Part 5 (1/2)

One must live in a community, one must be a neighbor.”

Mr. John Crosby Brown was the munificent friend who made the house possible, Miss Mae M. Brown being a deeply interested resident there.

Mrs. Rockwell was in charge, then Miss Eleanor J. Crawford. It was the center for all social activities, tastefully fitted up, the ladies working at the church living on the upper floors. In the same house Sea and Land people had lived for many years: the Stevensons, the Boyces, Miss McGarry.

In 1906 the building was torn down and other arrangements had to be made. For a time apartments were occupied at 138 Henry Street and 51 Market Street.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The Fresh Air Work, too, was put on a permanent basis. Besides making the church the local station for the Tribune Fresh Air Fund, houses were rented at Rockaway for five years, later at Huntington, until in a more recent time Staten Island property was bought. Later years saw an extension of this work to Schenectady, where Dr. Bigelow of blessed memory headed it.

Under the auspices of William W. Seymour,--of course he was not mayor of Tacoma then,--the first boys' camp was establisht at North Hero, Vt., and is still a glorious memory. The girls were welcomed at Litchfield and Saybrook.

Not only did money flow in readily, but it was quite the thing for young ministers and theological students to spend a year, a summer or a winter at Sea and Land, and they did not study books: they worked on men and women at all hours. If some wretch got into trouble some one to whom he was a.s.signed had not been vigilant enough. Before Hoover made a world reputation for himself, Denison studied food economics, and he proved it by having the group live on a minimum allowance. Then he preached on what was economical living.

The most prominent men spoke in the church: Dr. Paton from the New Hebrides; Dr. Grenfell from Labrador, Dr. Van d.y.k.e and a hundred others.

University extension ideas were antic.i.p.ated in courses of study, the men of the church were put to work writing independent Sunday school lessons, the teachers had pedagogical talks and studied Biblical masterpieces. The girls were taken to sing in Rutgers Square and it was not always safe to do it either. The Upper Room was establisht in Rutgers Street, then the Lighthouse in Water Street, a fine stereopticon was in frequent use. The Men's Club, under George M. Bailey, prospered like the green bay tree, drawing men of all cla.s.ses. A design for a church flag was adopted. Sports were encouraged. Numerous clubs were organized, among them the Good Time Club, also the Penny Provident and the Helping Hand. Nursing was taken up; sewing and cooking cla.s.ses, model flats and cottage meetings started. Magazine and newspaper articles commented on unusual sermons, such as the one on the balloons.

Addresses at Northfield, Silver Bay and other places called attention to the church's work in ever-widening circles, Hamilton House came into being, but without organic connection with the church.

[Ill.u.s.tration: New Church Flag]

In short, Mr. Denison's compelling personality and enormous capacity for work put others to work, so that in the summer of 1895 9,546 persons were brought together in the old church in five weeks.

So men and women came and went, some of them wrote books and magazine articles about the work with more or less accuracy. Mr. Denison's own poems were more appreciated by those who knew.

The force of it all was irresistible, and so the last trace of opposition in Presbytery and elsewhere disappeared. On November 11, 1895, the sale of the property was called off, and $2,000 a year paid for three years. Ever since Presbyterians and others have been proud of the outpost the united church is maintaining at Market and Henry Streets. It is a happy memory that all of the men who in Presbytery supported sale resolutions became staunch friends of the church.

Mr. Denison was not ordained when first he came to Market Street, but this was done later at Williamstown in the College Chapel. On entering New York Presbytery his installation as regular pastor of the Church of the Sea and Land was effected March 23, 1899.

In 1894 Mrs. Shaw spent considerable money fixing up the lecture room and in 1896 a new roof was put on the church at an expense of $600.

Mr. Denison made a tour of the world, being absent from November, 1900, to October, 1901.

Among the men working under Mr. Denison was Horace Day, a young theological student who gave his life after a brief but intense period of work.

In Mr. Denison's time, too, falls the best work of Mrs. Eliza E.

Rockwell. She was indefatigable, beloved of many, none too far gone to merit her attention, nothing too hard to do. She, too, laid down her life as a sacrifice. Even Mr. Denison's book, ”Beside the Bowery,”

insufficiently tells the full measure of her devotion for the thirteen years she was at Sea and Land. Her last message to the trustees was: ”I died in harness.” It was on March 14, 1908.

One of the men of that day was Edward Dowling. As a tinker he wandered about distributing tracts, speaking the word in truth, and returning during the winter to be factotum in the tower. In that kindly old soul few guessed the old fighter in India. Did he really know the place where priceless treasures were hid beside an old idol?

One of the men in whom united the Sea and Land of the staid old ways and the boundless energy of later days was John Denham. He lived to see the day when the boy in the primary of the school of which he was superintendent for years sat beside him in the session. He was the living embodiment of that perennial spirit in the Church of Christ which ever adjusts itself to new conditions and never loses sight of its main object.

Mr. Denham's strong point was with the older people. It was characteristic to have him read his Bible, quietly take up his hat nearby and pay a visit.