steering towards goodness. And the
religious movement is but one embodiment of that mag-
nificent inflow of the consciousness and craving for unity,
which will make our generation memorable forever. In
the arts, all our inventions and discoveries have tended
to bring men together. The railroad, the steam-boat, the
telegraph annihilate separating space. That Joshua made
the sun stand still upon Gibeon seems trifling compared
with modern achievements: we make the sun stand still,
yes even go back on the dial, over our thought entrusted
to electricity, and perhaps it may stand still sometime, in
like manner, over our bodies as we travel from East to
West. This has become a very small world within fifty
years and all men are next door neighbors. Aided possi-
bly by the mechanical unifying, the idea of unity prevails
in industry and in the theories of government. As co-
operation is the rule in manufacturing, so that no
man worketh for himself and no man idleth to
himself, making the factory the unit with the sev-
eral workmen as constituent cells, so in government the
nation and not the individual is gaining recognition as the
ultimate unit. In this country two theories of government
have prevailed, one conceiving the nation, the other the
individual state as unit, and it was no accident, but an in-
evitable incident in a great world process that the two
theories joined battle in our civil war and that the nation-
al idea was victorious. We shall learn sometime to ex-
tend our national idea until it becomes international, ac-
18 Some Religiwm Changes
knowledging in practice as in theory the brotherhood of
man. Towards that, the Spirit of God manifested in the
craving for unity, is now tending; ethical systems are bas-
ed upon it, socialism asserts it. In sociology the unitary
idea is supreme. Of course, it would be needless to
prove that it lords it in science likewise. The unity of
force is a fundamental tenet of modern science. And if
force is one, it acts according to like laws in all spheres of
its operation. Hence the unity of law is a necessary cor-
ollary to the unity of force. "The hot vapors of hydro-
gen aud calcium on the surface of the sun" obey the same
laws as the cyclone that sweeps over our Western prairies.
Man is no longer, as of old, separated from the rest of
nature by an unbridged gulf. We are living in a universe.
Thus everywhere, the last fifty years have been signalized
by an increasing demand for unity which has appeared in
the church also. This, then, is the way of the Lord, this
has been the course of the spirit, and every church, to the
degree that it has been the herald and prophet of that
unity, has been in the way of the Lord, wherein lies its
strength.
While the whole church has responded to the new
voice of the Spirit and has moved forward in the way of
its directing, we may well be proud that the part of the
church universal to which we belong has been in the van
of the movement. Fifty years ago, Channing died.
Guided by the spirit, he had seen and taught the unity of
God and the dignity of man as a child of God, and hence
able to discover and know the truth of God. All our
early Unitarian thought rested upon those fundamental
beliefs. But our perception of unity was, as yet, incom-
plete. Somewhat over fifty years ago, in a sermon before
the graduating class of Harvard Divinity school, Dr. A.
P. Peabody explicitely refused the title Christian Minis-
lii Fifty Yearn. 19
ter to anyone who denied the trustworthiness of the Gospel
account of the miracles of Jesus, and Charles Lowe, while
student in the Divinity school, testified in his private diary
to his horror and apprehension when his Professor, Dr.
Noyes, threw doubt upon the reality of the Deluge. The
Bible was still regarded as final and supreme authority.
But even before Charming died, signs of the new day ap-
peared. Two of the rosy fingers of dawn were Emerson's
Divinity school address in 1838 and Theodore Parker's
South Boston sermon in 1841. These men, although
disowned by the Unitarians of their time, were prophets
of a more perfect realization of unity in religion, and* in
their inspiration and along the paths which they indicated,
our church has followed the lead of the spirit still in the
van of advancing Christendom, proclaiming with growing
clearness and strength
"That God, which ever lives and loves,
One God, one law, one element,
And one far-off divine event
To which the whole creation moves."
"The way of the Lord is strength." As a denomi-
nation, we are few in numbers and weak in influence, but
our strength lies in the fact that we are in the way of the
Lord, heralds of the unity of the world in the love eternal.
If we ever fear for our denominational future, that fear is
only the obverse of our absolute trust in our principles
and our perfect faith in the inspiration of the church uni-
versal as the leader of humanity. Would to God that
our mission as a separate body of the Church of God
might speedily terminate. Would that our sister churches
dared put more trust in God and commit themselves fully
to the guidance of the Spirit. Meanwhile we stand, nay
we move, still in the way of the Lord, strong in the con-
sciousness that we are walking with God, and pledged
20 Some Religious Changes
only to that purity of heart and openness of mind which
alone make us worthy of the name we love best to bear
The Church of the Holy Spirit.
of
On the second day of the celebration, Saturday, June
11, the friends and members of the Society assembled in
the church at 10:30 a. m. Mr. J. D. Harvey presided
and the following order of exercises were followed:
Address of Welcome, - Rev. Geo. B. Penney
Paper: Historical Sketch, - Rev. T. H. Eddowes
Singing: Anniversary Hymn, written by Jas. H. West
Paper: Character Sketch of First Pastor, Miss Frances LeBaron
Singing: Dedication Hymn, written by Eben Conant.
Owing to lack of time the following papers which
are . included in the published proceedings were not read.
Incidents and Reminiscences, Rev. L. C. Kelsey
Random Reminiscences, Mrs. Julia Dodson Sheppard
Memories of Early Days, - - Mrs. Maria Le Baron Turner
At the close of the morning session an adjournment
was taken to the home of Mr. Harvey where a collation
was served by the ladies, after which all gathered on the
lawn in the shade of the trees and with Mr. Penney in
the chair responses were made and letters read as follows:
A Cambrian Prophet, Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones
A Man without Guile, - - Mrs. J. D. Harvey
Other Pioneers, Rev. T. B. Forbush
Letter, - Robert Collyer
Early Women, - Mrs. Mary P. Jarvis
The Original Geneva, - - Mr. B. W. Dodson
Poem: Fifty Years, - Mrs. Julia Dodson Sheppard
Letter, - Rev. Jno. R. Effinger
Letter, Prof. Samuel Clark
Cui Bono? - Rev. T. G. Milsted
A Living Saint, Mrs. J. D. Harvey
Response, Rev. T. H. Eddowes
Letter, Rev. Chester Covell
The Illinois Conference, - Rev. L. J. Duncan
Letter, Rev. Jas. H. West
Freedom of Thought and Speech, - Rev. Thos. P. Byrnes
Woman's Relation to Religious Freedom, Mrs. Celia P. Woolley
The Literary Value of the Liberal Faith, Mr. Forrest Crissey
The Centennial Celebration, - Rev. Jas. Vila Blake
f
BY KEV. GEO. B. PENNEY, PASTOR OF THE SOCIETY SINCE
JANUARY, 1892-
V N address of welcome always seems to me a
^{\ useless formality and especially does it seem
J^ ^^ ^^. so on this occasion. It is as though
a family of children had left the home
circle and gone out into the world and in after years, ripe
with the experiences of life, they should come back to the
home of their youth to talk over old times and to plan for
the future; and it is as though as they approach the thresh-
old made sacred by associations and with hearts touched by
memories of those who will not return, they should be
met with an "address of welcome" at their own fireside
by someone who has less right to be there than they have.
But welcome is a gracious word when spoken from
the heart, and I assure you that in the time of prepara-
tion for this celebration our hearts have been full of wel-
come to all who should be with us; and in behalf of the
members and friends of the First Unitarian Society of
Geneva, I welcome you, first to Geneva, to our pure air
and bright sunlight. I welcome you to our homes, assur-
ing you that in accepting our hospitality you leave us the
debtors; and I welcome you- most of all to your share in
this celebration, which shall be, with us, to recall the
memory of those who have gone before, whose lives,
nobly lived, have made this society what it is to-day. In
a word I welcome you to this celebration which is a bond
between the past and the present, and still more binds the
past and present to the future, the future, not of two or
four score years and ten, but the future that reaching be-
yond this life turns our thought to that other glad reunion
in the realm of love and peace.
BY REV. T. H. EDDOWES, PASTOR OF THE SOCIETY 1865 TO '70.
^ ^
HE first meeting to consider the matter of or-
ganizing a church was held May 8, 1842.
Mr. Coiiant, in his journal, notes that "con-
siderable hesitation and doubt whether the proper time had
come was manifested by some. A declaration, of princi-
ples for the formation of a society on the ground of a com-
mon Christian faith without regard to the opinions which
distinguished the different denominations .of Christians,
had been drawn up and circulated, and about twenty
names obtained, but the proposed society was something
different from the old religious associations, and the sub-
ject was reserved for consideration until another meeting. "
May 29, he notes the first communion service in Geneva,
thirteen persons uniting in it. Then June 12, "formed
a society with the name of the First Christian Congrega-
ton of Geneva. There were very few present at the for-
mation of the society, and the prospect of maintaining our
existence as a society was rather dubious."
The first entry in the society is under date of June 5,
24, Historical Sketch.
of a meeting of those friendly to the formation of a soci-
ety in which 'all Christians may unite for religious purpos-
es, ' which was held at the Court House. This entry notes
the first communion as taking place on this date, instead
of May 29, as Mr. Conant's journal has it.
The record for June 12 is very short and only notes
that, "the declaration was read by the chairman, Mr. Co-
nant,'and the purposes and principles of the society ex-
plained," probably by Mr. Conant. "On motion of Chas.
Patten, seconded by S. N. Clark, the declaration was
unanimously adopted." The meeting adjourned to June
26, when the declaration was again commented on and the
constitution generally discussed, at the close of which
each of the twelve articles were separately adopted. On
motion of Scotto Clark, seconded by Samuel Sterling, both
were adopted. The names attached to this constitution
under date of July 2, are those of Scotto Clark, Mrs. S.
A. Clark, (Mrs. Scotto) Augustus H. Conant, Mrs. B. M.
Conant, (Mrs. A. H.) Samuel K. Whiting, Mary J. G.
Whiting, Charles Patten, Mrs. Harriet F. Patten, Samuel
N. Clark, Miss P. H. Patten, (afterwards Mrs. S. N.
Clark) T. L. Cleveland, Mrs. Olivia Cleveland, Samuel
Sterling, Mrs Cornelia Sterling, James Carr, Peter Sears,
Chas. S. Clark, Mrs. Betsey Stelle Carr, Miss Susan S.
Carr, Miss Fayette R. Churchill, Mrs. Harriet N. Dodson.
These entries are not signatures but are probably copies
of those attached to the declaration of principles mention-
ed as "circulated" in Mr. Conant's journal.
The declaration begins as follows: "The undersign
ed, being desirous of promoting practical Godliness in the
world, and of aiding each other in their moral and relig-
ious improvement, have associated themselves together,
not as agreeing in opinion, not as having attained univer-
sal truth in belief, or perfection in character: but as seek-
Organization. 25
ers after truth and goodness, relying on God as their sup-
port and aid, Jesus Christ as their teacher and Saviour,
and the sacred scriptures as their guide, and adopting the
New Testament as their rule of faith and practice. Be-
lieving in God as a Father and acknowledging their obli-
gations of love and obedience to him and to Jesus Christ
as his Ambassador, and recognizing as brethren, the
whole human family, and as Christians, all who manifest
the spirit of Christ. ' '
Then follow the further declarations, that they "regard
a conscientious observance of the ordinance of baptism
as enjoined by Jesus Christ to be the duty of all who be-
lieve the gospel and would yield obedience to its require-
ments." Then follows the declaration that "they esteem
it a high privilege to observe the ordinance of the Lord's
Supper, and that they would joyfully extend the same
privilege to all who feel a sincere desire to commemorate
the Saviour's love." Finally: "and believing further
that meetings for religious instruction and sacred worship
are not only enjoined in the sacred scriptures, but are
highly conducive to religious improvement; they deter-
mine to use all just and reasonable endeavors to sustain
such meetings on the first day of the week and other suit-
able occasions, and to accomplish the object and maintain
the principles set forth in this declaration, they have
under the motto of Liberty, Holiness, Love, adopted the
following constitution." We who are familiar with the
terms of our declaration, do not realize just what it was to
some of those who signed it. There were people of as
widely differing creeds as the Presbyterians and the Uni-
tarians whose names are attached. To us the declaration
that they have associated themselves together, not as
agreeing in opinion, seems the most natural thing possi-
ble. To them it was the saving clause that allowed them
26 Historical /Sketch.
to join forces with all the other moral and religious ele-
ments of the community, for the common good, without
in the least comprising their peculiar beliefs in matters of
doctrine. So literally was their position understood
among themselves that, when removed from Geneva, or
nearer to the churches of their peculiar faiths, or even
when they found other churches willing to admit them to
membership without saying much about their individual
opinions, they felt that there was no inconsistency in
uniting with such. So it happens that members of this
society were or are also members of the Methodist, Bap-
tist, Orthodox Congregational, and I suppose, still other
communions. I am told that there was a feeling among
them that in signing this paper they were not uniting with
a church but only joining a society; a feeling which was
afterwards confirmed by the custom which was then fol-
lowed of administering the form of baptism, and that of a
public profession, to some whose names were upon this
roll, but not to all.
As late as 1855 Mr. Conant began keeping a parish
record in which he -noted the names and occupations of
each of those whom he considered as being in his parish
and among the other data, he notes their denominational
connections, and puts down Methodists, Episcopalians,
Presbyterians, Romanists, Lutherans, Universalists, Scotch
Seceders and one as "Quakerish." The church record
contains the names in various offices and on committees of
persons who were afterward connected with the other
churches of the town. In the days when the pews were
rented the name of each tenant on a printed slip was
attached and it struck me as very strange when I came
in 1865 to see such names as Mayburn, -Wells, Hollis-
ter and others among them, as those persons were then
connected with the other churches of the place.
Organization, 27
The first article of the constitution announces the ti-
tle of the society, as that of "First Christian Congregation
of Geneva." The second says, "All persons who are sin-
cerely desirous of promoting the objects of the society
may become members." As originally adopted, no con-
dition of observance of any form, or signature was called
for. In 1870 this article was amended to read, "may
become members by signing this constitution:" Decem-
ber 14, 1845, Article XIII was adopted which might be
construed as in some measure modifying the declaration.
It reads: "The land and the house of religious worship of
which the First Christian Congregation have come in pos-
session in the use of funds received through the treasurer
of the American Unitarian Association from the Unitarian
Society in Roxbury, Mass., of which Rev. George Put-
nam is pastor, and others aiding them, and of funds con-
tributed by members of the First Christian Congregation,
and others, for the purposes to which they have been ap-
plied, and appropriated to the purpose and object of ad-
vancing and diffusing the truths and doctriues of Unitari-
an Christianity and of the declaration of the First Christ-
ian Congregation, according to the laws of the state of
Illinois concerning religious societies."
In 1870 Article VI was amended by specifying that
the officers of the society should be elected for one year
and until their successors were elected. Article X was
made to read: "This constitution may be altered or amen-
ded by a vote of two-thirds of the members present at any
regular meeting." In 1884 the declaration and constitu-
tion were so changed and amended to stand as at the pres-
ent time. The principal change is in the declaration, by
which all reference to any belief or form is excluded.
This was not done because the society does not believe
anything, but because it was thought sufficient to put
28 Historical
its basis on the simple ground of sympathy in the desire
for and work of promoting practical goodness in the world
and of aiding each other in moral and religious improve-
ment. Broad as the declaration was for the day in which
it was written, it was found that the observance of the
forms of baptism and the Lord's Supper, which it assert-
ed to be the duty of believers to observe, had practically
fallen into disuse. It was also apparent that in the ordi-
nary course of events, beliefs must so change that no
statement of opinion or creed could possibly cover the be-
liefs of any progressive society for all time. It was also
seen that people could unite for the promotion of practical
goodness, who had widely differing views in religious and
theological matters.
I find that Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Is-
land and New York were all represented in the organiza-
tion of the society. Massachusetts sent out the Clarks
and Pattens, who represented the cultivated Boston Uni-
tarianism of that date. A Unitarianism which accepted
miracles, the miraculous birth among them, and which had
not made itself very clear as to the future state of punish-
ment and reward; but it was the most advanced thought
of its day, and as far as it had gone, as true to our mov-
ing spirit of rationalism as the most advanced type of to-
day. It was the same spirit that was so native to all New
England, that when the Carrs from Maine also came with
their freer but no less refined ideals of social life, and the
Conants from Vermont, with their Puritan standards and
old time sturdiness in their ability to give a reason for the
faith that was in them, they naturally fused into a whole
as the First Christian Congregation of Geneva. Clarks,
Carrs and Conants, a trinity of Cs, that suggests that
Personal. 29
they had also a trinitarian combination of culture, courage,
and constancy that brought about the Unitarian result
which we celebrate so gratefully to-day.
As may be seen by our society record and the history
of the town, the Episcopalians were early on the ground,
and Mrs. Patten, (Miss H. Clark,) told me that it was a
matter of very serious consideration with her father's fam-
ily, whether they ought not to work with them. I under-
stand that it was only because they thought the liberal ba-
sis would reach more people, that they did not organize an
Episcopal church.
We now come to the grateful task of recalling the
characters of the leading spirits in this devout and courag-
eous band. While all were worthy of special mention,
time will permit of only a few being so brought forward.
First comes Scotto Clark. Coming to the place
about 1837, in middle life or later, to retrieve the fortune
he had lost in the east, he seems to have been of the New
England type which we know so well, with its intelli-
gence, its moral worth and its matter-of-course loyality
to its standards of conviction and duty. I have not suc-
ceeded in finding any reminisences of him that would
bring him before us in a vivid way. The most I can tell
you about him is the respectful tone in which he is always
mentioned, and the often reiterated assertion that the
foundation of the society was owing to him, and the fact
that he seems to have been the one to whom the younger
people turned as to their mutual leader in the enterprise.
It certainly was not with money that he founded the
church, but with the stronger foundation stones of a noble
character, a fine devotion and a bold determination to do
simply all that lay in his power for the establishment of a
church for the good of the society. His name heads the
list of men's signatures to the declarations as copied in the
SO Historical Sketch.
record. It appears first in the proceedings of the society
as chairman of the building committee that was chosen to
supervise the erection of this house. He was chairman
of the committee on parish library and in September
1843 was elected one of the trustees.
Under date of October 13, 1844-, Mr. Conant writes
in his journal: "Preached the funeral discourse of Mr.
Scotto Clark, a worthy and efficient member of my society,
one of my most zealous friends and supporters, and
who was chiefly instrumental in procuring my settlement
in Geneva. In the death of Mr. Clark, our village has
lost one of its best citizens. A public spirited, upright,
judicious and useful man. His hospitality and kindness
of heart endeared him to a large circle of acquaintances,
and his strict integrity and conscientiousness inspired re-
spect and confidence in those who best knew his character. ' '
Only seven years had he lived in the place, his death oc-
curring in little more than two years after the founding
of the society.
Mrs. Clark lived till 1870. She was in every way a
woman fitted to be the wife of such a man. There is
the same respectful mention of her and the same lack of
the specific instances that would have brought her charac-
ter before us in a lifelike way. In her latest years she
withdrew from society altogether owing to the infirmities
of age. Though she lived five years after I came to Ge-
neva, I met her only once. Soon after my coming her
interest in the new minister led her to exchange a few
words with me. As I recall the venerable figure and the
intense earnestness of the face, it comes to me to-day
that it was a privilege to look into it; and through the
clasp of her hand, surely there might have come an influ-
ence that made me a kind of apostolic successor to those
who had labored so devotedly for the cause we both loved.
Personal. 31
It was indeed a beautiful hand if what one does gives a
higher beauty to that member than the accident of phys-
ical proportion.
The one record of a specific action of her's which
we have left is of the time she lived with her son Charles
in Elgin, about 1849. A colony of Swedes landed there,
and before they could find shelter, were attacked by the
cholera. Mrs. Clark went to their help when others stood
aloof, and ministered to them in spite of the difficulties of
communicating with them ; and one of the items of the
story tells us, how one woman died holding her bible in
one hand and Mrs. Clark's hand in the other, .and with a
smile on her face. When I came here in 1865. it was
said, that as the result of that beneficence, the Swedes
would do anything for the Clark family. 1 well remem-
ber how her sympathetic interest in church life prompted
her to send me messages from time to time through Mrs.
Patten, though she would never, see me.
It is natural to pass from so worthy a mother to her
equally worthy daughters. It is easy to understand what
a satisfaction it must have been to the parents to know
that that they were leaving their work to be carried on by
such devoted children as Mrs. Harriet Patten, Mrs. Caro-
line Wilson and Mrs. Ellen Davis. It is good to know
that so many who hear me to-day can recall with me,
without help of my weak words, the devotion of these
women to this church. It was my fortune to be the last
pastor under whom they were fully active in their con-
genial work. I had not been twenty-four hours in the
town before I was told that this is a "woman's church,"
and it did not take me long to find out that it was the de-
votion of these two sisters that gave it that name. They
were indeed well seconded by Mrs. Dodson, Mrs. LeBar-
on, Miss Carr, Mrs." Cleveland, and later, Mrs. Whiting,
32 Historical Sketch
Mrs. Larrabee, Mrs. Geo. Patten, and others whose
names are only a memory to the older members. One
felt that Mrs. Wilson's ideals were of the highest, and
her constant aim was to have for her church the best that
could be found or afforded. Mrs. Patten's enthusiasm
for Unitarianism was not long in making itself felt. I
remember hearing her call herself a "bigoted" Unitarian.
But though she might use the term to express her sense
of devotion to the cause, we know that bigotry was im-
possible to her broad charity, warm heart and intelligent
mind. The beautiful hospitality of her home to all who
might come in the name of Unitarianism makes her mem-
ory a fragrant one in the hearts of every one eo fortunate
as to be her guest. It was a home which might be said
to be consecrated to the use of the church, so generous
was her entertainment, so frequent the use of the home
for church gatherings of all kinds. Mrs. Davis gave as
heartily as her two sisters, of her home and talents to the
use of the society, but her marriage was followed by a
change of residence which prevented so long a devotion
to the church as the others gave.
Unique among the women of this society, and indeed
of any society, stands the name of Miss Susan Sophia
Carr, one of the original signers who is with us to-day;
the only one who has never lost her interest or slackened
her work in all these fifty years. The others by death or
removal terminated their active interest but, when her
removal to her brother's farm at Batavia compelled her to
give up the Sunday School class she had taught from the
beginning, she still, by her dainty needle work and active
assistance during fairs and special occasions, kept herself
in touch with the society. Upon her return, after four
years absence, she became as before one of the most active
in her attendance at church, and in the aid society where
Personal. 33
her work is always in demand, on account of her beauti-
ful stitches; besides which, she has always contributed
generously from her very limited income. It is rarely
that a church can show a record like this, of fifty years of
uninterrupted and enthusiastic devotion to its interests,
especially in this western world where change is the order
of the day.
I purposely omitted from the list of seconders of these
two the name of Mrs. S. N. Clark, because it belongs not
among those who seconded but with those who were sec-
onded. In one sense this church building is her monu-
ment. In another place is mention of the part she took
in obtaining the money in Boston and Roxbury which se-
cured the erection of this house. On her account I look
forward with regret to the day which is almost sure to
come, when the society shall feel that it needs another
building. I wish to suggest here, that when that time
does come no building should be erected as a church for
the use of this society without having somewhere on its
walls a memorial of Polly H. Clark; not alone because
she was so strongly instrumental in the building of its
first house of worship, but because that was but the begin-
ning of a devotion to the interests of this society which
was all the more earnest for its unobtrusiveness. Her
means, her time and strength were amply given to further
our interests. I do not think 1 go beyond the require-
ments of delicacy of feeling in saying that the interest she
showed in the church during the last ten or fifteen years
of her active connection with it was, I suspect, to her a
tender memorial of her husband, Samuel Nye Clark.
Coming to the town in the first flush of what his
after life showed must have been a consecrated manhood,
he has left behind a record of one of the noblest charac-
ters which has ennobled and sanctified the name of this
34 Historical Sketch.
church. That she was the fitting wife for such a man is
all that need be said of her. She has been described as
a woman who always lamented that she was not able
to do more, and thinking it not wise to attempt this or
that enterprise in church matters, ended by doing
more than anyone else, showing the forethought and
wisdom that resulted, as one has said of her, in her being
"the one who filled the lamps and saw that everything
was brought" that was needed on all special occasions.
When I came here nine years after Mr. Clark's death
I never heard his memory revived without tenderness or
his name mentioned without allusion to the saintliness of
his character and his devotedness to the church. Of this
last the church record fortunately gives full evidence as
the entries of the first twelve years are in his handwriting ;
the last being made only a fortnight before the date of his
funeral as recorded in Mr. Conant's diary.
He says of him there, briefly and feelingly,
under date of July 22, 1856. "Attended the funeral of
Brother S. N. Clark, my Sunday School Superintendent
and my intimate and dear friend. The loss to me and to
the society in the death of Brother Clark is irreparable.
He was a model of manly and Christian excellence. One
whose presence was a benediction and whose life made
earth more like heaven. God be thanked that he lived
among us."
It is a matter of satisfaction to know that one of Mr.
Clark's sons has served the society as Sunday School Su-
perintendent and the other as trustee and in business com-
mittees. His grandchildren have been pupils in the
school he worked for so long,
A friend has handed me the following note which
appears to be a copy of an item sent to one of the de-
nominational papers and written in 1857 or '58:
Personal. 35
"Geneva, Illinois, is now enjoying the ministrations
of Rev. G. W. Woodward, formerly of Galena. He has
preached only a few weeks to a congregation somewhat
disheartened by a variety of depressing experiences, but
there are already evidences of rising courage and an earn-
est and determined spirit of perseverance in sustaing pub-
lic worship in Geneva. As in some other places, there are
some noble women who love the church and its wor-
ship and who 'never say die.' Their former pas-
tor was in the place a few days ago; the church door
stood open and he stepped in. There were the ladies of
the society^ not a delegation of their servants in
their own proper persons and with their own fair hands
with soap and brush cleaning the church they loved so
well and in the neat appearance of which they always
felt a noble, womanly pride. After standing for some
moments unobserved, he interrupted the cheerful conver-
sation and earnest work by inquiring if what he saw was
an attempt at a practical illustration of 'washing the
saints' feet. ' They confessed that what they were doing
partook of that nature, for they said that when they came
to the pew occupied by the widow and orphans of the
excellent and deeply loved Superintendent, Samuel N.
Clark, no one was allowed the honor of washing it alone
but all assisted as an expression of their profound respect
and fervent love."
Next on my list comes the name of Ebeu Conant.
I count it one of my great privileges to have known him
for the last five years of his life though he died at the age
of ninety-five. His peculiarities of appearance and man-
ner did not make him an attractive person. Yet every
one who mentioned "Grandfather Conant" did it with a
tone of respect that would come in as a sort of mental res-
ervation, even when speaking in an amused way of his
36 Historical Sketch.
peculiarties.
It was generally thought that he was lacking in the high-
er development of the emotions, yet I am suspicious that it
was not so much a lack of feeling as the want of the
power of expression in the common way. I have heard
him say that he could see no beaut} in flowers, and the
sound of a fiddle made him feel like running. Yet he
was a man of such a profound conviction of the importance
of duty, so great a reverence for God, so large a faith in
man, so strong a confidence in the saving power of truth,
that out of all these he stood forth the eminently religious
man; and a man who was religious by the force of his in-
tellectual convictions. His Unitarianism was the result
of his own thinking. Theological and religious matters
were of the highest interest to him. Out of his orthodox
education had come such a habit of regarding the bible as
the source of wisdom and guidance in those matters that
he made it the great study of his life. It was a revelation
indeed to hear him talk on such topics and note the natu-
ral way in which his thought found scriptural language.
No Professor of biblical exegesis could show such depth of
meaning, such variety of shade, such profusion of sugges-
tions, as this homely old man, by the simple natural tone
and emphasis he employed in quoting scripture.
It was the power of such convictions and the power
of such a character that he brought to the upbuilding of
this church.
We come next to the names of William and Sarah
LeBaron. Theirs was another of the instances so fortu-
nate for the society, in which marriage was not a failure.
Their common interest in the liberal faith and the welfare
of this society would have made a marriage that would
have withstood the strongest test to which the relation
might be put. Dr. LeBaron was a graduate of the Har-
Personal. 37
vard Medical School which profession in that day was the
one in which, in this country, a scientific education could
best be obtained. His mind and temperament led him
naturally to the pursuit of science and so "true to his
own self" was he that he achieved an European reputa-
tion as an entomologist from a locality so obscure as this.
It was this scientific mind with his tender heart, his quick
and practical sympathy that made him a natural born
Unitarian. He was too, the man on whom naturally fell
the mantle of Samuel N. Clark as church factotum.
Their terms of official services were nearly the same, Dr.
LeBaron serving as trustee for eleven consecutive years.
His signature was given to the church roll in 1845 and
from that date to 1856 he was elected trustee and in 1862,
1866 and 1870 he was chosen to be secretary and treasurer.
He carried the church so deeply in his heart that he
wrote up the record from memory when he first took
charge of the books. The temptation to dwell upon the
memory of this man is strong because I am writing from
my personal knowledge.
This special mention of those who have given whole-
hearted service to the church would be incomplete without
the name of Robert Long, Sr. He was not among the
earlier comers, but living among us for twenty-six years,
his zeal and earnestness increased with his years. Though
he died at the age of eighty-six the last years of his life were
the best in church work. His clear head, loyal heart, and
liberal hand have been greatly missed since his departure.
I must content myself, and probably disappoint some
of you, by saying only that his character and attainments
were of such worth as to add to the value of the religious
faith to which he gave his adherence and to help conse-
crate the cause for which he worked.
It ought to add much to our appreciation of our faith
38 Historical Sketch.
to know that it commanded the loyalty of such persons as
Scotto and Samuel Clark, the enthusiasm of Harriet Patten
and Caroline Wilson, the devotedness of Polly Clark and
faithful service of William and Sarah LeBaron and Rob-
ert Long. I have not spoken of these men and women
because their Unitarianism was a credit to them, but be-
cause they were a credit to Unitarianism.
Turning to more general considerations of the mem-
bership we find that five signers of the Declaration of 1842
are still living; Mrs. Samuel Clark, Mrs. A. H. Conant,
Mrs. Wm. Conant (whose name was Mrs. Olivia Cleveland),
Mrs. David Hanchett, (whose signature was Fayette
Churchill) and Miss Susan Sophia Carr.* One hundred
and forty -four names have been attached to the constitu-
tion in the fifty years, ninety-two of women and fifty-two
of men.
It is interesting to note among these names six of one
family, that of Thomas and Rachel Moulding; these with
three of the Middletons and John B. Gulley and John
Eddowes, were born in England, while Joseph and Ann
Williams were from Wales.
I pause on these names for the interest there is for
me in the fact that a colony of liberals from Old England
should have come to associate with that first New Eng-
land Colony in a common interest in liberalism.
So much I make room to say about the members by
signature. But how shall I speak of the membership,
which I suspect is much larger in numbers in every de-
nomination, which might be called the membership by as-
sociation or of the spirit. I refer to the large constituen-
cy which it is the lot of most churches to have. They
are the people who attend the church from various motives.
*NOTE: Mrs. A. H. Conant, Mrs. Wm. Conant and Miss Carr
attended the Semi-centennial celebration.
Church Building. 39
Among them are to be found some of the most ardent
supporters of the faith and those who have been the most
self-sacrificing in the matters of giving time and strength,
and the most generous in their donations of money. I can-
not pause even to name them.
What was the first place of meeting I -have not been
able to determine. Private houses, a store on the east
side where the Gully residence now stands, then occupied
by Peter Sears, a log schoolhouse near the river, and the
old Court House on the site of the present Swedish Luth-
eran church, and the basement of the American House
are all mentioned as being occupied at various times.
Each place had its peculiar discomforts. The store
had so much whisky stored in its cellar as to make the
"vile odor" of it a nuisance to the temperance people at
least, and probably a source of inattention to those who
were not temperate. The log schoolhouse was cold, and
the scampering of the mice on the rafters, which were '
visible for lack of plastering, afforded the children relief
from the weariness of services they may not have
comprehended.
The history of the present building begins with a
note in Mr. Conant's Journal under date of January 17,
1843. He says: "Received a letter from Miss P. H.
Patten, a young lady who was in Geneva, and who be-
came a member of our society at its formation but who
has since returned to Roxbury, informing us that she was
making preparations for a fair to aid our society. That
she and her sister, (afterwards Mrs. Eastman) had visited
Mr. Briggs, general secretary of the American Unitarian
Association, to ascertain if anything could be obtained of
the Association to aid us to build a church in Geneva, and
40 Historical Sketch.
that he suggested that we make known our wants through
the Christian Register. According to the suggestion of
Mr. Briggs, on February 21 I wrote for the Register an
account of our situation and wants, and an appeal for aid
to build a church."
The letter referred to has been found in the files of
the Christian Register under date of March 18, 1843, as
well as other articles referring to the matter:
(From Christian Register of March 18, 1843.)
GENEVA, KANE COUNTY, ILLINOIS, February 21 , 1843.
Messrs. Editors:
As I have not the pecuniary means to visit the East to make
an appeal to the religious sympathies of our brethren, I would be
glad of a little space in the columns of the Register to make known
to the liberal-minded and warm-hearted of our faith, in New Eng-
land, the situation and wants of our infant society in Geneva. That
there may be no misaprehension with regard to the importance of
the place and its claims to consideration on this ground, I will re-
mark that it is not a place of great magnitude nor in a very flour-
ishing condition at this time. The mania for speculation in "Town-
seats," a few years since, operated seriously against its growth and
. prosperity. The original proprietors demanded so high a price for
lots that few purchases were made. But that mania has now sub-
sided; property can now be purchased at a reasonable price, and we
look for a change for the better. It is the seat of Justice for Kane
county, has a good water-power and with regard to convenience
for building and pleasant natural scenery it is as well situated as
any village in the West. What we consider of most importance,
however, is the country around it. and its central location with re-
gard to other places. It is a fertile, healthy and already well pop-
ulated region, six thriving villages within twelve miles, and it
may be made the center of religious influence for a wide extent.
Our society, which is established on the broad grounds of
common Christianity, was organized June 12, 1842. In the words
of our Declaration, ' 'We have associated ourselves together to pro-
mote practical godliness in the world, and aid each other in moral
and religious improvement; not as agreeing in opinion, not as hav-
ing attained universal truth in belief, or perfection in character,
but as seekers after truth and goodness. Relying on God as our
support and aid, Jesus Christ as our Teacher and Sayiour, and the
sacred Scriptures as our guide, and adopting the New Testament
as our rule of faith and practice, recognizing as brethren the whole
Church Building. J^l
human family, and as Christians all who manifest the spirit of
Christ."
There is no other religious society in the place, and Episcopal-
ians, Presbyterians and Baptists have united with our society and
meet with us for worship. Though embracing such a variety in
doctrinal opinions, our number is small; less than forty names are
attached to our Declaration, and the number of efficient members
is less than thirty. None of us are rich in the the things of this
world, but I trust some are rich in faith and good purpose.
Feeble as we are, we are ready to put forth what strength we
have, and we believe that the principles we have adopted are
mighty, and need only a fair opportunity to secure a glorious
triumph.
We are at present suffering great inconvenience for want of a
suitable place in which to hold meetings. The Court House, in
which we have held meetings in summer, is out of repair and with-
out a stove. During the present winter we have sometimes held
our meetings on the Sabbath in a private house, and at other times
in a small room erected for a grocery or store-room for ardent
spirits, but now occupied during the week as a school-room. The
room, though so dark as to be very inconvenient, is very open, the
walls plastered only in part, loose boards overhead and wide cracks
in the floor admitting the strong and abominable odor of alcohol
from the cellar, and the cold air from every side without. In ad-
dition to other discomforts, the smoke has forced tears other than
those of emotion from our eyes, and I have sometimes shivered
with the cold to such a degree that distinct articulation was almost
impossible. Notwithstanding these inconveniences some of our
society come four of five miles and attend meeting regularly. But
those who have not firm nerve and constitution dare not expose
themselves, and remain at home, and those who are not interested
in religion feel little disposition to endure the inconvenience.
Unless we can have a more suitable place in which to hold
meetings, our society, if it does not utterly perish, will fail to ac-
complish the design of its formation. A congregation cannot be
kept together under the circumstances in which we are placed.
If the inconveniences we suffer were conducive to the interests
of religion, we would scorn to mention them. It is not for these
inconveniences that we care, or of these that we would complain;
but it is that they stand in the way of our doing that for which we
would willingly endure much more. They weaken our efforts, frus-
trate our plans, and prevent the opportunity of exerting the little
influence we may possess.
This is the evil we feel most deeply, and it is this which has
compelled us to speak of our condition. If the remedy were in our
own power, we should never have troubled others with an account
of these circumstances or asked for aid. But it is not, and we be-
4-2 Historical Sketch.
lieve fidelity to the cr.use of our Master requires that we make
this statement.
We do not wish for a splendid church with a lofty spire, a
cushioned pulpit and carpeted aisles, but we wish for a place where
we may have space and light and comfcrt; where the sufferings of
the outward shall not take our attention from the wants of the in-
ward life. A place consecrated to religion and to the worship of
God. We do not ask others to make sacrifice for us equal to what
we are willing to make for ourselves. Those who do not see and
experience, cannot be expected to have the knowledge and feel-
ings of those who do. All we would ask is, that those who cherish
the same principles and feel an interest in their maintenance and
spread in the world, would contribute of "their abundance" to the
supply of "our want."
We think that five hundred dollars, with what we can do our-
selves, will enable us to erect such a building as we need, and for
this sum we appeal to the religious sympathies of our brethren in
New England.
We do not expect large contributions from individuals, but we
hope many will be disposed in this case to test from experience the
truth of the saying, ''It is more blessed to give than to receive."
"If there be a willing mind it will be accepted according to what a
man hath and not according to what he hath not." The moun-
tain is composed of grains, and we hope none will feel that the
offering of "two mites" will be of no importance. Contributions
will be received by Rev. Charles Briggs, General Secretary, A. U.
A., and Mr. David Page. Boston. Individuals and societies from
a distance may perhaps in some cases forward their contributions
to Boston by clergymen who attend the May meetings.
Yours in the faith and love of Christ,
A. H. C.
(From the Christian Register of April 1, 1843.)
Extract from a letter from a gentleman in Geneva, Kane
county, Illinois, to his friend in Boston:
I have heard to-day two most excellent discourses from the
Rev. Mr. Conant. Knowing the great interest you feel in the
Unitarian cause, I will endeavor to give you some idea of the trials
of a Western preacher as I am sure you will appreciate the en-
ergy and indefatigable zeal of this true disciple of our great Mas-
ter. Mr. Conant is settled at -Geneva, where he preaches every
other Sunday, and devotes the alternate Sabbaths to the neighbor-
ing towns. Neither the most tempestuous weather nor intense
cold prevents his being punctual to his engagements. He frequent-
ly has appointments for one day at places six, eight and ten miles
apart, and although sometimes he finds only three or four hearers
he is never disheartened, but renews his appointments with per-
Church Building. 1$
feet faith that the great truths he preaches need only to ba known
to conquer existing prejudices. He meets sometimes with much
opposition, but still he finds in many places persons who, although
members of other churches, exclaim with surprise on hearing the
Unitarian doctrine, "That is what I have always believed." One
old man was so much pleased with Mr. Conant the other evening,
that when the services were ended he came forward and presented
him with a shilling. This is a fair sample of Mr. Conant's compen-
sation. All he receives is from his paople in Geneva, and he asks
of them merely a support, which is generally given in the produce
of the country, after the fashion of our Puritan ancestors. Fortu-
nately Mr. Conant has some kind friends at the East. The duties
of his profession appear with him a perfect labor of love. You who
enjoy such privileges with regard to Unitarian preaching can
scarcaly realize its value to those who, having emigrated to the
West in its wildest state, have been deprived for years of all
preaching save that to be heard at a camp-meeting or from some
traveling preacher The Unitarians have no regular place of wor-
ship at Geneva. The building they now occupy is unfinished, and
so cold that many of Mr. C.'s most zealous friends are deterred
from attendance. You may hope that I am not amongst the miss-
ing, but I must plead guilty when the thermometer is much below
zero. This morning's discourse, which was a clear statement of
the Unitarian doctrine, and which would have done credit to any
Eastern preacher, was delivered to an audience of twenty in a
log building, witn only one room about eighteen by twenty, and
occupied by two families. This evening Mr. C. preached to quite
a large audience at the town of Batavia, in the Episcopal church
which building is very liberally opened to his use. The Unitarian
doctrine, though slowly, is very perceptibly spreading in this vi-
cinity, but the greatest fault of our good pastor is, that he blames
himself for the want of zeal in others, not considering that one may
plant and water, but cannot regulate the size of the tree or the
rapidity of its growth.
(No signature.)
The same issue of the Register (April 1) contained
also a letter from "a young man" of Batavia, in behalf of
the church for Mr. Conant. But it contains nothing not
included (substantially) in the previous quotations.
In the Register for May 13, 1843, is the following:
UNITARIAN SOCIETY AT GENEVA.
Our readers will be pleased to hear that the Rev. Mr. Conant,
who has labored long and faithfully in Geneva and its neighbor-
44 Historical Sketch.
hood in the cause of 'Christian truth and holiness, is about to ex-
perience a very gratifying reward of his labors in the erection of
a commodious place of worship.
On the first of the month the ladies of Roxbury held a fair, at
the Hall of the Norfolk House, with the express purpose of aiding
in the erection of the Geneva church. There was evidence of a
prevalent desire to aid in the promotion of a purpose so benevolent
and praiseworthy. A large company assembled and gave substan-
tial testimony of their interest in the cause. The company assem-
bled was addressed by Rev. Messrs. Putnam and Clarke, and by
Hon. J. Chapman, J. C. Park, Esq., and Mr. Huidekoper, who
urged the importance of seconding and encouraging the efforts of
our Western brethren for the erection of a suitable place of
worship.
In the Register of August 19 are printed the "Reso-
lutions" of the Geneva Society, acknowledging the re-
ceipt of $800. 00, and signed by A. H. Conant, S. N.
Clark, and S. K. Whiting.
May 20, 1843, Scotto Clark, Leonard J. Carr, Amasa
White, Chas. Patten and Samuel K. Whiting were appoint-
ed a building committee; C. B. Dodson and Peter Sears,
committee to solicit contributions from Geneva and vicin-
ity. There is no record of the laying of the corner stone,
but I have often heard Mrs. Harriet Patten refer to the
people who attended the ceremony and incidents connected
with it. Mrs. Augustus Conant informs us that there is
deposited in the stone a sealed box containing church pa-
pers to date, a fact which should be borne in mind if this
building is ever removed. There are some faint recollect-
ions of how the church was built by contributed labor as
well as money; the Carr brothers leaving their farm
work to haul stone and Mr. Conant working with his
hands as well as with his head and heart. The commun-
ion table he made is still preserved in a private house.
Under date of April 9, 1854, is a record covering
the time from January, 1843, to July, 1845, which sums
up the account for the building which cost $954. The
Church Building. 45
over the $800 sent from Boston being credited to
subscriptions; the amount raised by Messrs. Dodson
and Sears, it is to be inferred. Under date of December
30, 1843, it is recorded that Wednesday, January 24,
1844, was fixed upon as the day for dedicating the church.
It does not -appear whether it was occupied then for the
first time.
It is gratifying to note that at this meeting it was
voted "that the Rev. Mr. Alanson (Episcopal Clergyman)
may occupy the church every alternate Sunday in the ab-
sence of the pastor. ' ' The dedication took place as ar-
ranged. According to the record the Revs. Walworth,
Nicholsen and Harrington, the last of Chicago, and Mr.
Arthur B. Fuller of Belvidere took part in the exercises.
The sermon was preached by Mr. Conant from the text
"Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good
will toward men." A singularly appropriate text, when
we remember the discomforts of previous meeting places,
and the earnest devotedness of some of the people which
must have made them feel that "Glory to God!" was the
truest expression of their feelings of triumph and joy in
their own consecrated house of worship. The vote be-
fore its dedication to offer the use of the house to anoth-
er denomination gave ample proof that it was indeed good
will toward men that should be preached within its walls
in deeds as well as words. Original hymns were contri-
buted for the occasion by Isaac McLellan (a minor poet
of the day) and Eben Conant, father of the pastor.
No record regarding the building occurs for seven
years, when there is a call for an estimate for painting
and other repairs. In October, 1851, is the first entry of
funds furnished by the ladies for the above purpose.
In May, 1855 a meeting is called to consider the
propriety of enlarging the church. It is noted that "if
4-6 Historical Sketch.
the amount of $600 is subscribed we shall proceed to the
enlargement of the church at once. ' ' Luther Dearborn,
Chas. Patten, Wm. LeBaron and C. B. Wells are
committee on soliciting subscriptions. In one week the
committee reported $565 raised with enough in prospect
to make the $600. Wm. LeBaron, Jarvis Danford, Jos.
Williams, and Eben Conant comprised the building com-
mittee. In 1856 the account for building purposes is re-
corded as $644.22.
After a break of eighteen years a meeting was called
January 17, 1874, at which a committee (S. W. Curtis,
W. W. Ormsbee and W. O. Clark) is appointed to es-
timate on repairs to "make the church comfortable." On
the 25th at another meeting the committee is not ready
to report and Miss Rebecca. Eddowes and Miss Esther M.
Orton are added to the committee; being the second entry
of the appointment of women' on church business. On
the 26th the work was begun which resulted in replaster-
ing as well as furring the walls which had before been
plastered on the stone; wainscoting, new floor, new en-
trance, new book cases, new carpet, new platform and
new chandeliers were put in and the Sunday School met
on April 19. The cost was $1054. 02, to which the Unity
church of Chicago gave $100 and Mrs. Eben Conent $100,
A two days meeting was held April 21 and 22 to cele-
brate the reopening at which the Revs. Balch of Elgin,
Gorton of Aurora, Hunting of Davenport, Iowa, G. W.
Fatten, G. W. Cooke and Hewitt of Oak Park and Steb-
bins of Ithaca, N. Y., were present. In August, 1879, a
meeting was called to consider the matter of reseating the
church which resulted in securing $459 for that purpose.
October 5, 1879, a vote of thanks is recorded to Walter
D. and Maria C. (LeBaron) Turner for the gift of windows.
In 1891 the platform was altered, the church recarpeted
Pastor ate*. Ifl
and papered, and a chimney added to the west end, at a
cost of $255.
Up to the present time seven ministers have been
regularly employed as pastors, their combined time of
service amounting to thirty-six years. Of these Mr. Con-
ant occupied sixteen, Mr. Woodward three and one-third,
your historian four, Mr. Herbert six, Mr. West three
and one-half, Mr. Byrnes three. One term of regu-
lar lay service for six months and another of a year
have been maintained. These with the two periods of six
months each of regular supply by Mr. Hibbard of the
Universalist church of Aurora, with the other occasional
supplies make it safe to say that services have been kept
up forty years of the fifty. There are two breaks in the
record, one of six years from 1856 to 1862, and one of
two years from 1880 to 1882, in which no record is kept;
though in 1862 Dr. LeBaron sums up the pulpit record
for the time. -
The principal events of Mr. Coiiant's time are so
fully treated in the paper of Miss LeBaron that but little
is left to mention here. I note that fifty-eight names
were -signed during his pastorate.
Of Mr. Woodward's pastorate the records show that
he came to Geneva in connection with other business.
After Mr. Conant removed to Rockford in July, 1857,
Mr. Woodward volunteered to supply the pulpit during
the autumn and apart of the winter. In march, 1858 he
was invited to take the office of pastor, which he retained
till January 1, 1862. As there are no records made dur-
ing this time, I have tried to get some idea of the nature
of the work done in the church, and find that Mr. Wood-
ward's work seems to have been largely in a social way
48 Historical /Sketch.
among the younger people.
The society held lay services till June, 1862, when
they listened to Rev. A. H. Hibbard of the Universalist
church of Aurora and made an engagement with him to
supply the pulpit on alternate Sundays. This engage-
ment could only be fulfilled during the summer, as the
distance and the state of the roads prevented its being
carried on in winter.
During the winter of 1862 and 1863 the pulpit was
supplied by Rev. J. B. C. Beaubien, a Presbyterian
clergyman who had been born in the Catholic church.
Soon after Scotto Clark's family swarmed from the
West church of Boston to found this tabernacle in north-
eastern Illinois, another family, whose connection had
been with the First Unitarian church of Philadelphia, was
settling over in the northwestern corner of the state at Ga-
lena. On one of his missionary trips Mr. Conant went as
far as Galena and made the acquaintance of this family.
He held a service in their parlor to which were summoned
all such as were supposed or known to be interested in
such preaching. The youngest member of the family
stood at his mother's knee through the service, and has
to-day a recollection of the little, ruddy faced man, stand-
ing behind a light stand with a bible and two tallow can-
dles, in brass candle sticks, upon it, and wondering what it
all meant. It was through the endeavors of this family to
start a Unitarian church in Galena, that Mr. Woodward
was induced to come to Illinois. It was a hard struggle
which ended in failure to accomplish that object. It was
largely through the good offices of Mr. Woodward's
family, though they were not residing here at the time,
that the boy who stood at his mother's knee through that
missionary service, was installed as the successor of Mr.
Conant and Mr. Woodward in 1865. His life since
Pastorates. Ifl
that time has been so intimately connected with the society
that the office of historian on this occasion falls naturally
to him.
I found the church blooming in a new coat of paint
on the inside, the ground newly enclosed on the outside
and a warm welcome awaiting me. In some ways, Sep-
tember, 1865 was an interesting time to take up church
work. The date amply indicates the political situation,
while in denominational circles the smoke of the great
battle between radical and conservative Unitarians had
hardly cleared away. My ordination was the first in the
history of the society. Robert Collyer and C. A. Staples
with D. M. Reed a Universalist from Rockford, took all
the parts between them, Mr. Staples preaching the ser-
mon, Mr. Collyer giving the ordaining prayer and right
hand, Mr. Reed the charge to the candidate. The engage-
ment was renewed for three years successively; then there
was a year's absence and another year's engagement.
As the summing up of my work, I think I may say
that the society was guided into the ranks of the progress-
ive Unitarianism, and that the Sunday School library was
made an efficient arm of the services. My last sermon as
pastor was given in November, 1870.
In June, 1874, Mr. Herbert first came among us. He
came to the newly renovated church and by his inspiring
pulpit ministrations held the best audience since Mr. Co-
nant's time and commanded a larger salary than was paid
before or since his day. He had a great hold on the
floating element with the peculiarties of his manner, the
quaintness of his style, his deep religious fervor, and the
practical value of his thought. The social life of the so-
ciety received an impetus from the increase in numbers
which it has not maintained since his day. In 1879 be-
gan one of those periodic times that have come too often,
50 Historical Sketch.
when death and removals from town made a diminution
in our ranks, which was greater than the accessions, and
in 1880 it was found that the society must give Mr. Her-
bert up to a louder call and a wider field at Denver.- His
six years stay and growing reputation brought us attend-
ants from Batavia and St. Charles and the country around
which his successors have not been able to retain.
After an interval of three years and seven months from
the time of Mr. Herbert's departure, Mr. West came to
us full of life and energy, in February, 1884. The de-
pression which had followed Mr. Herbert's going, had
given place to a conviction that it was necessary to hold
on to what we had if we were to keep from complete dis-
integration, and a period of church life began which was
a turning over of a new leaf. We made a more system-
atic effort to live up to our ethical standards and denomin-
ational convictions. Under the stimulus of Mr. West's
preaching we were unanimous in our desire to revise
the declaration and constitution which resulted in the
present form of those documents. The old style of annu-
al meetings, a fifteen or thirty minutes' session after the
morning session, at which officers were elected, was
changed for the parish reunion with an early tea and a bus-
iness meeting, where we not only elected officers and at-
tended to the finances, but appointed committees for ethi-
cal work and heard reports from such as well as from the
pastor, Sunday School Superintendent, chairmen of com-
mittees, etc. We had also the first of the study classes
under the minister's leadership. Altogether, though the
work done at the time seemed small as compared with
that done by more flourishing churches, it had a respecta-
ble result in proportion that was a satisfaction to recall in
the days when less was accomplished. Forty names were
added to the church roll during Mr. West's administra-
By The Way. 51
tion. It is but just, however, to state that more than half
were names that ought to have been subscribed years be-
fore. Another marked feature of Mr. West's ministry
was the interest he awakened in our neighboring village
of La Fox. For two seasons of good roads and weather
he held afternoon service there, which resulted in devel-
oping an interest that was shown in the generous, finan-
cial aid they gave to his support for two years. His let-
ter of resignation, dated June 19, 1887, was accepted on
the 26th of that month.
The most remarkable item in connection with the en-
gagement of Mr. Byrnes is, that, instead of waiting three
years, more or less, the society engaged him in three
months after Mr. West left. He began his work in
October, 1887, and finished it in June, 1890. He was
ordained in February, 1888, being the second occasion of
that kind in the history of the society. The participants
were Revs. Geo. Batchelor, Chester Covell, J. LI. Jones,
James Vila Blake and J. R. Effinger. The methods
adopted under Mr. West were kept up. The circumstan-
ces of the society as to attendance and finances remained
very much the same, so that I find nothing special to note
of these three ministerial years.
In January, 1892, the present incumbent came to
us, and the results of his work must be summed up by
your centennial historian, or better still, at the seventy-
fifth anniversary.
It is to be noted that the peculiarity in our history as
compared with that of the Unitarian churches of similar
age is, that those at Chicago, Quincy, St. Louis, Cincin-
nati and Louisville struck what proved to be metropolitan
points. Whether the pioneers ever expected Geneva to
52 Historical Sketch.
equal them in its development we cannot tell, but certain-
ly they must have had hope of a greater growth than that
which amounts to a place of less than two thousand souls
more than fifty years after its founding.
When we look for the results of early missionary
work in the other small places in this state, and adjoining
ones, we find now mostly "burnt over" spots. Dixon,
Como, Sterling, Lockport, Elgin, Joliet, Belvidere, Ga-
lena, Hillsboro and Tremont are places in Illinois where
attempts were made to start Unitarian churches. With
the exception of Tremont there is nothing left I think in
any of those organizations to-day. Elgin, Joliet and
Dixon have Universalist churches to represent the liberal
element. In all of them, unless it were Como and Tre-
mont, Unitarians had to contend with other denomina-
tions that were already organized. Our peculiarity is,
that we were the first on the ground and it is largely
owing to that fact I think, that we are in existence to-day.
Another circumstance which I think has helped to
keep us alive is the smallness of our population. We
were undoubtedly the leading church for the first ten or
fifteen years of the town's existence, and through the ex-
ceptional qualities of the founders, achieved and kept a
respect for and sympathy with the society, which might
have been lost in a larger influx of orthodox people. To-
day we are so much of an influence in the thought of the
community that it is a mitigated, if not a progressive, Or-
thodoxy that flourishes best in our atmosphere.
In studying the society's record for materials for this
paper, one is disappointed to find that the earlier secreta-
ries found so little worth recording beside the election of
officers and the financial standing at the end of each year.
The absence of those items that would show the history
of the society's work in various ways is particularly mark-
By The Way. 53
ed in the intervals between the pastorates. Yet there
were no more active periods on the part of the earnest
members, than these times.
In the interim of 1862 to 1865 a large part of the so-
ciety's life was given to work for the Sanitary Commis-
sion. During that of 1870 to 1874 the Sunday School was
kept up in such an active and earnest way as to win the
sympathy and respect of all concerned, the special ser-
vices of Christmas and Flower Sunday being of the great-
est success. It was in the last year of this period that
Miss Esther M. Orton and Miss Rebecca Eddowes deter-
mined that the building should be renovated, and by
their efforts in various ways, by January, 1874, had rais-
ed $150 for that purpose. There is record of a meeting
held that month to appoint a committee to make estimates
as to what amount was necessary to make the church com-
fortable. Later, at a meeting called to hear the report of
the committee, Miss Eddowes and Miss Orton were added
to the committee. It strikes your historian that the un-
written history of the matter would justify me in saying
that the committee were added to the above mentioned
ladies, as by their further efforts $1,054 was raised and
the repairs completed by the middle of the April follow-
ing. The story of the raising of the funds ought to be
told by some one having the talents of Edward Everett
Hale for showing how improbable things happen in a
probable way. The account of the way in which the
enthusiasm spread from one to another until Mrs. Polly
Conant (widow of Eben Conant) gave $100 and the Uni-
ty church of Chicago $100 is well worth hearing. The
names of Thomas J. Clark and S. W. Curtis, who were of
our membership of the spirit, should be mentioned as
those of the two men who stood most gallantly by the la-
dies.
54- Historical Sketch.
So whatever have been the intervals of time between
pastorates this has never beer a dead church. It cannot
indeed be said to have even had periods of suspended ani-
mation. The fire on the church hearth may have been
low at times, but there has always been some friendly
hand to draw the coals together and keep the life in
them till the right time came to let the air in upon them.
When a little more fuel has been needed to keep the flame
alive, it has been mostly woman's hand that has brought
it. When the flame has burned merrily and the society
has basked in the glow of prosperity, it has been mostly
woman's breath that has fanned the flame to its greater
life.
The record does not do full justice to the part wom-
an has borne in keeping up the society, but it is a satis-
faction to note, the first name of a woman who was offici-
ally appointed in the society is that of Mrs. Samuel Clark.
She was placed upon an advisory committee which was
meant to be a sort of pastor's cabinet. The next official
mention is of the appointment of Miss Eddowes and Miss
Orton on the committee for repairing in 1874. In 1890
Mrs. Julia C. Blackman presided at the annual meeting
and Mrs. Julia Plato Harvey was elected chairman of
trustees, and in 1892 Miss E. H. Long was chosen treas-
urer. Other women have been appointed on different
committees for the church work since 1 the adoption of
ethical work in 1885; these are the first officers.
It was under Mrs Harvey's efficient chairmanship
that the most successful term of lay service, covering
eight months, was sustained, and in connection with Mrs.
A. O. Hoyt and Mrs. H. Medora Long, that the latest
renovation of our church interior was so tastefully carried
out.
It is further to be noted that this has always been a
By The Way. 55
harmonious church. The article of our declaration which
says that we have associated ourselves together, not as
agreeing in opinion, has been well lived up to, as there
have been differences of opinion among us and serious
ones too; but there has never been a church quarrel about
them. We have had no factions to divide us. Although
Mr. Conant, after sixteen years of devotion to this church
and the cause, left it mainly on account of difference of
opinion on political subjects, yet I have never heard that
there was anything that might be called a personal bitter-
ness called out by it. I suspect that his was a nature as
incapable of exciting such a feeling as of retaining it. I
know, that when some years later six or seven families
withdrew from my ministration for similar reasons, that
there was nothing of the kind between them and myself.
It was an honest difference of opinion, and their with-
drawing until such time as another should fill my place,
was a wise and wholesome thing to do. Since that time
I have found that there was never a break in the mutual
personal regard we had for each other, and we have stood
shoulder to shoulder, working for the cause and the
church with never a thought of the past to disturb our
harmony. I trust that this reference to bygones is not
ungracious, but I could not find a better illustration of the
fine unity of the spirit that underlies the agreement to dis-
agree.
We have always been an honest church. It is a mat-
ter of pride and satisfaction that we can say that the
church has never been in debt. I have already mention-
ed that it is somewhat of an aggravation that the earlier
records should be so largely confined to financial matters,
but this very explanation of all things else, seems to show
how dear the honesty of the society was in those days; it
is to be inferred that they considered keeping out of debt
56 Historical /Sketch.
the chief end of the society. There is more than one
mention of a deficiency, and the appointment of com-
mittees to raise funds, but there is no record of a deficien-
cy that was not met, and no appointment of committees
to raise funds for debts which had been contracted beyond
the society's ability to pay.
WRITTEN FOR THE OCCASION BY JAMES H. WEST, PASTOR FROM
1884 TO 1887.
O TEMPLE sacred to the Past,
And sacred to the Present too!
Toy walls, which Fifty Years outlast,
To-day we consecrate anew:
Anew to God, anew to Man,
To Love, to Helpfulness, to Truth;
While more in each of these we scan
Than those who knew thee in thy youth.
Oh, blest that as the centuries fly
Man's soul doth deeper, higher roam!
Yet feels the more that earth and sky
Are but a vaster temple-home:
Temple that needs no sun to thrill,
So grand its inner, fadeless Light;
The Godlike in the human still
Redeeming it from evil plight.
Honor be thine, O walls grown gray,
That Freedom here was ever given
To prophet-souls to point the way
To higher God and higher heaven.
With Freedom still thy Word be twined,
O reverend aisles, to us so dear!
And other Fifty Years still find
The voice of Progress echoing here.
Above the clamors of our day,
Which fain would drown the still small voice,
We hear a mightier Presence say,
Rejoice, O sons of men! Rejoice!
Be open still to prophets' cry;
Go on to keener insight yet!
Much still remains of Deep and High
Ere suns and stars of God are set.
OF THE FIRST PASTOR, REV. A. H. CONANT, BY MISS FRANCES
LE BARON OF ELGIN, ILL.
I accepted this position on the program with much
reluctance, for I knew that there were others who could
write this memorial in a more scholarly way; but when I
considered that it would give me an opportunity to ex-
press my deep love for the man and my intense gratitude
for the blessed privilege it was to sit under his ministra-
tions, I felt I had no right to refuse. Often in my mis-
sionary work, I have received letters from those of our
own faith who have spent their childhood surrounded by
strict Calvinists, who had to stay away from church and
Sunday School, or go where they were labored over as
surely among the lost, and were forced to listen to doc-
trines from which their souls revolted. These experien-
ces have made me realize my early privileges, and have
given me an almost painfully intense feeling of grati-
tude, to Mr. Conant and the nucleus who organized
this church and gave me the blessing, accorded to so
few in this western world, of growing up in an atmos-
phere of freedom, where I need not believe a thing be-
cause I was told to do so and on pain of everlasting tor-
ment if I could not believe.
In a letter to Rev. James Freeman Clarke under date
Auun*tu* fjj. ottttttt.
Of The First Pastor. 61
of May 30, 1842, while organizing this society, Mr. Con-
ant says: "It is a day of small things, but even these
small things are full of promise. May we not hope they
are the germs of a greatness that shall yet be commensu-
rate with the religious wants of a great people ?" Though
this greatness, as far as Geneva is concerned, is not visi-
ble in brick and stone, nor in silver and gold, it is visi-
ble in the hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives that have
gone out from this town, lightened from the dark cloud of
Calvinistic theology by the reasonable religion preached
in this little church, by the high, spiritual teachings, empha-
sized as they were by the noble and beautiful lives of its
members, which have permeated every family in the
town. My subject is properly Mr. Conant, the man and
the minister, and I leave the consideration of his mission-
ary labors more especially to Rev. Lorenzo Kelsey,
his brother-in-law, and co-laborer; and his army life to
Col. J. C. Long, who was with him.
Mr. Conant was rather below medium height, but in
his pulpit one lost that impression from the earnestness
and intensity of his manner and, as the high and noble
thoughts came pouring forth in terse, vigorous, pointed
sentences, the whole man seemed to rise to the occasion
and his audience gave no thought to his stature. No mat-
ter if the first impression was unfavorable, he soon swept
that away by his zeal, his genuineness, his self-forgetful-
ness. One story is told of him when preaching in Boston.
He was for a moment almost overwhelmed by the impos-
ing church and the large audience, all of them strangers,
but, recovering himself he said: "You have probably
noticed my embarrassment, but you will pleas"e remember
that I am not used to so large a church and so many peo-
ple. I am in the habit of preaching to a few people in
log school houses and backwoods parlors. ' ' The people
62 Character Sketch.
all Smiled and, as he felt the sympathy of his audience,
his embarrassment disappeared.
Another picture we have of him among the Eastern
friends comes from Mrs. Eastman, sister of Charles and
George Patten and Mrs. Samuel Clark. In a Better writ-
ten to Mrs. Cleveland, now Mrs. Wm. Conant, under date
of Roxbury, June 7, 1846, she says: "I wish you could
have been here to see what a general favorite Mr. Conant
is in this region, and how admirably he appears, even in
our highest places; for instance, at Chauncey Place giving
the Thursday lecture, that most venerable institution where
the clergy from Boston and neighboring towns assemble
every week to hear each other preach. The construction
of the church is peculiar, and the light in which the
preacher stands very favorable and Mr. Conant looked
large as life and like one inspired. He was entirely free
from embarrassment and positively graceful in his oratory
His subject was, 'The Condition and Wants of the West. '
You would all have been proud of such an advocate. I
think he must be exalted a little in self esteem from his
remarkably favorable reception here and that will do him
no harm. I must tell you the remark of an eccentric but
excellent lady, when Mr. Conant preached for Mr.
Putnam. After service she came to me and said, 'Well,
if this is a specimen of your western pets, I should like to
see more of them. ' Mr. Putnam was much pleased with
him which we think no small praise."
When, at the age of thirty-one years, he began his
ministrations in Geneva he was so boyish in his appear-
ance that Mr. Scotto Clark thought him some young boy of
the neighborhood and had grave doubts as to his ministe-
rial ability, but when he heard him preach his doubts van-
ished and he said sometime later, when arranging for his
salary: "We are glad to have you among us and, though
Of The Firxt Paxtor. 63
we cannot give you much money, we will try to give you
plenty of bread and butter." One is reminded of this re-
mark when, in looking over his journal of amounts receiv-
ed, we find "cash" occasionally, but more often such en-
tries as these: "Rented Squire Miller's house for $50 a
year and call his subscription to the church paid; bought
of Mr. B., on account, /two bushels buckwheat at 75 cents;
of Mr, 0., 13 pounds butter at 8 cents, $1.04;" and so
on. It was at this time that he said to his wife, "1 am
willing to make a ten years' trial of preaching and if I
fail, I will seek some other employment," but she never
heard him express any desire to give it up.
He was very methodical in all he did and his class-
mates at Cambridge remember the amount of work he ac-
complished by utilizing every moment. It seems almost
incredible the amount of practical work he did in Geneva
in addition. to his pulpit and pastoral duties. He was a
natural mechanic and helped with his own hands on the
carpenter work of this building. He made furniture at
odd moments, not only for his own family but as gifts for
his parishioners.
It was never necessary for him to go to Europe, or
to go out camping for his vacation. He rested from his
mental labors by contact with Mother Earth, working on
his farm and in his garden day by day. That he could
combine pleasure and rest in this way was most fortunate,
as it enabled him to aid very materially in keeping the wolf
from the door by supplementing with the fruits of his garden
the meagre income of $200 or $300, which was all the peo-
ple could raise during most of his pastorate. He also in-
structed his sonsiri the pleasures and profits of rural labor,
and one interesting story is told of a bit of family discipline
in this connection. One warm day, when he and his two
sons were working in the garden, one of them complained
64 Character Sketch.
of his hard lot in having to work, when his companions
were off playing. Mr. Conant sympathized with him and
sent him into the house for a chair and an umbrella. All
the rest of the afternoon he had to sit in the chair with the
umbrella over his head, while his father and brother
went on with their work. It seemed to him that there
never was such a long afternoon and that his father never
had so many callers, who had to come to the garden to see
him, and we venture to say he never complained again of
having to work too hard.
That he was a dear lover of children their strong love
for him proves, and many of his sermons were to, or
about them, showing his thorough sympathy with them.
He says: "In the deep interest we take in the accom-
plishment of our own schemes, in the magnitude of im-
portance which they assume to our minds, we are in great
danger of overlooking the interests of others and espec-
ially of little children. We are in danger of esteeming
their affairs of little consequence, of doing them injustice
by disregarding the importance of their employments and
amusements, by a want of sympathy with their plans and
purposes, their desires and efforts, their hopes and fears.
We are in danger of undervaluing the importance of those
circumstances and influences which form the opinions,
habits and character of the infancy of manhood, of neg
lecting the intellectual and moral education of children.
Against this danger we have need to be on our guard.
We ought to remember that they have like
capacities and powers and affections to our own. That in
their little world they have their trials and conflicts and
temptations, their hopes and fears, joys and sorrows, as
much as those who live in the great world above them.
That they are experiencing, in the main, the same disci-
pline and learning the same lessons with those who are
Of The First Pastor. 65
older and, in fact, are but a few steps behind us in the
endless path of knowledge and improvement. We laugh
at their toys and despise their ignorance and simplicity,
and the vanity of their pursuits, and think not that, in
the eye of a more perfect Wisdom, our own ignorance and
folly are as strikingly apparent." This was written at a
time when children were kept out of sight, were severely,
often cruelly disciplined and before the dawn of the pres-
ent period of autocratic children and obedient, or disobe-
dient parents.
His sympathy with children was only a part of the
large-hearted sympathy for the whole human race, and
the animal kingdom as well, that was one of the most
marked characteristics of his nature. It was this, com-
bined with his entire forgetfulness of self, that drew peo-
ple so strongly to him, that made every one respond when
he appealed for help in his missionary work, and that
called about him little groups of parishioners in a dozen
or more towns in Northern Illinois and Southern Wiscon-
sin. If only more such devoted spirits could have been
found to foster the germs that he brought to life the liber-
al cause would have flourished amain, but such spirits are
rare, and the seed he planted in some places lacked nour-
ishment.
Mr. Conant was generous to a fault, and many are
the stories told of him to illustrate this characteristic.
When he came to Geneva with his wife and two sons, he
could find no abiding place except two rooms in Mrs.
Herrington's house, that stood by the spring near which
Mrs. Thad. Herrington's house now stands. For these he
paid $2 a month. In a day or two he found a man who,
with his wife and child, could not afford to pay any rent,
and he gave them the use of one of the rooms.
A poor cobbler came to Geneva after they had set-
66 Character Sketch.
tied in their own place, and Mr. Conant built him a house
with his own hands, found him work and looked after and
helped him as long as he lived. One evening he came
home late to tea, looking flushed and heated, and explained
that he had been splitting some tough knots of wood for
a poor widow who needed the fuel. When cloth was
sent him for a suit of clothes, he took half for a coat and
sent the other half to a neighboring minister who needed
help. Rev. Rush R. Shippen recalls that, when a student
at Cambridge, a friend gave him some handsome cloth
for a coat which he took to a tailor and exchanged for
more yards of an inferior quality, that he might give a
coat to a fellow student who was in need. Also, that
during this time his family were staying with relatives in
Vermont and a friend gave him money to go and visit
them. He saved the money for his college expenses and
walked from Boston to Northern Vermont. In the army,
when the officers were to have a banquet, he declined to
take part but, with the money he would have contributed
to the banquet, he bought delicacies for the hospital.
Many more such stories could be told as his life was full
of just such incidents.
His position upon political subjects was always on
the highest platform. He had no patience with the spirit
that kept so important a class of interests entirely outside
of, and separate from all religious considerations. In
1858 Fourth of July fell on Sunday and he took that oc-
casion to make a Fourth of July oration for his sermon.
He says: "Men sometimes wish to make an entire sep-
aration between things of religion and things of ordinary
life. Especially would they keep politics and religion
apart from each other; but this birthday of our nation,
this day of glory, gratitude and joy, in the natural order
of things and of God's great Providence takes its turn of
Of The First Pastor. 67
Sundays in the week, just as though one of these days
belonged to Him as much as the others, and just as though
He felt no impropriety in bringing religion and politics
face to face. True religion, I am certain, has no occasion
for a feeling of diffidence in the presence of the genius
of American Freedom, and our American Goddess of
Liberty ought not to blush in the presence of the religion
of Christ. For American Liberty is the daughter of
Christianity. It was born of the ( sentiment of our text,
'All ye are brethren. ' It is the offspring of the doctrine
of Divine paternity and human brotherhood. The des-
potisms of the old world rest upon assumptions of special
Divine rights and the possession of power. But our na-
tional union is an attempt to found and govern a state on
Christ's idea of brotherhood, and Christ's doctrine of
equal rights of humanity and of equal justice to all men.
It disclaims the assumption of lordship and a natural right
of authority of one man over another. It makes every
man free of all but God. It is an endeavor to realize
Christ's idea and carry out Christ's principles in political
action and natural life. Such being the character of our
national union, the great idea and object of our govern-
ment, we have no occasion to suspect the existence of any
incongruity between politics and religion. We have
therefore, no reason to feel that it is out of place for the
Fourth of July, our national birthday, to come on Sunday.
We have no reason to feel that a consideration of national
and political interests is out of season, in connection with
our holiest religious sentiments and services."
He then goes on to show that, as Jesus' teachings
were so far in advance of his times that now, nearly two
thousand years later, we are only beginning to compre-
hend and to live up to them, so the Declaration of
Independence, that all men are created free and equal,
68 Character Sketch.
was so far above the heads of the people at that time that,
when the constitution came to be made, the f ramers found
it impossible to make it as high in its character as the
declaration, published to the world eleven years before.
The people loved freedom for themselves.
They scorned to bear even a light yoke of political servi-
tude but, under the constitution, based upon the Declara-
tion of Independence, slavery was permitted an existence
and a silent recognition. He then proceeds to deal sledge-
hammer blows on the inertness that still allows slavery to
exist, with a bravery that we of to-day can hardly ap-
preciate, and exclaims:
"If we have not Christian principle enough to act in
accordance with our great ideas of justice and the rights
of man, if we have not conscience enough to make us
defend the oppressed and down trodden but, for the sake
of union and our own peace, we would be willing to let
the African race remain in everlasting bondage, this in-
stitution of slavery will by no means fail to reach where
we shall feel it, to take hold of us where we are alive and
to compel us, for our own personal freedom and safety
and self interests to rise up against it and reassert the
doctrines of the Declaration of Independence."
This and other sentences in this discourse, written
four years before Lincoln was elected, show a prophetic
spirit possessed by few even of his co-laborers in the
pulpit. We now point to him with pride as one Unitarian
minister, who stood bravely by his colors, the red,
white and blue, and by the eternal principles of right.
It is almost impossible, even for those of us who lived
through it, to realize the courage, the absolute fearless-
ness of this and other equally brave sentences in this and
similar sermons. He felt that every sin was his special
opponent, that the more near it came to his flock, the
Of The first Pastor. 69
more he must expose its dangerous proximity, even
though he knew that in all probability it would sever his
connection with these dear friends.
And here I must say, for the credit of the little band
to whom Mr. Conant in a special manner belonged, that
some were in sympathy with him fully, and the rest to
the extent of giving him the fullest freedom to speak his
boldest and strongest thought; but new families had come
in, who had not had the privilege of living with this hardy
pioneer band and absorbing their independence and of
becoming imbued with their spirit and with that of their
pastor. And Mr. Conant could not work against even a
small number of disaffected ones, when he was used to
entire confidence and sympathy. I am impelled to make
this explanation lest it seem that Mr. Conant' s person-
ality was weak and valueless, instead of being strong and
vigorous. Without doubt, the very ones who were most
active in their disaffection would have taken an entirely
different course had they had the good fortune to have
listened to our blessed pastor a few years, instead of a
few months.
But he was even more prophetic upon other subjects.
Over forty years ago he took time to learn stenography
and used it some in his sermons and he was even then
strongly interested in spelling reform. While Froebel
was yet struggling with an adverse public opinion in
Europe this Unitarian minister, far off on the Illinois prai-
ries, had solved and was urging his principles. Among
the many progressive ideas he expressed on this subject,
I can take time for but one.
He says: "Childhood and youth are the most vital,
susceptible and appreciative periods of human life.
* More attention should be given to providing oc-
cupation for all the receptive faculties and active energies
70 Character Sketch.
of children. Give the little child the opportunity and
means and he will be a perpetual student and experimenter
'in the examination of the elements, facts and forces of
nature. Give him tools and materials and he at once
takes lessons in mechanics, destructive perhaps at first,
more destructive than constructive, but always instructive
and therefore of interest and worth. When the season
and weather permit put him in the garden, and he will
at once commence observations and experiments in geol-
ogy, geography, entomology, botany, and a dozen other
sciences."
This extract might also be used to show that he was
looking forward to manual training as a branch of
education.
I wish I could give you an idea of one of his sermons
on Temperance, but I have only time for a few discon-
nected sentences. A quarter of a century before anyone
else suggested it, he urged the idea of checking intem-
perance by influencing the saloon keeper and the owners
of buildings used for saloons. He took for his text,
"Alas for the man through whom the offence cometh,"
and says:
"Men who know the effects of the liquor
traffic and the terrible results of the use of intoxicating
beverages, and who acknowledge that it is wrong, and
who confess that their only motive arid excuse is the gain-
fulness of the traffic, live among us and, disregarding the
welfare of their fellow men and the warnings of Christian-
ity and the monitions of their own consciences, continue
the ruinous work. And there are others, too, who are
little less guilty than they, the landlord who rents tene-
ments for such use is one 'through whom the offense com-
eth. ' * * * The reasoning that men who want it will
have it and they themselves may as well reap the ad van-
Of The First Pastor. 71
tages as for others to do so will not excuse them from
guilt. If no liquor were to be had, none could be drank.
If no one would allow the use of a building for the sale
of it, no one would sell it, and intemperance would not
exist. Through those who furnish the beverage the
offense cometh and the guilt of its crimes and woes .rests
upon them. What a sacrifice of peace, purity
and integrity and all real worth and enduring for that
which will not purchase for the guilty soul a single hour
of relief from the agonies of self-condemnation and re-
morse. * . * * Will you say of this as of the gain !
'Some one will bring this guilt arid torment upon his soul
if I do not, and I may as well bear it as another?' *
If you will continue to be a curse instead of a
blessing to the friendly community in which you live, what
can you expect in case of your death but that we shall
rejoice that a less evil has delivered us from a greater?"
I very much want to give you more and fuller extracts
to show you his power as a sermonizer, but time forbids.
He indulged in no flowers of rhetoric but, with simple
directness, went straight to the heart of his subject and his
words carried conviction. He felt deeply, expressed him-
self strongly and clearly and was absolutely fearless and
independent in his determination to speak the truth as it
appeared to him, and thoroughly practical, always urging
his people to live up to their highest ideals. One can
hardly believe in looking over his manuscripts that they
were written so long ago, and in a country where books
were almost inaccessible. I well remember how, when
any one of the little band obtained a book, no matter up-
on what subject, it was considered the property of all
who wished to read it and that it was usually returned to
the owner in nearly as good a condition as when it started
on its travels. And yet here on the prairie was this bright
72 Character Sketch.
intellect, fully abreast of, and even in advance of his
times, surrounded by a coterie of congenial spirits, all
studying together the problems of the day and of the
future.
Mr. Conant was a noted man in his day. During
his visits east he met many prominent people, who never
forgot the quaint figure from which spoke the great soul.
Most of the noted people who came west to lecture or to
study the country in the early days visited him. While
in Geneva he numbered among his guests Margaret Fuller,
Horace Greeley, Lant. Carpenter, of England, Mrs. Caro-
line Dahl, Mrs. Rebecca Clark and Miss Sarah, the artist,
the mother and sister of Rev. James Freeman Clarke, Miss
Cummins, the authoress, Henry Giles, Isaac McClellan,
the poet, Fred Douglass, Revs. Robert Collyer, Rush R.
Shippen, C. A. Staples, Geo. W. Hosmer and Dr. Noyes.
In Rockford among his guests were Ralph Waldo Emer-
son, Prof. Yeomans, Lucy Stone Blackwell, Tom Corwin,
of Ohio, Bayard Taylor and Revs. John Pierpont, Starr
King and others.
I cannot close this paper more appropriately than by
reading this letter from Rev. C. A. Staples, of Lexington,
Mass., written for this occasion. It is a critical summing
up of this noble character by one who knew him and
loved him well.
"In the summer of 1853, while a student in Mead-
ville Theological School, I wrote to Mr. Conant asking
him if he could find some missionary work for me in his
vicinity during the approaching summer vacation. He
replied cordially, inviting me to visit him and promising
to find occupation for me in preaching as long as I chose
to remain. Accordingly I started for Chicago as soon as
the school closed and in due time reached Geneva, where
I was heartily welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Conant. I well
Of The Flrxt Paxtor. 73
remember his pleasant home, his bright and cheery face,
his simple, cordial manner and his earnest devotion to his
duties as preacher and pastor. He was then preaching to
his own people morning and evening on Sunday, and often
going out several miles into the country to hold services
in the afternoon. There were several places where he
had little congregations meeting in school houses, to
which he ministered, and his services were much sought
by the country people for v funerals, weddings and various
meetings in the cause of temperance and anti-slavery.
fie seemed to me to be a missionary of the true apostolic
order, ever ready to go where the humblest service could
be rendered to any human being, glad to be the comforter
and helper of men.
After a day or two passed with him in delightful
fellowship he took me to Elgin, then a small village not
much larger than Geneva, where he had gathered a new
society and built an humble chapel. Here he introduced
me to a number of pleasant families, to whom I ministered
in my youthful, boyish way for the next two months.
During this time I made occasional visits to Mr. Conant
and passed many days in his family. We had an exchange
and held a meeting of the Ministerial association at his
house, where Rev. Rush R. Shipper), of Chicago, and
myself with our host formed the entire association. But
it was a good time. We held an evening service in the
church and read essays and sermons to each other, inter-
spersed with pleasant talk and rambles about the country.
One thing that much impressed me in this intercourse
with Mr. Conant was his enthusiasm in his work. He
thoroughly believed in it. He loved it and gave himself
to it with untiring devotion. He was a man of warm and
generous sympathies, and readily entered into the sorrows
and joys of his fellow-beings; a man of sincere faith and
74 Character Sketch.
piety, whose highest ambition it was to be an humble fol-
lower of Jesus. He was a growing man, reaching out to
larger thought and pressing on to a higher manhood.
Another thing which much impressed me was the
high intellectual and moral character of the people whom
he had drawn about him at Geneva. More genial, kindly,
delightful people than the leading families of his church,
I have seldom known, and they seemed to cherish a
deep and tender love for him. My acquaintance with
them during that summer forms one of the pleasantest
memories of my life.
In after years I often met Mr. Conant at the meetings
of the Western Conference and I met him once, I think,
while he was a chaplain in the army; always the same
cheerful, hopeful, loving spirit, always glad to help and
cheer his fellow men, always true to the highest and best
that he knew.
Such is my thought of him as I turn back the pages of
memory. So MS he enshrined in my heart, as a true
friend and a faithful worker in the vineyard of the Lord.
We may well say of him in the words of the quaint old
poet, Herbert:
'The religious actions of the just,
Smell sweet in death and blossom in the dust.' "
NOTE: In each of the three succeeding papers will be found
further reference to Mr. Conant. [EDS.]
WRITTEN BY EBEN CONANT AND USED AT THE DEDICATION OF
THE BUILDING, JANUARY 24, 1844.
O Thou whom Heaven cannot contain,
Much less the poor abodes of men,
Who yet in condescending grace
Dost find in humble hearts a place.
As children to their parents come
Or wanderers to their native home,
So to thy throne would we repair
With joy and praise and fervent prayer.
Our humble efforts deign to bless
And make this house thy dwelling place;
Here let our souls in Thee rejoice
While in thy praise we lift our voice.
Here let thy truth distill like dew
And here let souls be formed anew,
Thy saints be fed with living bread
And in their hearts thy spirit shed.
And when the grave shall be our bed
Then raise up others in our stead;
Let generations yet to be
Here learn to know and worship Thee.
cmfc
BY REV. L. C. KELSEY OF ELYRIA, OHIO.
S introductory to what I wish to present, I
will briefly refer to the class, of which I was
_ a member, which was graduated from
the Unitarian Theological School at Meadville, Pa. , in
June, 1854. This class consisted of Henry B. Burges, C.
A. Staples, N. A. Staples, D. C. O'Daniels, T. C. Moul-
ton, John Murray, C. C. Kichardson, Chas. Hitter, W.
C. Scandlin, Geo. Withington and myself. As some of
these were, at an early day, ministers within the boundary
of the Western Unitarian Conference 1 shall have occasion
to refer to them. Nearly one -half of the members of this
class died in early manhood. The only one living, and
at present in the ministry, so far as I know, is C. A.
Staples, pastor of the Unitarian Society at Lexington Mass.
After leaving Meadville and spending a few weeks in
Massachusetts and Ohio, I proceeded with my little family
to this place, and was received with a kindly greeting and
made welcome to the hospitality of Brother and Sister
Conant. This was in September, 1854, and at that time
there were several places in Illinois where the prospect
for organizing liberal societies seemed to be quite promising.
After surveying the field, and with Brother Conant 1 s
Incidents and Reminiscences. 77
advice and influence, I decided to make my first venture
in Dixon, 111., an enterprising place of about three thou-
sand inhabitants. Here I found a few Unitarians from
New England, who extended to me a very cordial welcome;
they were greatly rejoiced at the prospect of organizing a
liberal church, and entered hand and heart into the enter-
prise. These formed a nucleus around which were soon
gathered a band of progressive, liberal-minded men and
women.
Our first services were held in a hall and continued
there for three months, after which the M. E. church was
rented and service held there at two o'clock in the afternoon
every Sunday, until our church was ready for occupancy.
This edifice was built in Gothic style, costing about three
thousand dollars, and capable of seating about three hun-
dred persons. The dedication of this church, on April 9,
1856, was quite an important event, as this was then re-
garded as one of the western outposts of Unitarianism.
The services at the dedication were interesting and
impressive and have always been a source of pleasant
reflection. As some who are here to-day knew most of
the ministers who were present on that occasion it may
not be uninteresting to name them. The dedication sermon
was preached by Rush R. Shippen of Chicago. He was
assisted in the services by Brother Conant, Elder Bradley
of Belvidere and Rev. H. L. Myrick of Cambridge, Mass.
The installation of the pastor took place in the evening of
the same day. Brother Conant preached the sermon.
His topic was "The Personal Privileges of the Liberal
Christian Minister." He treated his subject in a terse,
manly and practical way and showed unmistakable evi-
dence of deep thought and varied reading.
Rush R. Shippen of Chicago and John Murray of
Rockford, 111. took part in these services. Other services
78 Incidents and Reminiscences.
were held in which Revs. Mason and Palmer of the Uni-
versalist church and Elders Bradley and Towner of the
Christian denomination, also Rev. M. Kaig of the M. E.
church and Rev. Mr. Ball of the Baptist church took
active parts.
The work at Dixon was producing quite a strain upon
the body and mind and I soon began to realize that my
health was failing. I sought rest and recreation by visit-
ing and exchanging with fellow laborers and embracing
opportunities of holding services at various places in the
surrounding country.
At Como and Sterling, where Brother Conant had pre-
ceded me, I found quite a band of New England Uni-
tarians. At the former place there had been organized a
small Unitarian Society; services were held among them
selves, by reading sermons and selections, when they were
unable to procure a speaker. I held services there a few
times and formed some very pleasant acquaintances.*
There were other places where I was not received
with so much cordiality, and I recall one occasion showing
the spirit of intolerance as sometimes manifested. A
friend invited me into the country to hold services at the
school house in his neighborhood. He made an appoint-
ment for me and at the time designated I found the house
well filled. I gave a short talk upon the principal fea-
tures of Unitarianism, and so much interest seeming to
be manifested I was induced to give notice that I would
* The origin of this move in Como was largely due to one
earnest Unitarian family from Providence. R. I., Mrs. Susan Jarvis
Gushing, a lady of rare strength of character and refinement,
her daughter, now Mrs. Frank Cheney of South Manchester,
Conn, and several of her sous who were all warm friends of Mr.
Conant. Before this date the mother and daughter had returned
to their New England home, but their influence remained and the
sons were among the helpful friends referred to by Mr. Kelst y.
[EDS;]
Incidents and Reminiscences. 79
speak there again in two weeks, in case it would not
interfere with any other appointment; I was assured that
it would not. Hiring a horse and carriage and taking
with me a member of my society I started in the early
evening for the place of meeting. Our surprise was great
upon reaching the house to find it well lighted, quite a
large congregation assembled and a preacher at the desk.
We soon took in the situation, sat down among the people
and had the benefit of a sermon which would not be
tolerated in any pulpit to-day. At the close of the ser-
vices I asked and obtained permission to say a few words
and stated why I was there. The preacher in reply in-
formed me that he was not responsible for the appointment
at that particular time, as it had been made for him. I
then concluded that some one in the neighborhood had
perpetrated a joke at my expense and that other fields
would be more pleasant and profitable for missionary work.
I recall some peculiar and pleasant incidents con-
nected with my brief ministry. There is always a funny
as well as a sober side to a minister's life and I had a
brief experience in both.
At one time a young man, in search of a minister to
conduct services at the funeral of his father, called to in-
terview me in regard to rny religious opinions; after some
rather pointed inquiries he informed me that his father
was not a member of any church and was regarded by his
neighbors as an infidel. He then informed me that I was
just the man he had been looking for and he had no doubt
I would fill the bill. With this, rather doubtful compli-
ment, I consented to go. The following day I was taken
into the country to a rather secluded place in a valley, a
distance of about ten miles, where there was a double log
house which I found filled with people from far and near
who had been notified that a Unitarian was to take charge
80 Incidents and Reminiscences.
of the services. As I looked over the people assembled
I thought I could detect in their faces indications of curi-
osity and deep interest.
The large audience and the novelty of the situation
were quite inspiring and I tried to impress upon the peo-
ple the thought the occasion seemed to suggest, that the
life and the character we are living and forming will be
continuous; that what we call death is only a transition
period in the life of every man; that God is the father
of all and that neither time nor place, nor condition in
this world or in any worlds could limit His love; and that
as we all belonged to a common brotherhood we should
judge and honor our fellow-men, not by their opinions or
creeds but by their lives and characters. After the services
many took me by the hand and expressed a desire to hear
more of this new faith. The occasion made a deep im-
pression upon my mind and, has ever been a green spot
in my memory.
During the early part of my labors in Dixon, John
Murray had received and accepted a call from the Unitar-
ian Society at Rockford, and it was during his ministry that
the Society completed and dedicated their beautiful church
edifice. Mr. Murray's labors in Rockford covered a
period of nearly three years. He then resigned and went
East. Subsequently he went to England where he died
about three years ago. At the time of his death he had
charge of two societies.
During the years 1855 and 1856 Geo. Withington
was preaching to a small Unitarian Society in Hillsbor-
ough, Montgomery Co., 111. I recall with much pleasure
a visit I enjoyed with him and his people in the summer
of 1856. Of his subsequent history I have no knowledge.
Another member of the class of 1854, who for some
years was one of the most prominent and promising young
Incidents and Reminiscences. 81
ministers in the Western Unitarian Conference, was Nohor
Augustus Staples, pastor of the Society at Milwaukee,
Wis. from 1856 to 1860. A sketch of that earnest,
beautiful life has been written by John W. Chadwick.
I recall several TJniversalist ministers who were
among my most intimate friends and associates and who
were doing good work for the spread of liberal views in
northern Illinois, but time will not permit me to give them
so much as a passing notice.
Brother Conant commenced his labors in a new field
and with but few co-workers. His earnestness, the genial
and friendly spirit manifested towards everyone with
whom he came in contact, secured for him many warm
frends of liberal tendency. At this distant day I can re-
call only a few of them. One with whom I became inti-
mately acquainted and whom I greatly admired, deserves
morethan a passing notice. I refer to Ichabod Codding, an
anti-slavery lecturer of great ability and eloquence. He
was largely in sympathy with Mr. Conant in his religious
views. He believed in the largest freedom for man in
forming and enjoying his religious opinions and had
started out upon independent lines of thought and action.
While arousing communities and gaining converts to the
anti-slavery cause by his wonderful eloquence, he was
preparing the way for the liberal church. The success re-
sulting from his labors in many places brought him prom-
inently before the Western Unitarian Conference as a
suitable person for missionary work, but fearing that he
might make his anti- slavery sentiments too conspicuous
he was not employed in an official way. He continued
his independent labors in various fields until one year after
the close of the war.
He died in 1866, leaving a noble example of fidelity
to a grand principle Human Freedom. How dear to that
82 Incidents and Reminiscences.
earnest, humanity-loving soul must have been the words,
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the
Lord." At the time Mr. Conant became acquainted with
Mr. Codding the anti-slavery discussions were attracting
much attention and I well remember a little incident which
occurred in this church about the same time, causing no
little stir and which made a deep impression upon my
mind. It showed to the members that their pastor had
the courage of his convictions and that he would not
falter in denouncing oppression in whatever form it might
appear, whether in church or state. I allude to the occa-
sion of his preaching a sermon upon the terrible evil of
human slavery as it then existed in our country. While
in the midst of his most fervent utterances a prominent
member of the society took his hat and in an excited
and unceremonious manner left the church.
In the morning Brother Conant in referring to the inci-
dent remarked to me that he did not notice any great
change in the appearance of things. The sun arose as
usual, the sky looked as bright and as beautiful as ever,
and such little episodes, however unpleasant, could not
hinder the onward march of truth and the ultimate triumph
of the right. During the early part of Mr. Conant's min-
istry, A. B. Fuller, a Unitarian and a brother of the re-
nowned Margaret Fuller, was engaged in teaching at
Belvidere, 111. In connection with his duties as teacher
in the Belvidere Academy he did some pioneer work in
behalf of liberal Christianity. About this time Brother
Conant did some missionary work in that vicinity which
resulted in the formation of a small liberal society. Mr.
Fuller left Belvidere early in 1845, going east for the
purpose of preparing himself for the ministry.
The first regular minister of the society was Rev.
Mr. Wai worth, who remained but a short time. Subse-
Incidents and Reminiscences. 83
quently the society had for a limited time other ministers,
the last being Rev. Bradley. After he left in 1848, the
society disbanded. Shortly after, a Universalist society
was organized but concerning its history I have not the
means of knowing.
Mr. Fuller was one of the first to enlist for the de-
fense of the Union and one of the first to yield up his
life. He was killed in battle.
There were some earnest and liberal-minded men in
other denominations who had taken Mr. Conant into
their fellowship. One of these was for some time preach-
ing for the Universalist Society at St. Charles, 111. He
was not only an eloquent preacher, but poet and editor as
well. I refer to Rev. Mr. Roundsville, who was known
quite extensively in northern Illinois, and who did a grand
work in the pulpit and by the pen for the cause of liberal
Christianity.
Another co-laborer of a little later date was Rev. Mr.
Slade, pastor of the Universalist Society at Aurora, 111.
He was a man of more than ordinary ability and a great
admirer of Mr. Conant. I knew him quite intimately,
having met him upon several occasions and I at one time
exchanged pulpits with him.
I recall Elder Wickizer of Warrenville and Elder
Towner of Belvidere, who were ministers in the so-called
Christian denomination. They were self-educated, earnest
men, serving their generation faithfully and in full sym-
pathy with liberal religious ideas. These are a few of
the brave ones who were contemporary with Mr. Conant
in pioneer work.
cmbom
BY MRS. JULIA DODSON SHEPPABD OF PENN YAN, N. Y.
_i^~' .
was six months old when the First Unitarian
Society of Geneva was founded. I have no recol-
lection of the event; possibly 1 had not then
learned to think for myself, or perhaps I may have been
absorbed in the contemplation of "infant damnation," a
generally accepted doctrine at that date, and the belief, or
rather disbelief, in a triune God had not then arrested my
attention.
I have often heard my mother refer to the first ser-
mon she heard questioning the trinity, she was shocked
and began reading the bible, marking passages for and
against it; great was her dismay to find the word, trinity,
not in the book at all and the preponderance of evidence
quite against it; she united with th'e society during Mr.
Conant's pastorate; many little ' incidents of those early
days she and my father often spoke of in my hearing.
The little church was for some years quite the most
stately edifice of the surrounding country. The Methodist
society was holding services in the school house; Mr.
Conant decided to offer the church to them, so one Sab-
bath, after the morning sermon, he tendered the use of
Random Reminiscences. 85
the church to them Sunday afternoons; there was a long
and awkward pause, then the minister arose and said he
could not accept the offer, 'he could not preach in a church
where his Lord and Master was denied. 1 During Mr.
Herbert's ministry that same society exchanged pulpits
with him, seeming to have learned not to be unduly afraid
of doubters.
During my childhood we lived for a time in the house
next to Mr. and Mrs. Conant. My brother and 1 were
often invited by the Conant children to attend the wed-
dings which occurred frequently in the parsonage. Now
and then we all laughed at the dress or embarrassment of
the bride and her attendant bridegroom, then quite a time
would elapse before we would be invited again, so we
early learned to smile very softly at nuptials.
It was a solemn moment when Mr. Conant called his
son John one Sabbath morning, because of whispering
and laughing, to occupy the pulpit stairs during the re-
mainder of his sermon; the younger portion of the con-
gregation was overpowered by fears lest similar honours
were hanging heavily over their heads in the near future.
Mr. Charles Patten, at the close of the morning's service,
in referring to John's blushes on that occasion, said, "no
one can say now that our pastor has not one well 're"d' son. "
We always enjoyed hearing the Conant boys tell the
following story of their mother: One Sunday 'afternoon
Mr. Conant was holding services in a school house a few
miles distant from Geneva, where he gave out a familiar
hymn beginning with the words "Shine Forth," and find-
ing no one present to commence the singing, turned to his
wife who was with him, and asked her to lead the singing.
She began "Shine Forth," 'but found she had pitched the
tune too high to go on, so she paused and began a second
time "Shine Forth," but what was her dismay to find this
86 Random Reminiscences.
time it was too low to continue, so she desisted and a
third time tried to "Shine Forth," but the ludicrousness of
it all overcame her and she gave up entirely. Mrs.
Conant used to say, amid our laughter, she had never
tried from that time to "shine."
The one act of Mr. Con ant's which impressed me
the most as a child, and has influenced me always, was
an apology he once made for the manner and tone of a
hasty speech on a political subject involving a principle
to which he was a devoted adherent all his life. I
never heard this referred to without much speculation.
I wondered how he could do it, being a grown man, and
believing firmly he was in the right. I thought then I
should never apologize when I grew to be a woman, but
all the while there beat in my heart a belief in that man's
religion who could be sorry and say so; I have lived to
learn, one ought "from the cradle to the grave" to be
often sorry and say so.
We moved away from Geneva for several years, then
went back. I was there during Mr. Woodward's pastor-
ate, but was at an age when church affairs did not occupy
great space in my mind; the one thing which impressed
me was, Mr. Woodward allowed the young people of the
society to dance, play cards and act charades in his house ;
this met with some criticism, but I believe the result
proved there was less general dissipation among those
who had this privilege than among those who were denied
these amusements.
I cannot close this paper without reference to the
women who were members of the Unitarian Society of
Geneva when 1 was there a growing girl ; they had then,
they still have, an enduring influence over me. I am yet
trying to order my conversation, my manners, my life
after their model. "Strength and honour were their
Random Reminiscences. 87
clothing they opened their mouths with wisdom, and in
their tongues was the law of kindness they looked well
to the ways of their households and ate not the bread of
idleness." I, with many others "arise and call them
blessed," having known them a "Trust in all things
high" comes easy to me.
I have lived the greater part of the half-century in
orthodox communities, but 1 am still of the liberal faith,
and have been thankful many times for the larger trust
which that has seemed to bring me.
One of the most abiding memories for me of the
power of that faith was my mother's face during her last
illness when an orthodox relative said to her: "I hope
you realize no one can have eternal life except through
belief in Jesus Christ." My mother turned and with
wide open eyes, said slowly and distinctly, "you know I
do not believe that, and I assure you I am not afraid."
of (JBarUj
OF THE GENEVA CHUECH, BY MES. MAEIA LE BAEON TUENEE.
-^-.^
have been requested to write some of my recol-
lections of the earliest days of our little church,
but when I put on my thinking cap, I am
surprised as well as ashamed at the meagerness of my
memories and their mundane character. When, however,
I thought of the eloquent flights of fancy, the tender
memorials and the entertaining historical articles that
would be written, I concluded that perhaps a few remem-
brances of a superficial nature might not be out of place.
Of Mr. Conant's preaching my memory is very faint,
as I was only twelve years old when he left us, but I re-
member the man himself well, and how we all loved him,
and yet one of my most distinct recollections of that
noble-hearted minister is one of my worldly little mem-
ories, how one Sunday the boys sat down in the back
pews and fell to laughing and playing, as boys will do
even ministers' sons, and Mr. Conant paused in the midst
of his exhortation to sinners to repent and said, in his
clear, decisive way: "John, you may come and sit here
on the pulpit stairs." The dead silence that fell upon
Of The Geneva Church. 89
the children of that congregation could be felt. In those
days fathers feared not to rebuke their children.
I remember also a little social incident, connected
with Mr. Conant. He was spending the evening at an
informal gathering at the home of one of his parishioners.
As the hostess passed cake to her guests, she arranged
an extra large piece next her good minister as she passed
the basket to him, but he reached over and took a smaller
piece beyond. "Mr. Conant," said the good lady,
"when I was a little girl I was taught to take the piece
nearest me." "But," he responded with his bright,
shrewd smile, "when I was a little boy I was taught
never to take the largest piece."
I have another little memory of Mr. Conant, of a
purely personal character. We children were in the back
garden one evening, riding about on our horses, which
horses were wooden sticks, possessed of greater or less
degrees of life and spirit. We heard that some one was
calling on our parents and, full of childish curiosity, at
once put our steeds to full speed to ride to the front on a
tour of discovery, exclaiming in full chorus ; ' 'Who is here ?
Who is here?" To our consternation instead of the elders
being in the parlor they were sitting in front of the house
enjoying, the summer evening. My fractious steed had
carried me within reach of a gentleman, who at once
caught me and, as my pony fell lifeless at my feet, he
drew me into his arms, saying laughingly; "I am here,
and I have caught you," and he kissed me most tenderly.
It was Mr. Conant, and I well remember how, in spite of
my shame and embarrassment at our unintentional rude-
ness, I felt a rapture of delight at the affectionate caresses
of my beloved minister, and when, after holding me some
time, he released mo I crept back to the other children
feeling quite sanctified.
90 Memories of JEarly Day*
No one can recollect more distinctly the noble men
and women who attended church in those bygone days.
There was that lovely gentleman, Mr. Samuel Clark and
his wife who was called by those who knew her best,
"St. Polly;" conscientious Dr. LeBaron and precious,
sympathetic Mrs. LeBaron, whose wise counsels and ex-
ample served, in after years, as guides to so many of the
young friends who gathered at her home, and her sister,
Miss Carr, the dear "Auntie Carr" who is with us yet.
Then there were the three Clark sisters, Harriet, Caroline
and Ellen, whom we all remember better by their married
names, Mrs. Patten, Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Davis. Mrs.
Davis did not live in Geneva after her marriage, but I
never can forget when she was at church how she used to
sing. She would open her mouth and the music would
pour forth as free and clear as the song of a bird. They
were all musical and when visitors would ask Mrs. Patten
to play on the piano for them she would demurely reply:
"Thank you, I don't play, Caroline. plays." Then, after
listening to some of Mrs. Wilson's delightful music, they
would urge her to sing and she would respond with equal
modesty: "I do not sing, Harriet sings," and so they
would get even with each other. We hope they are all
three singing together now in their home beyond the skies.
Then there was our lovely Mrs. Larrabee, with her
great mother heart, and dear Mrs. Dodson who always
sat in the same pew and never looked a day older as the
years rolled by in tens and twenties. She never forgot
the little child she lost and, I think, never heard a refer-
ence to death or little children from the pulpit without
the tears of tender memories filling her loving eyes.
Of Mr. Woodward's pastorate, my memories are
very pleasant. His was the reign of sociability, as was
most natural, since his own family contained every ele-
Of The Geneva Church. 91
mont of social charm, a cheerful, hospitable host, a de-
lightful hostess and charming young people. Cannot all
those who were young people in the old church days re-
member that it was during Mr. Woodward's stay here that
we enjoyed the most delightful social gatherings of all
kinds? There were celebrations arid entertainments of
tableaux and music, amateur theatricals that have never
been excelled, church sociables that were really sociable
and one entertainment, that stands forth most distinctly,
was the pretty cantata, "The Flower Queen," though to
Mr. Harvey the success of that was due, as he was the
manager and inspirer and singing master. I think it was
sung for the benefit of the church, and so can be appro-
priately mentioned here, but you who remembej- it will
not object to dwelling on the memory. How sweet was
our lovely rose, Nellie Larrabee; how stately Julia Dod-
son, the sunflower; how charming was Louise Towner, the
hollyhock, and how sweetly modest, her younger sister,
as the crocus; while Alice Woodward, as dahlia, filled the
old court room with her fresh young voice. Then there
were Theresa Clark Mollie Larrabee and Mary Yates,
singing their duets and trios together, and the pretty
groups of heather bells and bright faced chorus singers,
while Emory Abbott sang the part of the recluse in his
sweat, sympathetic voice. I can see them all as if it
were yesterday.
Thinking of singing reminds me of another of Mr.
Woodward's specialties, his choirs. When he came
among us we had a good choir, led, I think, by Mr.
Harvey and composed of Julia Plato, Carrie Larrabee,
Mary Wells, Charlie Stevens and, unless my memory fails
me, Henry Pierce; but when the Harveys went to Aurora
and the Stevens soon after to Batavia, we were in danger
of beino; left "to die with all our music in us." This
92 Memories of Early Days
emergency was Mr. Woodward's opportunity and he came
to the rescue, organized and trained the older young peo-
ple and, from that time on during his stay, the music
was one of the most attractive features of our service.
First was the older set of girls, Nellie Larrabee, Alice
Woodward, Mary and Lizzie Long, Kate and Mary Curtis,
Lucy Moore, Julia Dodson and others, while the basso
profundos were, Alfred Woodward, Russell Jarvis, young
George Patten, Emory Abbott and others, especially A.
W. Adams who came among us at this time and whose
fine voice was heard in our choir for nearly a quarter of
a century. Next came the younger set, Lizzie Woodward,
Theresa Clark, Libbie Towner, Maria LeBaron, Ella Plato
and Minnie Wright, with Jessie Nelson to play the me-'
lodeon, and in those good, old days the choir sang in a
gallery that went across the back of the church and, dur-
ing the singing of the hymns, we all turned round and
looked up at the fresh young faces and enjoyed that as
much as the music., that was often poured forth with more
vim than skill. Mr. Woodward had in his own family
an entire .quartette of fine voices, and often did Mrs.
Woodward's grand alto give finish and culture to the
younger voices that formed the choir.
Another thing that was carried to perfection during
Mr. Woodward's stay was church decoration, especially
at Christmas time. We were not hampered by artistic
criticism, nor fear of repeating ourselves, nor was the
church too good or new to drive nails into, wherever they
seemed desirable. The sole and only idea was to make
the church a bower of beauty, and so we nailed long fes-
toons of evergreens everywhere and hung up crosses and
anchors and wreaths arid put texts of green letters over
windows and pulpit and gallery, and that homely old
gallery became, for the time being, a thing of beauty, a
Of The Geneva Church. 93
living platform, a green frame for the sweet singers who
chanted the Christmas hymns. And that dear old pulpit!
I would love to see that pulpit once more. I think I have
heard it called ugly, but I cannot remember it so. It was
beautiful to my youthful eyes, and such a fine thing to
trim. We could wind green all around the pillars and
nail it about the top and bottom, and make such a mass
of greenery of it, that we thought it perfect.
I could continue these memories to more recent times,
but have already used more space than I expected, and
have written more for my own amusement than with any
idea that this will be used during the semi-centennial
exercises.
AT THE HOME OF ME. J. D. HARVEY, SATURDAY JUNE 11 AT
IP. M. , REV. GEO. B. PENNEY PRESIDING.
FTER partaking of the refreshments served
by the ladies, Mr. Penney called the guests
to order, under the shade of the trees
where they had assembled, by saying:
I purpose now turning this gathering into an Anarch-
ist meeting. You need not be alarmed as I do not in-
tend to set you to killing policemen or blowing up public
buildings. I simply wish to put this session on the basis
of the Anarchist's ideal state where each shall have due
regard for the other.
By a glance at the cards which are in your hands you
will see that our program is unlimited as to quality, un-
limited as to possible quantity, and that we are limited
only as to time. As American citizens we resent any-
thing in the nature of a gag law, and if we conform to
the. true ideal of the Anarchist, the speakers will have
due regard for the audience and the audience for the speak -
NOTE: The responses were stenographically reported.
A Cambrian Prophet. 95
ers and each speaker for those who are to follow, and we
shall find repressive measures unnecessary.
31 (*mttflm tyvovhet. REV. JENKIN LLOYD JONES.
It takes a revealing stud to understand God's revelation.
From observation of similar occasions I conceive it
to be the duty of a Toastmaster to make pleasantly ap-
parent the fitness of the various speakers to respond to
the subjects assigned them; but no words of mine are
necessary to make it fully apparent why Mr. Jones, kins-
man of R. L. Herbert the fourth pastor of the society
should respond to the first toast on our list.
MR. JONES' RESPONSE.
The task assigned to me carries me far beyond the connection
of Mr. Herbert with the Geneva Society. I remember when a
soldier boy in the tented field, my father, ever quick to discover
any note of progress, got into the habit of sending me frequently
a copy of the Drych, a Welsh paper published in Utica, N. Y.,
which gave frequent correspondence from Vermont, signed by the
letters, "R. L. H." and my father used to send word along that
there was a "man that would soon grow too large for his orthodox
fetters." "Ti;ere was the man to be looked for." The world went
on and the visits of the Drych became less frequent to camp. I had
lost sight of the initials. My father had not. When in the first
year of my work in Janesville I began publishing those little les-
son leaves that wero used in the Sunday Schools in our primitive
times, I received one day an order, briefly expressed, but written
in the most exquisite penmanship, from Fair Haven, Vt., enclosing
subscription for copies of my Sunday School lesson, signed "R. L.
Herbert." Instantly the "R. L. H." of my war experience came to
me, and I wrote to my father at once that I had struck "R. L. H."
again.
Soon after that I learned that a Methodist church in Iowa
was in theological trouble; and that they had sent East for a
Methodist minister, who was also in theological trouble, to preach
the dedication sermon of the church at Marion, Iowa. It turned
out that it was my mystic correspondent "R. L. H." From that
sprung a correspondence which a few months afterwards brought
him to Janesville, Wis., to one of our Wisconsin conference meet-
ings In the press of delegates visiting the town on the first even-
96 A Man without Guile.
ing, there crowded to the front a little man with long hair; without
waiting for introduction or any preliminary courtesy, he said, "Is
this Jones?" I said, "Yes." And then I found myself clasped in
the iron embrace of this man, more hearty and as explosive as
that with which school girls greet each other after a long absence.
From that time to the day of his death, our spirits clasped as
ardently as his arms had enveloped me. I found him indeed a
"Cambrian Prophet." The sauce he gave to life was none of your
sickly sweet preserve, but a sauce flavored with a sense of the im-
perfection and the weakness of the world. His earnest words were
seasoned with a painful sense of the bad there is about us, and
so of course his life burned itself out on those high prophetic
plains which measures life not "by figures on a dial, but by heart
beats." His oft quoted line, which he adapted for himself, was
taken from the lines of one of the old Druid Bards, which says,
"Let me love and thrill or let me die." When the summons came
to attend his funeral away off under the shadows of the Rocky
Mountains, I was unable to reach there in time to discharge that
tender office, but five days after the earth closed over his coffin I
stood under that cloudless sky, over the grave that held all that
was perishable of R. L. Herbert. The next Sunday I stood with
his weeping people in the little church at Denver and shared with
them, and all others who ever came within the reach of his elec-
trical spirit, a sense that something had gone out of the world
when his voice was stilled. So I am glad to stand here this mo-
ment with you in this glad anniversary of this Society, to claim a
part with you in these blessed memories, and to feel, as I said to
one of your members a moment ago, that however doubtful my
case may be when I present myself at the gate over which St.
Peter presides, if the balance should be made out against me in
any and every other respect, I think if, as a last resort, I say, "But
dear St. Peter, please remember this, I had something to do in
giving to Geneva, that Saint's Rest on earth, as pastor to that
Church of blessed usefulness, R. L. Herbert, James West, and
Thomas Byrnes," I think he will swing the gates open and say,
"Come in!"
31 SKem ntth<mi ttile. MRS. J. D. HARVEY.
-Amid all life's quests
There seems but worthy one to do men good.
The Geneva Society might justly claim that its
chosen leaders have been men of marked individuality.
You heard this -morning about the "Man in Earnest" and
Mr. Jones has told you of the "Cambrian Prophet" and
A Man without Guile. 97
you will now hear from Mrs. Harvey, who speaks from per-
sonal reminiscence of ''A Man without Guile," George
Wheelock Woodward, pastor from 1858 to 1863.
MES. HARVEY'S RESPONSE.
It has fallen to my lot to do a difficult thing, to try to do
justice to the memory of our second pastor, "The Man without
Guile" as he has been called. My difficulty is, to satisfy myself at
this distance from the meagre memories of thirty years ago.
To talk now from the impressions of a girl of twenty about such
a man would ba inexcusable, if it were not my only opportunity to
do justice to a man, whom I fear I did not sufficiently appreciate
when he was with us. Young people are very critical and their
judgment seems to them equal to any test, and it makes me blush
now as I recall the superior smiles we indulged in when we thought
we detected an old sermon. How could girls of twenty know that
such sermons as his, from the text, "Speak every man the truth
of his neighbor" could not be preached too many times ? I doubt
if even now we realize after thirty years' experience, that we
actually need such a sermon about once a month. I think ministers
must get very much discouraged over the curiosity that their peo-
ple show to see how finely and strongly they can say things, and
how many new things they can say, but never want to hear them
the second time, nor by any chance try any of their plans, set
forth so eloquently, and see how they might work.
George Wheelock Woodward was born at Hanover, New
Hampshire, in 1810. He inherited culture, intellect and refine-
ment from a long line of ancestors, who were all either Professors
or Presidents of Dartmouth College. One English ancestor
sleeps in Westminster Abbey, and among his American progen-
itors he numbared Miles Standish, also John Woodward and Ebe-
nezer Wheelock who founded the Moore Charity School for Indian
children in northern New Hampshire about a century ago. His
father was judge of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, and
died when George was only eight years old, leaving him to the
care of a most judicious mother, who supervised his education
with the aid and advice of her brother, the late George Ticknor of
Boston.
He entered Dartmouth at an early age, graduating with honor,
and afterwards entered the Divinity School at Harvard where he
was a close student, entering with earnestness and enthusiasm in-
to the study of his profession.
After graduating he preached some years in New England,
and then removed to Galena in this State. There he began a sort
of itineracy, preaching alternately at Galena, Dubuque and Savan-
na, but he was in advance of the time, and after some years of
98 A Man without Guile.
faithful endeavor, the Unitarian work was abandoned, with such
heartache and disappointment as you ministers may understand.
In the meantime Mr. Woodward had made for himself a home in
Galena and identified himself with the interests of the city. He
inaugurated the system of public schools in that city and was
elected County Superintendent of schools and afterwards City Clerk
and Collector of taxes, filling all the positions most acceptably.
Aware of Mr. Woodward's efficiency in any position which he
had filled, in 1857 his long time friend, Gen. J. D. Webster, induced
him to come to Geneva, in his interest to take charge of the office
of the Danford Reaper Company, and soon after, upon Mr. Conant's
departure for Rockford, this society invited him to minister to
them, and he found himself again at work in his chosen profession.
The old time fire flamed up again clear and bright as he bore
testimony to the faith that was within.
I find in reading over his sermons, as I have been privileged to
do recently, that most of them were written in the early years of
his ministry, before he came to Geneva, but they were remodeled
and retouched for our benefit as I well remember. As I re-read
these as they were written during the second quarter of the cen-
tury, I am impressed with the vigor and freshness of the thoughts.
I have heard it said that Mr. Woodward was in advance of his
time. I see now how it was true. He does not seem to have been
much interested in what we might call radical reforms. Probably
he never heard in those days of charity organization yet, when he
preached the sermon from the text, ''Pure religion and undefiled
before God the Father, is this, to visit the fatherless and widows
in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world:''
when he preached this sermon, he put all the spirit of the motto
of the Charity Organization Society. "Not alms but a friend," into
the word visit, he made it appear that true charity was not in that
easiest way of all, giving money, but giving one's self, and that self
must ba kept pure and unspotted from the world. The emphasis
which he laid upon the fact that the two must go together, was a
sermon in itself. How much of such charity is there in the world
to-day ? And yet this young man pleaded' for it over fifty years
ago, as his Master had done nearly twenty centuries before.
He saw beyond many of the plans for reforming the world, and
saw what Kindergartners, individualists, and all the most advancad
people of our time see now, that it is the individual that must be
pure and good, that reforms must come from within, not without:
and he preached that we must analyze and judge ourselves, and we
shall see ourselves rightly. He draw a strong picture of the man
stripped of all seeming, standing at the bar of his own conscience,
"He sees that his innocence was inaction, that he had been unre-,
proached, because unknown. He thought himself just, but was
only legal, temperate while he was a cowardly venturer to th.3
A Man without Guile. 99
brink of excoss; thought himsalf charitable, but finds he never
made a disinterested sacrifice in his life; hospitable, but he was on-
ly ostentatious; zealous for truth, but it was only for a system;
patriotic, but he was only a partisan; forgiving but only cowardly.
Can we bear to be stripped of our fancied excellencies, and have
our motives ready for analysis? Do we venture to look with a
steady eye into our own hearts? Dare we read to the bottom of
the page?"
I wish I had time to tell you how exacting this young man was
of himself, how honesty in business, uprightness in everything
was his standard. It has been said of him that he carried this too
far to succeed. Perhaps he did, if success means making money
and knowing how to keep it. He was a thorough business man in
the best sense of the word. Promptness, accuracy, thrift, talent
in an artistic way, and public spirit he had. A man who had the
foresight, the energy to inaugurate the public school system in his
town, was surely a success.
His favorite text, "Whatever ye do, do all to the glory of
God," he carried into his every day life, his business and social re-
lations. He taught it in the way he drilled the choir and managed
the Sunday School, always drawing out the best work and endeavor
of the young people in everything they did; helping them to make
a success of everything they undertook, if it were only entertain-
ing themselves.
I remember his manner, dignified but cheery, sympathetic,
magnetic but quick, imperative, and, as one of our musical friends
used to say, staccato in his style. He was kind, considerate, but
rather strict in his family, always busy working out his mechanical
and artistic ideas in many pretty pieces of furniture and house-
hold conveniences. He believed in the dignity of labor and taught
it to his children and showed infinite wisdom and patience in some
of the most difficult problems of life. He had many good ideas
regarding woman's dress, which they are only now beginning to
see. He could teach your mothers how to take better care of their
babies, as I have occasion to remember.
With Schuyler Colfax he was active in establishing the I. O.
O. F. in this state, and was grand master pf the state and grand
representative. He was also a Mason but was never so active in
that order.
When the wild storm of war spread over all the land he was
among the earliest to the front, and shared in all the terrors and
hardships of those first dreadful days. Port Henry, Fort Donald-
son, Shiloh, were names whose meaning he knew only too well.
After more than a year of most trying hardships, when his health
had utterly failed, he was "honorably discharged;" the surgeon
said, "that he might go home and die paacafully with his family."
There are some here who will remember the solemn day when the
100 Other Pioneers.
two ministers came back to the little church together, and one
gave no token in return for the loving greetings, but lay speech-
less and cold, and the other, (only a wreck) said a few, trembling,
parting words, before you bore him away to sleep among kings.
Little by little he fought his way back to a trifle firmer hold
on life, but the day was forever darkened. His eyesight was much
impaired, preventing him from very active work the rest of his
life, excepting a few years he held the position of Professor in the
college at Pulton for the soldiers' sons. There his influence was
fine upon the youth about him.
Few of the young people who came under his influence but
were the better for it. His home and home life impressed every
one who came within its influence as very sunny and bright. No
friend ever crossed the threshhold of the Woodward house with-
out being made gladly and heartily welcome; and after all, is not
home influence more potent and far reaching than any other, es-
pecially upon the young ? And it is in behalf of the young people
of the church at that time, that I gladly pay this tribute of affec-
tion and grateful remembrance to the second pastor of our little
church on the corner.
Other 3Himefir, REV. T. B. POKBUSH.
Nor much fastidious as to how and when:
Yet seasoned stuff and fittest to create
A thought-staid army or a lasting slate.
We feel that this 1$ a celebration not only of the
Geneva Unitarian Society, but that it is a celebration of
t/ '
Unitarianism in the West; and especially of the Western
Movement which the Geneva church seems to typify in
so many ways. We will hear from Mr. Forbush, a man
who, from his position, as overlooking the field is well
fitted to tell us something of 4 'Other Pioneers. ' '
MR. FORBDSH'S RESPONSE.
It is one of the felicities of being a Unitariarrminister, that
you are perfectly sure, if you only live long enough, when you die
you will be reckoned one of the Saints; and as I think back over
the list of men whom in the early years of my ministry I was
privileged to know in this wjst3rn country, it saams to me that
they all ought to have the "St." prefixed to their namss. This
church in order of establishment was the eighth church west of
the Alleghanies. The 'pioneer church was the church at Mead-
Other Pioneers. 101
ville, founded by that grand old man, Hiram Huidekoper, in 1825.
Through the influence of Mr. Huidekoper, there came to Cincin-
nati and Louisville Ephraim Peabody and James Freeman Clarke,
both establishing themselves for a little while in those Southern
towns in 1830; then in 1831 came William G. Eliot to St. Louis.
In 1836 the church of the Messiah in Chicago got itself organized,
though who its first pastor was I do not know. In 1840 the church
at Quincy was established and in 1842 this church at Geneva.
When it was my privilege- first to make the acquaintance of- the
west, Hosmer at Buffalo, Stebbins at Meadville, Livermore at Cin-
cinnati, Hey wood at Louisville, Eliot at St. Louis, Shippen at Chi-
cago, Mumford at Detroit, Billings at Quincy, and your own Conant
here in Geneva, were the ministers of the West. That was in
1853; and of those men only three now remain to us. Two with the
very aureola of sainthood around their reverend heads; those dear
old men, Heywood at Louisville and Livermore in his retreat up
among the hills of New Hampshire; while Shippen is our honored
minister at the Nation's Capital. At that same time or very soon
afterwards, there came to Alton, Haley with his beautiful young
wife; his friend Withington following very soon afterwards to
Hillsboro. About the same time, for they were all classmates,
John Murray organized the Unitarian church at Rockford, and
Kelsey, Conant's brother-in-law, established himself at Dixon.
The first sermon that I gave in the state of Illinois was spoken
in the little church at Dixon, where the voice of a liberal minister,
I am sorry to say, has not baen heard for ever and ever so long.
What shall I say of these man ? Simply that they were faith-
ful soldiers in the beginning of a crusade here in this western
country against the old theology, and in favor of the enlightened
liberal religion in which we now rejoice. Some of them succeeded.
In the sight of men some of them failed. The matter of success
or failure was not so much a matter of faithfulness and earnestness
as it was a matter of location. I am told that William G. Eliot
preached the first winter in St. Louis half the time to less than a
dozen people. St. Louis grew and William G. Eliot's church grew
with it. My friend Kelsey went to Dixon and preached there to
a congregation larger than Eliot's. But Dixon did not grow and
Kelsey was forced to leave.
I must not dwell upon these early pioneers; I can only mention
them. Their very names will call up to you memories more sweet
and more refreshing than any which my words would awaken.
Just so it is to-day all over this great western country. For where
fifty years ago there were seven churches west of the Alleghanies,
to-day there are between one hundred and thirty and one hundiW
and forty churches, and a great many of them are working among
just the same obstacles, with just the same possible chances of suc-
dess or failure, that Geneva had fifty years ago: that Rockford.
102 Letter.
and Dixon and Alton had afterwards. I was very much interested
in the paper which we heard this morning concerning Mr. Conant,
because it recalled to me so vividly just the things that are coming
into my daily life now, of men working here and there on the wide
plains of Dakota, in the fastnessses of the Rocky Mountains, and
away up in the frozen wilds of Manitoba; working just the same,
whether in log cabins or in little school houses, wherever they can
get a chance to speak the word which is to them and to many of
their hearers the word of life. And when I recall how some of
them do not get any more than that two hundred and fifty dollars
which Mr. Conant received, and have to take some of that in
"truck," then I feel that the conditions of pioneering are not over
yet in this country. There is pioneering still to be done here in
Illinois. There is pioneering all the way west until you strike
the Pacific Ocean. And when it is all done here, we may be left,
to pioneer in the Sandwich and Fiji Islands.
Friends, this same spirit that stimulated Conant when he
planted himself here at Geneva is what we want in our young men
to-day, and the same spirit that animated the people of Geneva
when Conant planted himself here is the spirit we need all over
this wide West to-day. I firmly believe that wherever there is that
spirit in the man and that spirit in the people, success is sure.
Let me tell a little story, to illustrate the other side of the
case. Why did Geneva succeed and Dixon fail ? The morning
after I preached at Dixon I was riding into Chicago with a Dixon
man who came and sat by my side and said to me very confidently
''My friend, there can be built just the biggest church right here
in Dixon of anywhere in the state of Illinois, provided you will
send us the right man." "Now," he said, "We could easily raise a
thousand dollars a year for Starr King." That is the secret of the
whole thing. Geneva took the man that came to it and gave him
what they could. Dixon waited for Starr King at a thousand dol-
lars a year, and is waiting yet.
gettev, ROBERT COLLYER.
I don't think I ever heard of a Unitarian during the
first eighteen or twenty years of my life, except in terms
that tended to prejudice my mind against them as a class
of people to avoid as I would avoid a pestilence. The
one man who did more than any other to remove that
prejudice was Robert Colly er in the few times that I
heard him at the University Chapel, and occasionally
meeting him at the Sage College table. And although he
Letter. '103
cannot be with us to-day he has sent his greeting, which
I will call upon Mr. Harvey to read.
LETTER BEAD BY MB. HABVEY.
DEAR FRIENDS:
I would love to be with you when you celebrate your golden
wedding in the church made sacred to me by many memories, but
I cannot come and so must send my greeting and blessing by what
the Scotch call "a scart o' my pen."
But it comes from my heart you may be sure because you are
enshrined there, and as far away as I am from you, when once and
again I find some one who can tell me how you fare; it is almost as
when I light on a man from the old home nest over the sea, so
eager I am to hear all about you and wipe the film from the picture
I treasure of the old chapel and of those who gathered there when
I first came to know you more than thirty years ago. You had
not come to your silver wedding even then, t but had given bonds
for this you are to celebrate in the faithful keeping of the vows
you made to have and to hold a church of your faith and order in
Geneva "for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse," so long as
you should live, and to maintain her as we try to maintain our
homes in all good will and good fellowship toward the churches of
other names but still to say, here is our home place and worthy of
all our love.
And it was no. wonder that I should be drawn to you and yours
because it was my good fortune to know your first minister and to
count him very soon among my dear friends; to see him often in
the two years that lay between our first meeting and the time
when he went as chaplain to give his life to the Republic; to ren-
der my poor tribute to his rare and noble manhood when his dust
was brought home for burial, and to write a memoir of his good,
true life. And it was in writing the memoir that I caught the
thread of the story of your church he gathered and organized fifty
years ago and of the little band of men and women who were his
''helpers in the Lord;" the noble and beautiful story of the faith
and courage which lay in the sowing that has ripened for your
reaping and happy harvest home: how a hope dawned first that
such a church might be gathered rather a forlorn hope I said as I
read his journals, but here was the man to lead it arid the twenty
ail told who said, we will follow, and so the hope won the day by
faith and courage. So the house of the Lord was built at which he
he worked as he found the time with his own clever hands and
then from the date of his settlement to the close of his ministry
among you of sixteen years he was only absent from his own pulpit
on three Sundays.
Nor could the pulpit and parish, with what these mean to so
104 Letter.
many of us now, satisfy his desire to be "a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed." He must labor with his own hands at many
things besides the church that he might not be a burden to you
when you were all poor together in this world's goods and only rich
in faith and hope. He must do many things one never thinks of
doing now, that he might make ends meet and tie, and use the
pioneer's axe and saw on week days as truly as he used the Bible
on Sundays. And so in the journal he left there is the raciest rec-
ord of minister and man I have ever laid eyes on. Sunday is
sacred but the week day's work is blended of the secular and sacred
while all flames sacred as you read because of the man as he tells
you day by day how he "Wrote at a sermon and made a door.
Worked at a sermon and doctored sore eyes. Made a plan for a ser-
mon and a pair of quilting frames. Read Neander and made a chair.
Wrote at a sermon and drew wood, snow two feet deep. Doctored a
sick horse and cut wood. Read Neander and horse died. Read Ne-
ander and mended a pump. Wrote at a sermon, read Neander and
made a wheelbarrow. Planned a sermon and made a bedstead for
the cobbler."
The cobbler was a cripple, helpless and very poor when he
came to live among you. He could mend shoes if he could find a
place to live and work in, but there was no place. Well, your
minister built a place for him and furnished it with his own hands:
got him all the wood he wanted for the winter, sawed, split and
piled it for him; got in provisions for him. You gave him work
to do, who are still alive and remain, and the result was the hap-
piest cobbler in Kane county, with never a doubt in his heart about
such a liberal Christianity. So the story stands to his name first
and then to yours of the early years when he was your minister
and faithful friend, while he has no word to say of a day lost in dis-
mal reflections over the contrips of nature and the world we live
in, or in growling because things do not always run to suit Augus-
tus H. Conant, no report of a fevered Saturday or a blue Monday.
And so he being dead, yet speaketh on the day of your jubilee and
it is all as healthy as well baken brown bread, and apples, sweet
and sound to the core. I mind also with affection the minister
who was with you when we first foregathered Mr. Woodward
whose face was a benediction. He also was my friend, but here I
must pause and only stir up your minds by way of remembrance,
' leaving the story of the later years to be told as it lies in your own
hearts and minds.
But may I say now that in these years I have wondered once
and again whether the good old church would hold on to her life
in the hard times you have had to meet and master; but there you
ai*e and will be, when this script comes to you, singing the song of
your golden wedding and looking forward from that to your well
rounded cantury. And then from that as my faith and hope stands
Early Women. 105
those who will bz with you as little children now, may be so great
of heart that they will only be content to look forward to the
thousand years when the small one of the faith we hold has be-
come a great nation, for sure I am that this truth of the one living
and trus God, our Father on which our churches are founded, will
be that of our common Christendom in the good time coming, but
greater still and nobler then as the harvest is greater and nobler
than the sowing of the seed, for believe me,
"Through the ages one increasing purpose runs,
And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of
the suns."
Indeed always yours,
New York, May 23, 1892. ROBERT COLLYER.
OBarltj ^tUcrtnen. MRS. MARY P. JARVIS.
Through suffering and sorrow thou hast passed
To show us what a woman true may be.
You heard it said this morning that "This has always
been a woman's church" and now Mrs. Mary P. Jarvis,
one of the women who helped to give us such an honor-
able reputation will tell us something of the other ' 'Early
Women."
MRS. JARVIS' RESPONSE.
It is rather hard for you, after hearing these speeches, which
must have been so clear to you, to be obliged to listen to one who
is not accustomed to public speaking.
Of the work of the women in the earliest days of the church
I have no personal knowledge, but the Church and Sunday School
in which, I was interested from the time we came to Geneva, in
1855, showed the effect of their faithful work. Among these, and
of those whose work had then ceased were, Mrs. Scotto Clark, Mrs.
Betsey Stelle Carr, and Mrs. Mary Jane Whiting, (who was inde-
fatiga'ble in the work w^hile here, and continued her aid, even after
her failing health required her to leave Geneva, ) and others whose
names are unfamiliar to me.
I found the Church, Unitarian as it was, had already inaugu-
rated two Saints, St. Polly and St. Maria Mrs. Sam'l Clark and
Miss Maria Clark all who knew them, know that they were
worthy of canonization.
The first thing which str.'.ck me as a newcomer, was the hos-
pitality which welcomed us to the church and made it a home to us.
106 The Original Geneva.
Though a Unitarian from childhood my first home-feeling in a
church was in the little church of Geneva. As an illustration of
this hospitality, I well remember that one Sunday when Mrs.
Chas. Patten called for me (as was her frequent custom) she said,
"We must have very little to say to each other to-day, for there
are many strangers present, and we must devote ourselves to them."
The teachers of the Sunday School were chiefly women; a few
of the men (to their praise be it spoken) also had classes. An in-
cident in which Mrs. Chas. Patten was concerned as a teacher, oc-
curs to me, an amusing effect of Unitarian teaching. In Mrs.
Patten's class was a little black girl whom Miss Orton had taken
to bring up. Going home from Sunday School the child passed
through our place, and was attracted by the ripe, red cherries,
climbed the trees and helped herself bountifully. Miss Orton
tried to bring her to repant of her wrongdoing, but in vain.
"Oh," said the child, "There is no hell, Mrs. Patten says so. I
ain't afraid."
This hospitality of which I have spoken, was shown in the
homes of these women as well as in the church. I well remember
the pleasant social gatherings at Mrs. Chas. Patten's, who having
no children, was more free for social duties but not infrequently
the gatherings were at Mrs. Wilson's, Mrs. Dodson's, Mrs. Larra-
bee's, Mrs. LeBaron's, Mrs. Geo. Patten's and at many other of the
homes. Gatherings for charitable purposes, for Sunday School
teachers, etc. I have not time for the further mention of names
I wish to make no invidious distinctions. I can only say of these
women that they did what they could.
It was a great pleasure to me to feel with what unanimity they
worked, each doing what the circumstances of her separate life
made possible; but all zealous for the success and welfare of Church
and Sunday School. I remember no dissensions, even no differ-
ences; all was harmonious combination for the one purpose the
success of the little Church so dear to them all.
rigtnal (fiJffttctm, MR. B. W. DODSON.
-methinks I would not (/row .so
Because sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste.
This morning I welcomed you first to Geneva. Ge-
neva is just now trying to have a boom; at least, we are
growing a little, and I know you will be interested in
knowing something about the early days of our city. I
Fifty Year*. 107
will call upon Mr. Dodson to tell us of the "Original
Geneva."
MR. DODSON'S RESPONSE.
Mr. Chairman, having no address to offer you to-day I will,
with your permission, speak my excuses from the floor, or from the
ground, properly speaking. I had not thought to say anything, but
this fetching poetry that you have put into the toast for the
"Original Geneva" is a great temptation, and if I made no further
address it would be to inquire the meaning of that poetry applied
to Geneva. I am not sure as to whether the inference is that Ge-
neva is growing too fast or that there is a superabundance of
weeds here. Perhaps it might be claimed both ways. In lieu of
attempting to speak on the "Original Geneva," which I am sure
you will all agree must have been a very beautiful Geneva, judging
from the reports we hear about it, I have thought to off era sugges-
tion, and with your permission, Sir, I would like to suggest that
prior to the friends leaving this assemblage that they shall take
occajion, each and every one of them to sign the visitors' register
which has been started here, as friends in Geneva would like to
retain a written record of everybody, every individual who has
honored us with his presence to-day. I have nothing further to
add, Sir.
Umr. MRS. JULIA DODSON SHEPPARD.
We are now to have what is always regarded as a
great treat, an Author's Reading. You will notice on the
back of our little card a poem by Mrs. Sheppard, which
she has kindly consented to read to us, and I hope that
she will see fit, or that the spirit will move her, to talk to
us also.
MRS. SHEPPARD'S READING.
My friends, it is a disastrous thing to invite a person to any
entartamment who thinks she writes poetry. I have been proud
this winter because I have been making butter, all my relatives
have had a portion of that butter, and once when invited out, I
took my butter with m3, and said to my friend, "You have heard
of certain poets who when invited out to tea, ask, 'wouldn't you
like to hear my last poem ?' " I only ask. would you like some of
my last butter ? My friend replied, "I can stand the butter, but I
could not the poetry." I thought when Mr. Penney asked me to
108 Letter.
read my own poem, how proud that friend would be if she could
hear me on this occasion.
Fifty years! Oh little church upon the plain,
Tell us your story, is it loss or gain?
You who for half a century have stood
Contending for the striving after Good,
Instead of unbelievable belief;
Hold you the battlefield in joy or grief ?
* * * *
The old walls seem to echo all around,
"With everlasting gain I hold the ground;
Here have true men and patient women stood,
And lived, and died, just trying to be good,
Thus have they strengthened others for the strife
'Gainst sin and self, and blessed this earthly life,
Thus to their children's children given
'None other than a ladder up to heaven.' "
fiettetr REV. JNO. R. EFFINGER.
We had hoped to have with us one who has always
taken a deep interest in this Society, Mr. Effinger, but he
sends his greeting, which I will read to you.
MR. EFFINGER' s LETTER.
MY DEAR MR. PENNEY:
As the week advances and the cold, damp weather shows no
disposition to depart from the even tenor of its way, I think I must
be content to be with you in spirit and by letter, rather than in the
bodily presence.
Please convey to the First Unitarian Society of Geneva my
hearty congratulations on having attained the ripe age of fifty
years. It is a great event in the history of one of our western
Unitarian churches to celebrate its semi-csntennial. It is a mat-
ter not only, of local, but general interest to our body. If lam
not mistaken there are but few older churches west of the Alle-
ghanies, namely those at Louisville, St. Louis, Chicago and Quincy.
All honor to the pioneers of our faith in this western land! I
would offer my little tribute of thanks and praise to the men and
women, who, planting their homes on the wide and then lonesome
prairies of Illinois, set up there the beacon-light of a religion of
reason and the moral sense. There are a few of us whose hearts
have not glowed with new zeal on reading the story of the "Man
in Earnest," who, with equal skill and grace could plough a field
Letter. 109
or make a churn, or preach a sermon, or minister to the passing
soul. How dear was his name to every Unitarian in the State, and
how treasured the memories and associations of this church at Ge-
neva, which owes its existence to his consecrated energy and
enthusiasm!
Under the careful husbandry of such hands as Conant, Ed-
dowes and Herbert your Society took such vigorous root that we
must now look upon it as one of the established things, if Unitar-
ians can ever consent to consider anything in the shape of a church
as "established." As you meet together the hearts of many who
are absent will be turning toward Geneva with congratulations on
your past and good hopes for your future. Regretting that I can-
not ba with you and with hearty good wishes for a successful
meeting and continued prosperity,
T am yours most cordially,
Chicago, June 9, 1892. JOHN R. EFFINGER.
getter. PROF. SAMUEL, CLARKE.
1 will also call upon Mrs. Agnes Hoyt, who has a
letter that she will read to you.
LETTER READ BY MRS. HOYT.
After a few words to myself he says:
The little picture of the dear
old church on your invitation stirs many memories of my early life
that are among the things to me most valued, held most sacred.
I have to recall the Sundays with each one of our dear good
people in their well-known seats. I remember clearly the delight-
ful feeling of being entirely at home among the best of good lov-
ing friends; the blessed sense of peace and helpfulness that came
equally from our good friend in the pulpit and from those with
whom we sat. Such a canter of genuine goodness to stimulate and
help everything that makes for true living, carried on bravely and
joyously and withal, humbly, I have never found elsewhere.
With this I always associate my impressions of the Prairie
life as I came to know it in those days. The picture is very vivid
to me of June afternoons on the fields that reached the horizon
and knew no bounds. There never was a bluer sky, light clouds
never sailed more freely; the afternoon breeze was delicious in its
sweet freshness: the notes of the prairie birds are clearer than all
others; the beautiful prairie flowers were out in endless profusion,
fragrant and brilliant; and the wonderful insect life in countless
numbsrs seemed full of cheer and joy as they went swiftly about
their beneficent work. What a glorious world that was! How it
110 Cui Bono f
touched and stimulated every particle and fibre of worth within one.
Never has there come to me such a sense of glad freedom, of
unbounded room and beautiful, good things for all, as there on the
prairie. Everything was so pure and true and unlimited that it
seemed to be God's storehouse, and it was the greatest privilege
to be there.
And so two of my most prized memories of the West, most
prized because they have been most helpful to me, are of our
church with you dear people, and of the wider church outside all
walls.
All greetings to you and, with a full measure of its old time
meaning Good bye. Yours always,
Williamstown. June 8, 1892. SAMUEL F. CLARKE.
ui fpotto ? REV. T. G. MILSTED.
We have with us to-day another of the Chicago min-
isters whose name, but for a miscarried letter, would have
appeared on our program; but I know we will all be glad
to hear from Mr. Milsted.
MR. MILSTED'S RESPONSE.
Daar friends, ladies and gentlemen: They say that man pro-
poses but that God disposes. Some of us, however, have disposing
powers a little nearer to us. or that perhaps act upon us a little
oftener and a little more forcibly perhaps than that greater dis-
posing power. When I told my wife recently that before my church
closed I was going to Davenport to see my mother, she said, "Very
well, then you must go this week." That settled it for me, and
this week I prepared to go. We had heard of this celebration at
Geneva, but, through the miscarriage of the letter of which Brother
Penney spoke, we did not know what the nature of it would be:
when we found this out, my wife said. "You can't go to Davenport
this week; you must go to Geneva. " So here I am.
Mr. Penney had asked me to speak on the subject, "Cui Bono?"
"What is the good of the church; for whose benefit is the church?"
And as I had told him I would be in another State at that time, I
supposed that, of coui'se, he would have assigned that subject to
someone else, so I came expecting to have only the pleasure of
listening. So you see there may have been some special Provi-
dence in this arrangement after all, for if I had planned to speak
of the "Owi Bono?" of the Church, you might not have escaped so
easily as you now will, because I have had only a few moments to
think of the question, "What is the use and benefit of a Church
like this."
Cui Bono ? Ill
If I could only point to the two or three sainted characters
that have sanctified this Church, and have given the blessing and
the banediction of their spirit to the world, I know that all of the
faithful men and women who have toiled here would say that all
the toil and work of their lives was not in vain, in having given to
our denomination and to the religious world the lives of such men
as Conant and Hertort and tha other workers here. I hold that
such characters are unique in modern Christendom, and their only
parallel is in the early days of the martyrs when men's souls were
stirred to their depths. They could not have found room for such
characters in other churches, because their souls were open to all
God's stock of truth, and they did not have to apologize for it; they
did not have to blind their eyes; there were no secret recesses in
God's creation into which they did not dare to look, but they gave
their great characters to our modern life, and that is one of the
b3nefits that this church has basn, not only to this placa but to our
country. This church is to be the great school of your souls and
of the souls of your children. There are in your midst schools to
train the minds of the young; you should also have a place to train
their souls, for we do not come into the world full-grown men and
women of God. We are born with our Godlike faculties in the
germ, just as we are born with our mental and physical natures in
the germ, and just as it takes the school to unfold all our powers
of mind, and just as it takas all the great benefits we have of a
physical kind to unfold and develop our physical natures, so I hold
it needs the church to unfold a\id develop the divine nature; and
for that purpose the .church exists here for you and for your
children.
As I was coming out here to-day I looked out of the car win-
dow and I saw some birds sitting on the telegraph wires, and I was
reminded of the baautiful poem by Mrs Whitney, in which she
tells about these little birds 'sitting on the telegraph wires, and
how that they chitter and flitter and fold their wings, and think
that for them and their sires were stretched always on purpose
those wonderful wires.' And as they sit there and think, if they
think at all, that those strings were stretched for themselves, the
news of the world runs under them; how values rise and decline;
how great souls are taken away from our midst; how armies meet
in battle-shock, and while that is going through the wires, they
only see the wires stretching away. So the lines of eternity, and
immortality, and theithought of God and the diviner life run throuhg
our lives. Often like the birds we only see the visible thing and
forget that through the lines of our lives are flying the messages
of God and eternity too deep and vast to be wholly comprehended
by our mortal powers. The church is continually in our midst to
call these messages to mind, to interpret them to us that their
grand meaning may strengthen and uplift our souls.
A Living Saint.
The Church can only be good and great with great and good
and loyal men and women within it. The Church is only made of
those that are within it, and unless you are true, the Church will
not have the influence in this community that it should have.
Your Church does not exist for freedom only. Rsad when you get
home all that beautiful poem of Bryant on Freedom, in which he
explodes the fallacy held by so many people that freedom is simply
to do nothing, and in which he says:
"O Freedom! Thou art not, as poets dream,
A fair young maid, with light and delicate limb,
And wavy tresses gushing from the cap
With which the Roman master crowned his slave
When he took off the gyves. A bearded man.
Armed to the teeth, art thou; one mailed hand
Grasps the broad shield, and ons the sword."
Then he goes on to tell how he is scarred, and how his
"Massive limbs
Are strong with struggling."
And how he has even been imprisoned in "dungeon deep," but
that he broke his walls and chains and came out to do good; and so
freedom in religion is not some light and delicate thing, it is some-
thing strong. It rises up equal to all responsibilities, and we hope
this Church through the next fifty years will ba as good and great
and glorious as it has been in the fifty years that we celebrate
to-day.
3C fjitttt0 S*atnt, MRS. J. D. HARVEY.
Before we proceed with the second half of our pre-
pared program, there is one more toast that is not down
here. It does not need to be, because the people of Ge-
neva and those who know and have come in contact with
the people of Geneva, find it written on their hearts. I
shall call upon Mrs. Harvey to respond to the toast, "A
Living Saint, Timothy Harold Eddowes. "
MRS. HARVEY'S RESPONSE.
At the risk of appearing bafore you again with a Very red fao
and the engine having the best of it, I have come to say one word
outside of the program. You have heard about so many Saints
that we have had with us in the past, but we ai\3 so fortunate as to
Response. 113
have still another one who is here, and who, we hope, will be here
for many years.
We have a great many ministers here to-day who are doing a
great work in the world, but it seems to me to be a small thing to
preach, to what it is to do everything except preach; but that
is what our Saint does who has been here t wenty-five years, any-
way. He has not preached here regularly for many years, but he
buries us all, marries us all, doas all the work in between I could
not tall you all the things he doas, but he is what keeps this
Church going. He manages the Sunday School, and above all, he
has faith that we will always have some money to keep up this
Church and will always have a minister, even when no one else be-
lieves it.
Last yaar, the trustees were very much discouraged and it
was even feared that we could not go on, but we handed everything
over to him, and how successful he has been you can judge from
our Church and our fine young minister who is here. He believes
in young ministers; imports them every few years; teaches them
how to preach; warns them off the breakers, and does everything
that can be done. And that is our "Living Saint" whom I wanted
you to know about. [Calls for Eddowes.]
REV. T. H. EDDOWES.
They insist upon hearing from Mr. Eddowes.
MR. EDDOWES' RESPONSE.
I have always liked Geneva very well, but I did not know I
had got to heaven. It is very true that I have known this Church
twenty-seven years, and it was the first Church that I ever had,
but I felt as soon as I cam3 to Geneva that this was my home.
Thsre was something about my earlier horns that I had never liked:
it was at that place, Galena, that I spoka to you about this morning
where my father's family had such hard times starting a Unitarian
Church. The rest of my family were very much attached to Ga-
lena, but from my childhood on, I was always glad to go away from
it and vory sorry to go back to it even while my folks were living
there; so when I came to Geneva and found there was a Unitarian
Church here, and I could have charge of it, I was at home, and if
heaven and home are the sam3 things, I am perfectly willing to
take this for heaven. Mrs. Harvey has told you of what I do for
this Church. I am vain enough, or weak enough, or something or
other enough, to say that it is just the one thing in this world I
had rather do than anything else, because I became so interested
in the people who were here when I came; and there is something
or other about the Eddowes family that is always putting them in
114- The Illinois Conference.
situations where there is a forlorn hope to carry. Whatever un-
der the sun I should do in a place that didn't need a "factotum" or
with a church that could run itself, I don't see. I should have to
emigrate or else should have to say that I was not in heaven.
[Cheers for Eddowes.]
getter. REV. CHESTER COVELL.
When Mr. Duncan, as he says, "discovered' 1 me, he
sent me down to Buda, and then to Geneseo to have Mr.
Miller and Mr. Oovell look me over, and I have here a
letter from Mr. Covell which I think will serve as a very
good introduction to Mr. Duncan, who will respond to
' 'The Illinois Conference. ' '
DEAR FRIENDS: .
It would be a great pleasure to me to be with you on the occa-
sion of the anniversary exercises of which you speak. Honored
names will be then called up, which have been connected with
your organization names I much revere. Conant and Herbert
can never be forgotten. A line from the latter in '81 speaking of
our Illinois Conference, says, "That Fraternity will always be very
dear to me, however far from it I may physically be." And how
very dear he was to the Geneva Church, and our State Conference.
I must say circumstances will not permit my attendance: but
I rejoice in the good time that awaits those who attend.
Fraternally Yours,
Buda, June 3, 1892. C. COVELL.
he miittotft xmference. REV. L. J. DUNCAN.
We hope to leave behind us an enduring work whereby those who come
after us may "Climb by our labors and thank God for our lives.' 1 ''
Mr. Duncan will now respond to "The Illinois
Conference. ' '
MR. DUNCAN'S RESPONSE.
Ladies and gentlemen: It were far better if Father Covell
himself were here to speak to this toast, for he is one of the fathers
of the Illinois Conference and for many years its secretary and
missionary in the field. I would it were that he could bs here and
say to you the words that I must speak.
In responding to this toast, I am first of all glad to remember
The Illinois Conference. 115
that it was in the Geneva Church that the first steps were taken
to incorporate the Illinois Conference on its present basis. Prior
to October, 1885, there had been for ten years a talking conference
in this state callod the "Illinois Fraternity of Liberal Churches;"
but in Octobar, 1885, they thought it was time to begin to do some
thing more than just talk about this liberal religion, and so at the
meeting of that Fraternity held here, steps were taken towards
the incorporation. Officers were elected; the name was changed
to "The Illinois Conference of Unitarian and other Independent
Societies;" the motto, "Freedom, Fellowship, and Character" was
adopted; Mr. Effinger was elected the Secretary of the Conference
and we started out to bj a working organization. Through all the
sixteen years of this Conference life, for I count the Fraternity
and the Conference as at present organized one living body,
through all the life of this Conference, I find that the Geneva
Church has been most loyal; sharing in all the responsibilities
which that Conference has had to face, sharing also in the tri-
umphs which that .Conference has achieved. And so I feel per-
fectly confident that the constituency which I represent here would
feel glad to have me say to you that you have the hearty congratu-
lations, on this anniversary occasion, of the Illinois Conference,
and to express the earnest hope that the relations which have
been so pleasant and so profitable between us in the past may be
continued in the future.
The Illinois Conference to-day is doing all the work that comes
to its hands; all that it can find to do. It has only been about six-
teen months since the active work of the Conference has been
carried on. Prior to that time, for various reasons, we were un-
able to do very much in the field for several years, but in the last
sixteen months we have been prosecuting a pretty vigorous work.
The Sunday Circle at Princeton has been revived and set to work
in a practical way which bids fair to give us before long another
liberal Church in Illinois. A Sunday Circle has been started at
Ottawa, 111. I noticed to-day in the history that was read, that the
first communion service of this Church was attended by thirteen
people; the first service that was held in Ottawa was attended by
thirteen people. Let us hope that Ottawa may have as rich a his-
tory in the next fifty years as this Church has had in the past fifty
years. A little Circle has baen started at Wenona, a most inter-
esting Circle in that it is representative of so many different lines of
thought, there are Universalists,Unitarians,Quakers and- some peo-
ple who call themselves "What Nots" for want of a better name.
There has been a new movement started at Sterling and Rock
Falls, where I shall go to-morrow, that gives promise of abundant
success. Prior to last December, there never had been a liberal
sermon preached in that town; and I found people there who did
not know, as close as they are to Ganeva, that there was such a
116 The Illinois Conference.
thing as a Unitarian Church. There are other places I might
mention, but particularly I want to speak of the new work which
is just coming to us at Streator, which gives good promise of grow-
ing to a strong movement. It started under particularly discour-
aging circumstances. Indeed, the beginning of the Streator
movement was no start at all. I went down there and after can-
vassing for several days, gave it up completely as a hopeless place;
but not many months after, there came the word, "Where is that
young man who came here last fall ?" They had lived, just the
few informal words that had been spoken there, they lived, and
somebody had been interested enough to find out where they could
have some more; and so the work has baen carried on, and it is
growing.
This Straetor movement is something of and indication of the
spirit which is all abroad in Illinois. Go where you will, you will
always find some one who is ready for our message. Never have
I gone to a place yet and made inquiry for people of Liberal, re-
ligious opinions and convictions, and failed to find some. I believe
most earnestly that if we would realize our opportnnities and our
duties we would find in a short time that the work in Illinois
would bs growing faster than one missionary could possibly take
care of. I tell you, friends, we have for these people what is to
them the very Bread of Life. We have to feed to spiritual babss
the sincere milk of the Word, and speaking of milk reminds me
of a story with which I will close.
A few years ago, a young couple, city-bred and accustumed to
the fare that we who live in cities have to put up with, concluded
that they would spend a summer in the country;-so they went into
the country and bought their milk, and other supplies, of a neigh-
boring farmer and enjoyed it. They believed that farmers were
perfectly honest and perfectly trustworthy, and that they could
drink that milk without any fear or apprehension whatsoever; but
unfortunately one night they kept some of it over, and their confi-
dence received a rude shock, for the next morning there was a
suspicious look about that milk that sent Mrs. Younghusbandover
to the farmer's to inquire about matters. She said, "I thought
that when I came out here into the country I certainly could find
unadulterated food, but I find that it is not so, the milk that you
sant us is adulterated." They inquired what was the matter.
"Why," she said, "this morning when I looked at the milk I got
of you yesterday, it was all covered with a thick yellow scum, and
then my husband and I notic3d furthermore that the milk was of a
much yellower color than that which wo hava b?en accustomed to
get." "Well." said the farmer, "you must understand that this
scum you are talking about is the cream, and that the rich yollow
color you are speaking of is a sign that the milk is perfectly pure
and unadulterated." "Don't tell me. don't tell m3: we always paid
Letter. 117
the highest market price for milk, and always got our milk of a
reputable dairyman, and I guess I know pure milk when I see it.
Pure milk is characterized by a beautiful pale blue tint." And
vain were the efforts of the farmer to convince her that that pale
blue tint was a sign of adulteration. Now, what is the point ?
Simply this: the difficulties we have to contend with arise from the
fact that .the people to whom we go are so accustomed to having
their religion adulterated; it is so watered with orthodox theology
that they expect it to have a pale blue tint, and cannot recognize
or appreciate pure and unadulterated natural religion when they
get it. It is our mission, friends, to so educate those people, and
so to cultivate their taste for the "sincere milk of the word'' that
when we come to them with natural religion, God's blessed gift to
man, and say to them, "This is yours; yours to develop," that they
will receive it in perfect confidence, and without that fear and
trembling and distrust with which they meet us.
Oh, friends, let us fill ourselves full of the mission that is be-
fore us. Let us be imbued with the spirit of those men and women
who were the founders of this Church and go forward unfaltering-
ly with our work. If we will only put the spirit of pure and un-
defiled religion into our work we can reap as rich a harvest as did
they, and leave behind us as goodly a heritage.
getter* REV. JAS. H. WEST.
Before I introduce Mr. Byrnes to respond to the toast
"Freedom of Thought and Speech," it seems to me it
would be very proper to read to you the greeting from Mr.
West who found here, what he feared he should find no-
where, absolute freedom of speech.
MR. WEST'S LETTER-
MY DEAR MRS. HOYT, AND FRIENDS OF THE GENEVA CHURCH:
That it does not now seem possible for us to be with you on the
occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary, is, believe me, a matter of
large regret to us, for we have earnestly desired to be present. We
thank you heartily for your invitation.
As you well know, our three and a half years' work with you
was a bright chapter in our lives. We always think of you with
love. And that the little society still continues, and continues
fairly prosperous considering the many limitations amid which it
laboi-s, is matter for congratulation for all. That it may continue
always with the Progressive Spirit we may well hope and labor to-
wai'ds. In repetition the soul can never rest satisfied. It has been
118 Letter.
perhaps the greatest drawback of the Christian Church that it has
deemed itself a fixed body; the possessor of a completed system;
anchored to an infallible word, to which nothing might be, nor
needed to be, ever added. For when new discovery, scientific re-
search, deeper thought of students, have found out certain things
of Nature and the Soul which cast cloud on things former, and
proved them fallacious, the Church has and naturally, consistently
from its standpoint deemed it its duty still to uphold the error.
It thus has weaned from itself the allegiance of many (the deepest
thinkers perhaps; the truth-lovers; the men of the largest soul and
largest faith), whose company, could the Church but have looked
upon itself as the repository of a "progressive" rather than of a
"fixed"Word, and thus been able to retain them in its midst, would
have made it the great power for good in modern restless time
which in earlier years it was in matters of faith and the amalga-
mating of intermixing nations.
In the present era, however, it would really seem that the
Church is waking up to a nobler consciousness of itself; to a nearer
right appreciation of its opportunities, of its privileges, of its du-
ties. The great word in Nature, sounding throughout the universe
from farthest new-circling sun condensing out of fire-mist down to
the latest expanding chestnut or maple tree by our door, is Progress.
And this great word the Church is now beginning to make its own.
In repetition the soul can never rest satisfied. Without growth
it must forever feel that something is lacking. And something is
lacking.
"In the same brook none ever bathed him twice
To the same life none ever twice awoke.
We call the brook the same, the same we think
Our life, though still more rapid is its flow,
Nor mark the much irrevocably lapsed
And mingled with the sea."
There is indeed, for all men and things, a C3rtain unconscious
change, as thus' hinted in the lines of the poet Young. But how
much better the progressive spirit; the Progressive Spirit, con-
sciously a co-worker with God! The Spartans in battle threw their
shields before them, and then fought their way up to them. Well
for us that, seeing how inadequate much of the old is, how
meagre, often repellant, largely unsatisfying. we to-day find a
"Liberal" fold open to us, which our fathers knew not, wherein we
may dare to propagate our highest dream, speak our deepest faith,
and, if indeed we cannot yet wholly justify all we utter, or give
scientific chapter and verse for it, may still launch our faith for-
ward for the world to ponder, and then courageously, month by
month, year by year, gathering argument, fact, inferenca, fight
Letter. 119
our way up to it, and prove it even batter than we claimed! Even
more:
"Swift of fo3t wa^ Hiawatha!
He could shoot an arrow from him,
And run forward with such fleetness
That the arrow fell behind him."
It is interesting to see, week by week, positions held thirty,
twenty, ten years ago, by liberal religious advocates, and at that
time looked at with scoffing or with horror by the "faithful," to-
day being accepted and preached boldly by them; while the "lib-
erals" are again thirty, twenty, ten years in advance, propagating
truth which onca more is matter for scoffing or for horror to those
who by and by shall accept and teach it likewise. "All in good
time," then.
Nor may we ever stop! There is Progress yet to be. Faith
goes on. There can be for us "no resignation of office or winding
up of affairs, but always a proceeding to business: not taking off
our clothes till we go to bed." Even one thing of Beauty found, or
two things, must not detain us. The Yankee in Italy glanced at
the Apollo Belvedere, and told his attendant to "check" it in the'
list of curious objects seen, as he must pass on! He could not stay
there. The world had more in it, even of admirable statuary, than
one Apollo Belvedere. Translate, friends, this incident for your-
selves into matters of the soul.
Never was the outlook for man's spiritual life so bright, so
cheerful, so luring, as to-day, with the Church beginning to unwind
its age-fastened eye-bandages.
"Out of the dark the circling sphere
Is rounding onward to the light:
We see not yet the full day here,
But we do see the paling niyht."
That the little Unitarian Church in Geneva has not failed to
have its part in the new, modern developing fiat, "Let there be
light," should make the hearts of all of you very glad and grateful
during this Semi-Centennial celebration. Believe us present with
you in spirit, with our best hopes and love, and with our expecta-
tions that, in your midst, the Progressive Spirit of which I have
briefly written will never die out.
Affectionately yours,
JAMES H. WEST.
Leicester, June 6, 1892. CORA LIVERMORE WEST.
120 Freedom of Thought and Speech.
$vest>aitn of ltw0ht an& gipeech. REV. THOS. P. BYRNES.
The worst sceptic in the world is the man who does not trust the integ-
rity of his own mind to sift truth from error.
We will now hear from Mr. Byrnes, of Humboldt,
Iowa, Pastor of this Society from 1887 to 1890.
MR. BYRNES' RESPONSE.
Freedom of thought and freedom of speech is the soul of Prot-
estantism, while the absolute dominion of the Church over the
human mind is the soul of Catholicism. Protestantism during its
four hundred years ot history has not always been true to its first
principles and its real ideal, for it has often set up sources of au-
thority as absolute in their dominion over the human mind as that
of the Pope or the Church of Rome. The creeds and bibles, the
Luthers and Oalvins of Protestantism have ruled the minds of
Protestant men and women with the same iron hands the Pope of
Rome has wielded, and yet freedom of thought and speech was
wrapped up in the revolt o* Luther as certainly as the sturdy oak is
in the tiny acorn. It took three hundred years or more to develop
that sturdy oak that we see here to-day. It took three hundred
years to give us freedom of thought and of speech, as it has been
illustrated to us to-day. But it came; it came with the Declara-
tion of American Independence. It came with Theodore Parker
and his volcanic address on ''The permanent and the transient in
religion." It came with the prophetic voice of Emerson; and that
great prophet's call, the Divinity School Address, that Holmes call-
ed "Our Spiritual Declaration of Independence," that established
religion on its true and final foundation, the living human soul liv-
ing in constant communion with its God. Freedom of thought and
speech has came to stay, as the result of the pleading of Martineau,
and that book of his, "The Seat of Authority in Religion," that
lays the philosophical foundation for the religion that Emerson
hadannounc3d with the voice of the prophet. Now, I don't mean
that all Protestant men and women are free to think and speak on
religion to-day, but I mean that Protestantism has established the
right to think and speak, and vindicated its validity in the relig-
ious life; and so far as the spirit of the times is discernible, free-
dom of thought in religion is in the air to-day. The real conflict
and antagonism that is shaking the foundations of all the great
sects to-day is this conflict and antagonism between freedom and
authority in religion. It is the same old conflict between the Cath-
olic and the Protestant principle in religion. The Reformers
brought with them such a load of Catholic authority from Rome
that these two principles are really fighting for life to-day in al-
most every Protestant sect. This conflict in the Presbyterian
Freedom of Thought and Speech.
church is a conflict between these two principles. Briggs is stand-
ing for nothing more or less than the Protestant principle of free-
dom of thought in religion; while Patton and his cohorts are un-
consciously working for the Roman doctrine of authority in relig-
ion. Now, if freedom of thought is the soul of Protestantism; and
the absolute surrender of the human mind to the dominion of the
Church is the soul of Catholicism, then either one or the other of
these two principles is to triumph in the future. There is no mid-
dle ground between them; there is no compromise. It is either
absolute free thought or else the absolute surrender of the mind to
an authority higher than itself. Now, it matters not what that
authority is. Authority is the same the world over. Protestant
authority is no better than Catholic authority. They both devel-
op the same cringing character and vassal spirit. Authority in re
ligion is for the one purpose of bringing into subjection the human
mind.
John Henry Newman, perhaps the greatest authority of this
centui-y, one that has stood the most vigorously for authority in
religion, says that men outside of the Catholic Church have tried
to devise schemes to bring wilful human nature under subjection.
"But where," he says, "Is the representative of things invisible
that has the fores and the toughness necessary to be a breakwater
against the wild intellect of man." He finds no authority equal to
Catholic infallibility outside of the Catholic church, and he defends
that infallibility on. the ground that it does bring into subjection
human nature, that it does furnish a breakwater against the wild
intellect of man.
I can not, on this occasion, go into any extended inquiry of the
foundations on which freedom of thought and speech rest. It rests
on that foundation so well laid by Emerson in that great declara-
tion of his. "That nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of the
human mind.'' It rests upon that Scripture teaching of the true
light that "lighteth every man," and it ought to have said evei'y
woman, "thatcometh into the world." Freedom of thought is
simply the right to listen to the witnesses that God has implanted
in every sane mind. Freedom of thought is the right to follow
the light that lighteth every man and every woman that cometh
into the world; and resting on this foundation freedom of thought
and of speech stands secure with such men and women as are here
represented to carry out and illustrate it to the world. I would
not to-day stand for freedom of thought and of speech only as a
privilege, as a luxury, that we liberals ought to congratulate our-
selves that we enjoy. I would insist upon it as a duty, freedom of
thought is the first essential to a manly anda.womanly character.
Freedom of thought and slavery of thought will never produce
the same kind of character until all things are possible to man as
well as God. Freedom of thought and free religion produce self-
Woman's delation to Religious Freedom.
propelling men and women. Slavery of thought and subjection to
authority produce cringing, leaning, self-distrustful men and
women. When you settle which of these two ideals is the highest
you have settled the kind of religion to teach in this world.
Now, freedom of speech rests upon the same foundations that
freedom of thought does. If the mind has the right to think,
then the lips and the tongues should have the right to utter thought
to the world. Freedom of speech rests upon the conviction that
the world has a right to its intellectual and spiritual wealth. We
may say that men and women are free to think if they want to;
that there is no policeman to guard the mind, but I tell you, there
are policemen; there are dogmas and superstitions that do this
work more effectually than the blue-coated policemen that stand
on our corners. There is no city in the world so well guarded as
this city of the mind is by the grim dogmas of superstition. As
soon as the tendency to free thought arises in the mind, these
specters of absolute authority of the Church, of endless hell rise
up to suppress the first thought that rises in the minds of many
men and women to-day, and until this state of things is changed,
until Protestantism and Catholicism shall have been brought to
freedom of thought and of speech, this Church and the Churches
that stand for those principles will have a great future in this
world.
to
MRS. CELIA PARKER WOOLLEY.
Newidsas and motive? were at work within hsr, the results of which
were likely to be all the more genuine that they were only half rec-
ognized by herself.
I think, as in the first case, I need not enter into any
discussion or give any reason why Mrs. Woolley should
respond to "Woman's Relation to Religious Freedom."
MRS. WOOLLEY'S RESPONSE.
I have bsen wondering, Mr. Chairman, whether you stopped
to consider the amount of moral dynamite in the selection of this
subject, the combination of two such words as ''woman'' and "free-
dom." It is a rather serious subject to me and I fear I shall not
bs able to treat it with that lightness and ease that belong to after-
dinner efforts of this kind. It has prompted me to take a text,
not from the Bible, but from one of our modern prophets, Olive
Schreiner. It is from one of the shorter allegories in her latest
volume of "Dreams," and is entitled, if I remember aright, "The
Angel of Life," and runs as follows: The Angel of Life approached
Woman's Relation to Religious Freedom. 123
a woman sleeping, bearing a gift in each hand, and saying to the
woman "Choose." The woman waited long and finally chose
Freedom. The Angel smiled and said ''That is well. Hadst thou
chosen the other I would have given thee thy choice, but I should
have gone away, not to return. Now I shall return, and when
thou see'st me again, I shall bear both gifts in one hand.
There is a profound truth in this little fable whether you re-
gard the sleeping woman as typical of the entire race of men and
women together, typical of both as truth-seekers, or whether you
take the figure as standing for woman alone, in her search for a
higher and more complete womanhood. It leads us also to think
of the comparative merits of love and freedom as factors of
growth. I don't know that I would go so far as to say that a
broader and truer synthesis is reached in the word Freedom than
the word Love, but I certainly feel that the last word is used in
often a very injurious and misleading way. I hear much preach-
ing of love in the pulpits that offends both my taste and judgment,
still, undoubtedly love is the grander, more inclusive word than
any other in our human speech, when rightly used. What the
allegory means to teach is, I think, that if Love is the word de-
fining the spirit that governs all things, Freedom is the word-
which defines that method of growth by which we reach the truest
conception of love and become its helpful ministers.
Historically, the allegory does not speak the truth. Histori-
cally, as a matter of fact in her own personal experience and that
of her race, woman has never chosen freedom before love. On
the contrary, all her choices have been those of love, those choices
represented in the various relations in life which she has been
called on to sustain, of society, the family, the church. So that
when we try to talk about woman's relation to freedom, or to re-
ligious freedom, we seem to have little to say. We should find a
great deal to say if we were to speak of woman's relation to relig-
ion. Then we could speak of her zeal, her devotion, her piety,
the large numbers she has always brought to the support of the
church compared with man. But when we remember how often
that devotion has been purchased at the cost of real intelligence
on her part, how her zeal has generally stood for bigotry and
ignorance, then we see the difficulty of saying much in her favor
on this special subject. But the past is one thing, the future an-
othe.r, and my subject is justified by the hope and the promise held
out to woman and to the world through her, in this era of awaken-
ing intelligence and responsibility in which we live. To-day, we
stand at that point in the development of religious thought, or ra-
ther in the development of all thought, when freedom is seen to be
a necessary condition of intellectual life. Socially, religiously, do-
mestically, woman never enjoyed that degree of liberty that is
given her to-dav. freedom to use her own mind and heart in
1% '4 The Literary Value of the Liberal Faith.
solving the problems of life, that comes to her not as a woman but
as a human being. To be of great worth to the world and to man
she must cultivate all her powers unhindered, must make the most
and best of herself. She must choose freedom first, before love,
or love will bs unworthily chosen. As I think of this, and remem-
ber how complex are all the relations of life, see how much of pain,
misunderstanding and seeming wrong such choice on woman's part
means, I see how the strain and pain of new growth must be felt
by man as well as by her, how she has in some respects the easier
task, since she has but to choose for herself; while man who has so
long held the reins of privilege, influence and authority must make
her choice his, choosing freedom for her with freedom for himself.
Men have much to learn and suffer here.
In their religious life women have had a voice and influence
only on the lower plain of the church's practical work. Woman
has contributed too little to the thought the higher spirituality of
the church. Men will be her natural leaders here for a long time
to come. Not until she has learned to think independently as well
as reverently will her relation to the coming creed founded on per-
fect mental liberty, be established.
Uitetrarjj llalue af the gtbrml |?aiih.
MR. FORREST CRISSEY.
In the absence of Mr. LeBaron, who was to have
responded to "The Fox River Valley" I shall call upon
my friend Mr. Crissey to speak to us upon the subject
which is suggested to me by a story which I heard Mrs.
Sheppard tell the other evening, and with her kind per-
mission, I will mangle it. It seems a lady had been at-
tending Mr. Gannett' s church, and was calling upon her
former pastor, a Presbyterian. He asked her where she
attended church and she to]d him. He asked about the
the church, if it was a strong one; she said 'no, that it
was not,' and ventured the assertion that 'outside of New
England there were very few popular Unitarian churches. '
He looked over his glasses in a peculiar way and said,
"Yes, I believe they are not very popular, but Unitarian-
ism is in all of our literature and it is in the air." 1 call
upon Mr. Crissey to respond to the toast, "The Literary
The Centennial Celebration.
Value of the Liberal Faith."
MR. CRISSEY'S RESPONSE.
It seems to me that nothing short of malice aforethought
could have devised the toast "The Literary Value of the Liberal
Faith."
If the master of ceremonies had proposed some subject at least
partially open to discussion: say for instance, "Is this Collation
Satisfying to Appetite;" "Is there a Unitarian Church in Geneva"
or "Has it Rained" then there might have been some chance for
response. But when there is not a book that can hope to outlive
its decade in all the real literature of to-day that does not owe its
creation to the liberal spirit which we celebrate, how can you con-
sider the Literary Value of the Liberal Faith open to discussion?
From Hugo and Emerson down to the last paper covered novel in
the news agents's pile you can scarcely name one volume that con-
tains a touch of genius that has not caught its vital spark from the
Faith That Makes Faithful. More than that you cannot point to a
line in any of the reputed literature of orthodoxy that stands up
above the dead level of its surrounding platitude that does not
baar upon its face the proof that its author had lapsed into a mo-
ment of natural thinking, of free thought.
The legitimate issue of a mind impregnated with the genuine
orthodox spirit is a literary crab, bound to progress backward into
the gathering dust of Sunday School library shelves, without hope
of resurrection beyond being sent with donations of cast-off cloth-
ing to struggling missionaries upon the frontier. In no realm of
activity does the human mind approach so near to creation as in
literature. What kind of a creation can you expect from a mind
bound with the chains of the old creeds, dragging the heavy ball
of a belief in eternal torment and the orthodox conception of God?
Imagine a mind that believes that thousands of its fellow be-
ings are going down to everlasting damnation, indulging the nice
discrimination in the quirks and foibles of human nature, the de-
lightfully trifling leisure and exquisite artistic finish which we
find in W. D. Howells. Only a mind that believes in the ultimate
happiness of all and in the final triumph of good as the sure destiny
of the universe can have that liberty of thought, that largeness of
Faith and that repose of mind which is vital to the creation of
true literature.
imtettttt(U clcbration, REV. J AS. VILA BLAKE.
With prescient sight, more daring than a seer's
My soaring spirit leaped ten hundred years.
Centennial Celebration.
You may not have noticed, but it is nevertheless true,
that this program falls naturally into three divisions. The
first is reminiscent; the second is general; the third is pro-
phetic, and now we will hear from Mr. Blake about ' 'The
Centennial Celebration. ' '
MB. BLAKE'S RESPONSE.
BRETHREN AND SISTEREN: You never will know what a fine
speech I had prepared. All day, since I learned what I was to
apeak about, I have been busy thinking of fine things to say. I
have been observing this beautiful scanery; looking at the birds,
the trees, the grassy lawn, the sunlight, striving to win from each
a bit of expression for this hour. And I got it. But I have received
a violent shock. A few moments ago a friend said to me, "Are
you going to talk much? The Lord help us, if you are." And I
haven't recovered from that shock sufficiently to speak to you. Be-
sides, I noticed the poetical couplet with which I am introduced
on the program:
"With prescient sight, more daring than a seer's
My soaring spirit leaped ten hundred years."
Since I looked at that I have been trying hard to remember
whence it came. I have a dim idea that I have met those lines be-
fore somewhere. Between the shock I have spoken of and the oc-
cupation of my mind observing those lines, what I had to say
has gone clean out of my head. "Leaped ten hundred years!'' Did
you ever know anything so foolish as the poets are, if you can call
that line a poet's ? I think I could write two lines just as good as
those are, myself. "Leaped ten hundred years." Why, I find an
insurmountable difficulty in being required to leap fifty years, to
tell what is in reserve for your Centennial; and after the shock I
have spoken of, I shall not try. I will not fail by trying. There is
time enough, though the hour is late; but I shall not give you any-
thing after that shock. I shall simply tell you a story, which you
can apply for yourselves, about an Eastern Darvis who came to a
town in his travels, ascended the pulpit, and the people being gath-
ered all around, as you are, said, "Oh ye p3Ople, do you know what
I am going to talk to you about?" And they said "No, we do not
know." "Oh!" said the Darvis, "I will not talk to such a pack
of fools." And he got down from the pulpit and went away. The
next day he came and cried out. "Oh y.3 people, do ye know what
I am going to talk to you about?" And they all cried out, remem-
bering their, disappointment the day before "Yes, we do."
"Then," said he, "There is no need of my talking." And again he
went away. The next day he came as before. I think he must
The Centennial Celebration. 1*27
have had some such people as these of the poet in his mind, that
could look forward and tell something about what was to be. He
said, "Oh ye people, do ye know what T am going to talk to you
about." And they, better instructed, answered, "Some of us know,
and some of us do not know." "Then," said the Dervis "Let those
who know tell those who do not know." And he went away as I
do now.
^ "^
ROM the large number of congratulatory letters
which were received, a few have been selected
for publication as being of general interest to
those who will read the published proceedings.
FROM EDWARD EVERETT HALE, D. D.
ROXBURY, MASS., JUNE 15, 1892.
MY DEAR MR. HARVEY:
I am sorry to see that your love-feast has passed. I meant to
write a historical letter, because I remember Conant perfectly
well. He was one of the most distinguished missionaries I have
ever known.
At that time we thought the Rock River country was the
kingdom of heaven, and in that very year I offered my services to
the Unitarian Association, to go to the West and spend my life as
a preacher, if they would advance fifteen dollars for my expenses.
The board met and considered the subject, and sent me word that
they did not think they should get enough for their money. In
this they were undoubtedly right. I did not go, and that is the
reason that I am writing you here now, instead of writing to my
friend DeNormandie the account of the success of the fifty-year-
celebration.
When I received your letter, I did not even hope that I could
myself come to Geneva, because I am going to England just at this
time, but I did think I could send my congratulations.
Truly yours.
EDW. . HALE.
Congratulatory Letters.
FROM MARIE L. LAMB.
546 GARPIELD AVE., CHICAGO, JUNE 2, 1892.
MRS. A. O. HOYT; DEAR MADAM:
Through Miss LeBar,on, my daughter and I received invita-
tions to be present at the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of
the Unitarian Society of Geneva, 111.
Be assured that the infirmities of seventy-seven alone compel
me to extend to you, with our thanks, sincere regrets for absence on
this very interesting occasion.
It was in the summer of 1854 that we, with our pastor, Rev.
Rush R. Shippen, picnicked on the island, I think, in Fox River.
It was a lovely day and we had a delightful time. I thought it one
of the prettiest towns I was ever in.
That day was the commencement of a charming acquaintance
with Rev. and Mrs. Conant. We had the pleasure of enter-
taining Mr. Conant several times when he exchanged with our
pastors.
I several times visited friends in Geneva, whom I had known
from childhood in Massachusetts, and the cemetery where the dear
elder friend of my young years is laid, the first wife of Mr. Wm.
Chauncy Wilder a Miss Waters. Mr. Conant told me she had the
finest, clearest Unitarian mind he had ever met; it was a feast to
converse with her.
I would like very much to again meet Mr. and Miss Eddowes.
Will you please give my compliments and address to them? And
Mrs. Long and her little people; I want to see them so much. Oh,
how I wish I could once again enter the dear old church and list-
en to the voice of prayer and song.
Hoping that the days may be pleasant and your celebration a
success in every particular, and begging you to excuse the garru-
lous propensity of an old lady,
I remain very sincerely yours,
MARIE L. LAMB.
FROM THOMAS MOULDING.
CHICAGO, ILL., JUNE 10, 1892.
MRS. A. HOYT:
We should be pleased to attend the fiftieth anniversary of the
organization of your Church, but at the last moment find that the
state of my own and Mrs. Moulding's health impels us to leave the
city to-morrow for Colorado. We have very pleasant recollections
of the little Church; my father and family found a genial Church
home there in June, 1851, he had been a Unitarian for over twenty-
five years at that time and found in Mr. Conant a grand good
friend and delightful preacher and our whole family learned to
130 Congratulatory Letters.
love him dearly. We were no more strangers in a strange land
when we or rather they, as I remained in Chicago, reached Geneva.
Yours respectfully,
THOMAS MOULDING.
FROM C. A. PHILLIPS.
CHICAGO, ILL., JUNE 7, 1892.
MRS. A. O. HOYT, DEAR MADAM:
I regret very much indeed that I shall not be able to avail
myself of your kind invitation to attend the Celebration of the
Fiftieth Anniversary of the organization of the First Unitarian
Society of Geneva, Illinois, to be held at that place on the tenth ,
eleventh and twelfth insts.
I have delayed answering your communication in the hope
that matters might so shape themselves as to enable me to be pres-
ent and to meet, once more at least, the friends and relatives whose
ranks are becoming year by year more thinned as one by one they
reach the end of that road "which widens and brightens as it leads
to heaven," and are called to face the great mystery whose shad-
ow is ever over all the Children of Men. Only the most impera-
tive reasons could have kept me from attending the Celebration,
but nothing is left me now but to convey to you and through you,
my warmest regards to those toiwhom I am allied by blood or friend-
ship and whose kind faces are always fresh in memory when I
recall the scenes of the four happy years (from 1849 to 1853) which
I spent in Geneva.
Hoping the occasion will be one of unalloyed pleasure and de-
light to those who are so fortunate as to be able to participate, I re-
main.
Yours very sincerely,
C. A. PHILLIPS.
FROM HON. J. C. SHERWIN.
DENVER, COLORADO, JUNE 9, 1892.
DEAR MRS. HOYT:
I have just returned and find your invitation to attend the
Fiftieth Anniversary of the organization of the Unitarian Society
of Geneva. I am sorry that it is impossible for me to accept that
invitation and meet the friends, old and new, of that society.
The sunlight of June does not glorify a more interesting spot
to me than that old church. The deep shadows of its surrounding
maples are not more gratelul to the children who play under them
of a summer's day, than are the precious memories that have their
origin within the sacred walls of the dear old church.
What blessings have flowed from it, to us all!
The zeal and eloquence of Herbert, the joyous Sunday Schools,
Congratulatory Letters. 131
the kindly social gatherings, the haunting recollections of loved
ones never again to enter its precincts in bodily form, all crowd
upon me as I write.
I know it will be a time of rare pleasure to all who are so for-
tunate as to attend. I will be with them in thought.
May the recollections and achievements of the half-century
now closing be a prophecy and sure guarantee that the next fifty
years shall even surpass them in all good work for the glory of
God and the uplifting of man.
Sincerely yours,
J. C. SHERWIN .
FROM COL. JOHN S. WILCOX.
ELGIN, ILL., JUNE 6, 1892.
MRS. A. O. HOYT; DEAR MADAM:
As I think of your little church, memory recalls so many forms
and faces very dear in boyhood and young manhood, thirty-five
and forty years ago, Mr. Conant, the pastor, and his always pleas-
ant, cheerful wife, with their family, the Clark's three gener-
ations, the Pattens (and how we young people loved Mrs. Charles
Patten, ) the Wilsons and many others. It is very pleasant to
recall the bright memory of those far away days. It is sad to think
of so many friends whose greeting shall be heard no more on earth.
It is unmistakably delightful to know the eternal day is not far
away, when we shall see and know yet more clearly the joys of a
still closer friendship.
I sincarely hope the occasion will be helpful and pleasant to
every one present.
Very truly yours,
JOHN S. WILCOX.
FROM PAUL R. WRIGHT. ,
SANTA BARBARA, CAL., JUNE 6, 1892.
DEAR BRO. JOE:
Your letter of May 30 relative to the proposed Celebration of
the Fiftieth Anniversary of the organization of the Geneva Unita-
rian Church was duly received. We had previously received cir-
culars and letters of similar import from Mr. Eddowes and Miss
Fanny LeBaron.
I regret that we cannot be present on that occasion and that
we can furnish nothing that will contribute materially to the in-
terest. Of course, as you suggest, the interest of the Celebration
will mostly center around the memory of Mr. Conant. Kind and
heartfelt words of eulogy will be spoken, because they are deserv-
132 Congratidatory Letters.
ed. I am glad to believe that there will be present at the Celebra-
tion many of the old time friends of Mr. Coiiant who can use more
fitting language to express the sentiments which all his friends
cherish for his memory, than I ana able to command. My acquaint-
ance with Mr. Conant commenced about the time when he was do-
ing some missionary work and endeavoring to establish a liberal
Church in the very orthodox town of Elgin, but I did not, as you
seem to suppose, have any active part in the movement. I was
then a member in "good and regular standing" of the orthodox
Congregational Church, although, even then, I had drifted a long
way from the Calvinistic creed of my church, and attended Mr. Co-
nant's meetings as often as circumstances permitted. I enjoyed
his preaching greatly. The substance of his discourses was far in
advance of the average sermon I had listened to up to that time.
A more intimate acquaintanca with him helped me at a time
when I needed help. Doubtless many persons can bear the same
testimony. What higher tribute can we pay to the memory of any
man, than to say that he helped those with whom he came in con-
tact helped them to clearer thoughts and better lives! Probably
Mr. Conant never knew the extent of the help he conferred upon
the world, but if he should be present at the coming Celebration,
(and who knows that he will not be?) I can imagine that he will
hear much that will be gratifying to him.
I have a warm regard for other members of this little Church
with whom I was acquainted, but most of them have long since de-
parted this life.
I am sure you will have an enjoyable time at the coming gath-
ering, and I hope it will be a successful one and the coming of the
Year of Jubilee for the Geneva Church.
Much love to you all,
PAUL R. WRIGHT.
To Mr. J. D. Harvey, Geneva, 111.
f \N Sunday, June 12, the last day of the cele-
I I bration, teachers and pupils, old and new,
^^-S gathered in the church to listen to words
from those who associated the early days of the School
with their own youth and from those whose later memorie's
are connected with the school's progress.
Besides the papers which are published, remarks were
made by Mrs. Mary P. Jarvis and Miss Jarvis of Cobden;
by Miss Francis LeBaron of Elgin who strove to impress
the children with the significance of the occasion ; by Rev.
Thos. P. Byrnes of Humboldt, Iowa and by Mrs. H. A.
Gould of Geneva. Two papers are here presented in full
as follows:
Historical Chapter, Rev. T. H. Eddowes
Sunday School Memories, - - Mrs. Ellen E. L. Woodward
BY REV. T. H. EDDOWES.
YlILY 20, 1851, Mr. Conant preached his tenth
anniversary sermon. Referring to the state
,_, I of affairs at the time of his coming in 1841
he says:
"Elder John Walworth had been preaching a part of
the time the preceding year; the Methodist minister in
the circuit had sometimes preached here, but for want of
encouragement had abandoned the place; there had been
also Episcopal and Presbyterian and Baptist preaching,
and I was informed that there had been as many as
ten unsuccessful attempts made by ministers of one re-
ligious denomination or another to sustain worship or
establish a society in the place. The moral and religious
reputation of the village was low; intemperance, profanity
and disregard for the Sabbath were characteristic of Ge-
neva in 184-1. There was one star of hope in this night
of moral darkness; it was the Geneva Sunday School.
A young man from Cambridge (Harvard) University
had settled in the place and engaged in the legal profes-
sion. Seeing the exposed moral condition of the children
of the village, he engaged the assistance of a few friends
Historical Chapter. 135
and opened a Sunday School. Fearless of the ridicule
that might be cast upon his enterprise, and faithful to his
high convictions of duty, from Sabbath to Sabbath, while
no society existed and no other worship was held, he
gathered his little company of children together to impart
to them ideas of God and Christ and eternal life, and to
endeavor to lead them into the paths of virtue and relig-
ion. On my first visit to Geneva in 1840 I found him
thus employed, but before my return from Cambridge and
the commencement of my ministry here he had been
called by the providence of God to a higher sphere, and
his Sunday School was left to be sustained by other hearts
and hands. His dust hallows our burial ground, and the
name of Caleb A. Buckingham is and will be hallowed in
the hearts of that band of teachers who were connected
with him. * The Sunday School
and the efforts put forth in establishing and sustaining it
were the most hopeful appearances of moral and religious
life and progress in the place.
For my own encouragement, and as an indication that it
might be my appropriate sphere of labor, the Sunday
School had been started and was sustained chiefly by those
of the same denominational faith."
This extarct with one reference in Mr. Conant's jour-
nal under date of Sept. 1, 1846, where he says: "Our
Sunday School is in a flourishing condition seventy or
eighty connected with it," makes all the history of the
Sunday School we have previous to 1868.
No better place will occur in these memoirs to
charge the present and coming generation in the Church
with the importance of preserving every item of history
connected with the School. I find that it would be of
much interest to note who among the earlier settlers were
pupils or officers. It would also have been quite worth
136 Historical Chapter.
the time and effort to have had a catalogue of the first
library and copies of every manual used in the school as
well as of the periodicals taken and distributed by it.
It could easily be shown how important a place the
School has filled in the history of the Church if we only
had the records to show how faithfully its work has been
carried on through all the various ups and downs of the
Society. I think it can be said truthfully that it has
never stopped though there have been periods of suspen-
sion of its activity for sufficient reason. We should have
the records that would show how when there was an in-
terval between the pastorates the School has been the
outlet for the zeal of the society which kept the church
open for supplies, (it is on record that in one instance
the School paid for preaching out of its treasury) and how
when it seemed that the school must be given up if we
did not have a minister, that consideration has been suffi-
cient to rouse the resolutions that we would have a minister.
A complete record would also have shown us that the
zeal which supports the School is no fitful matter. Al-
lusion has been made to the services of Miss Carr. Other
names could be given of those who have given their en-
thusiasm, their culture, their wisdom, their time and their
strengthen that long, steady way that counts up into decadt s
and scores of years of service, but all the records stand
below that of Harriet Patten who in this school and others
was a teacher for fifty years. Mrs. Mary P. Jarvis, Mrs
Robt. Long, Sr., Dr. LeBaron and Mrs. A. H. Conant are
names that stand well up in the list. Of the present
teachers and officers, ten in number, six have served the
School over ten years, three of them over twenty years.
Another name to be gratefully recorded is that of Mrs.
Mary J. Whiting. Mr. Conant makes mention in one of
his anniversary sermons of the great interest she had in
Historical Chapter. 137
it, the work she did in it, and how after her active work
was ended by removal, through many years of invalid-
ism, her efforts made from the sick room resulted in pro-
curing one hundred dollars worth of books for the library.
In 1868, a Sunday School Society was formed the
object of which was to provide a more intimate connec-
tion between the Sunday School and the Church; the
officers of the society being elected from the Church by the
School. The object has not been fully attained as but
few of these officers have appreciated the field for useful-
ness offered them. We still keep up the annual election
however in the hope that some one will some day show
what an honor it is to be president of the Sunday School
Society. Ours was the first School to introduce the
observance of Children's Day or, as it- is less happily
though more popularly styled, Flower Sunday.
My chief concern on taking charge of the School as
Superintendent in 1865 was the library. It has been an
object of special care ever since that time. In the ab-
sence of any public library I am confident that it has been
the means of establishing a taste for first-class fiction in
a large number who would not otherwise have come in
contact with any but the lower grade; not that our
library is confined to fiction but it necssarily predominates
in providing reading for as young a class as attend our
Sunday School.
Somewhere in the seventies during the prosperity of
Mr. Herbert's pastorate we reached the dignity of a
printed catalogue of the library. The attendance in that
day was so large that it was a necessity in facilitating the
distribution of the books. It showed that we had be-
tween five and six hundred volumes. We have kept the
number about the same since that time by the removal of
worn out or uncalled for books, as we have replenished
138 Historical Chapter.
from time to time. One of these replenishments, it is
pleasant to note, came in the form of a donation from
Unity Church of Chicago, as an acknowledgement of the
services of the School in responding to the calls of that
Church for flowers at various times for their special ser-
vices. It is equally pleasant to record that one of our
visitors at the semi-centennial celebration left us a dona-
tion of ten dollars for the library, five dollars of which
was given in memory of Mrs. Patten's work.
BY MRS. ELLEN E. L. WOODWARD OF CHICAGO.
V" " ' - *"" s
DO not remember ever to have heard of Rip
Van Winkle appearing in a bonnet and gown,
A rubbing the mists of years out of dim and faded
eyes and endeavoring to understand and reconcile past
memories with present conditions; how it is that faces
that .were young and joyous thirty years a-gone have ha-
loes of white hair about them. Other faces which looked
up with the sweet, trusting eyes of childhood, stand bow-
ed with my own, and more than this, they say: "This is
my daughter," or "This is my boy," and behold, comely
maidens and manly youths are standing beside them
eagerly waiting to take up and carry on the work of life.
Other faces come and go, flitting in and out among you
all, and one close at hand is a fair young daughter of
New England. Full of the enthusiasm of her years she
goes about the Master's business. A little while and the
dear eyes will be closed and the pale hands rested from
their labor. The first young teacher had been promoted
to the highest place there to dwell in the light of the
great white throne forever and forever. One after anoth-
Sunday School Memories.
er have followed until the number in the yon quiet haven
out-numbers those who wait a little longer.
It is a bewildering thing to do, to wake and find
one's self here, for the place is haunted, is full, is crowded
with the unseen, subtle yet still vivifying presence of
those whose hearts were wrought into the very stones and
mortar of the building. We heard yesterday much of
their patient, earnest work through times of sunshine and
of shadow, but the chief glory of the Church has not been
reached, has been saved as. we save choice bits for the
last the Sunday School! The Sunday School which, no
matter what the vicissitudes of the Church, has gone stead-
ily on with the most important aim in life accomplished
the religious education of the young. It has had faith in
itself, in its members, and to-day, after half a century has
passed, it can look upon garnered sheaves, and say with
reighteous pride, "Of all who have entered here starce
none but have illustrated in most honorable upright lives
the teachings received in this venerable building." Per-
haps the storms and strife of the world may have been
more than some could stand against; they are rare who at
some point on the weary way do not stumble, perhaps fall,
and are bruised with cruel hurts, and sorrowful suffering
comes to all; but at eve the Father leads his tired chil-
dren home, and tenderly shields them in his fold.
In the main the beautiful faith we profess has demon-
strated its truth in the lives of its children as the years go
on and on.
I think 1 am not mistaken when I say as a "substance
of doctrine" taught by this Sunday School, that we be-
lieve that as the majestic oak is contained in embryo in
the tiny acorn, so the powers of an angel are wrapped up
in the little child. His mind says one "not you, nor 1 nor an
angel can comprehend. " We have aimed to do this child's
Sunday School Memories.
mind simple justice, having faith in it, and most especial-
ly as fitted for religion, not that we consider it virtuous
and holy at birth, for these qualities cannot be born with
us, they are the free, voluntary effort of a being who
knows the distinction between right and wrong and who,
when tempted, adheres to the right. We have faith in the
child as capable of knowing and loving the good and the
true; as having a conscience to take the side of duty; as
open to motives for welldoing; as formed for knowledge,
wisdom, piety and heavenly love.
Believing thus, and knowing the world will do its
duty by the little one, knowing it will teach it all evil pas-
sions without check or guide, passions given for good and
wise ends when rightly guided and disciplined necessary
ingredients of character , but it is no part of the world's
duty to furnish the needed counterpoise, balance wheels
that will keep all these passions under proper subjection;
to furnish the bridle which will guide them in the right
course and restrain them when of undue speed. Neither
is it any part of its duty to still further develop, nourish
and strengthen those higher moral and religious feelings
and obligations which should sit on the throne of man's
mind and preside over the whole character, the whole man.
The great end of this life is the foundation of character
which shall be fitted for the life that is to come. To ac-
complish this has been the aim and object of this School;
to do what it could to render justice to the powers and
faculties of the child's mind and, so far as may be, to
supply defects in the education the world gives it, in a
word, to awaken moral and spiritual life in the child, and
great moral and religious truths are nearer to a child than
the principles of natural science. The germs are in his soul.
All the elementary ideas of God and duty and love come to
him from his own spiritual powers and affections. Moral
142 ^Sunday School Memories.
good and evil, virtue and vice are revealed to him in his
own motives of action and in the motives of those around
him. Religion carries its own evidence with it, more
than history or science and it should rest more on the
soul's own consciousness, experience and observation.
That this school has been potential in awakening
clear, affectionate perception of the reality, truth and
greatness of religion is amply illustrated in the lives of its
children now to the fore, and who to-day with loving
tenderness commemorate with grateful hearts the close of
its first half -century and with brightest hope look forward
at the beginning of the second.
he
S the time drew near for the semi-centennial
it seemed to some of the oldest
members of the society and some
who had grown up within the walls of the church that, as
golden weddings are usually the occasion for the present-
ing of valuable gifts to the bride and groom from the
younger members of the family, so it was right and prop-
er that some substantial gift from the children of the
society, now scattered over the land, should be presented
to the Church at this time, and a parsonage was pre-
eminently the most desirable gift.
Accordingly Messrs. B. W. Dodson, T. H. Ed-
dowes and Miss Frances LeBaron constituted themselves
a committee to look the field over, correspond with the
children of the Church and ascertain their wishes. The
results were most encouraging and cheering words and
generous donations came from many friends.
The next appeal was made to friends of the Church
who had never been members and to the Chicago and
other societies. Here again most encouraging sympathy
14.6 The Parsonage.
and generosity was found and strong expressions of ap-
preciation of the bravery and faithfulness of the little
Geneva band were received.
The home society has done well and old and young
are giving of their small store. With the amount in
hand, Robert Long, Architect and Builder and a member
of the society, under guidance of the building committee
appointed by the society and the original committee, is
erecting on the lot south of the church, between two rows
of beautiful maples, a tasteful, convenient, eight-room
cottage, in modern style.
One item of unusual expense in this particular cot-
tage is the room to be used as a library and pastor's study
and which will be fitted up accordingly. Here will be
collected valuable books from the libraries of the early
pastors, and modern books from various sources for a per-
manent, minister's library. This convenient home and
valuable library will ever be attractive to the future min-
isters and go far towards making them contented with the
small salary the present society is able to pay.
The key that has unlocked the purses of the donors
to this parsonage fund is "In Memoriam. " All have
given gladly in loving remembrance of their parents, of
the pastors of their youth, of the friends who had lived
here and borne this Church upon their shoulders and of
happy days spent here with this pioneer band in the olden
time. The society may well feel that the spirits of those
who have gone, though silent, are still present with living
influence.
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA
