Part 3 (2/2)
The executive direction and social vision of C. M. Bookman, and the spiritual leaders.h.i.+p of Reverend Frank H. Nelson have given to the campaign and year-round organizations of volunteers a most distinctive quality. It is not that we raise each year an amount greater per capita than most other cities, although we do that; but it seems to one attending our gatherings that all the men and women of good will in our community have come together and that their spirits are welded together in a great cause, the education of the whole city to the highest standards of health, character, and welfare.[10]
The welding together was again the work of many civic-minded men and women, and Frank Nelson was the fire which fused the different parts into a unity. ”He made the Community Chest a platform upon which every man could stand,” says C. M. Bookman, the Executive Secretary. His work in the formative years of the Council, particularly in the raising of funds for the first three years, was of untold value. As the Council achieved coherence and a consciousness of its ident.i.ty, he went on to the larger work of conveying to the city the idea that in this cause the people of Cincinnati could be supremely united, above politics, and beyond racial and religious prejudices. It was his ability to interpret the spiritual basis of this work that made it a common platform. As a result, contributors felt their gifts to have a downright significance.
”It is,” he said, ”G.o.d's way of making cities good in spite of themselves.”
Frank Nelson believed so thoroughly in the work of the social agencies that the financial drives became a crusade, an adventure in human relations.h.i.+ps. He took off his coat, so to speak, and plunged into the drives as one of the solicitors. The calls a.s.signed him were the general run as well as the difficult cases. He canva.s.sed people of modest means whom he didn't know as well as the large donors. As the calling was done by two men soliciting together, he often found himself teamed with a man whose occupation contrasted sharply with his own, once being paired with a distiller! In the personal interviews his was not the milk and honey approach, and he often became quite indignant if some did not give according to their means. On one occasion he called with Mr. William J.
Shroder on a man who headed a large corporation but who refused to give commensurately, using as an excuse the fact that the directors were away. Mr. Nelson's feelings blazed forth and he blurted out, ”You run this corporation, and you can do as you please,” and with that he strode out of the room leaving his calmer friend to secure a gift of $500.00.
Sham irritated him beyond measure. Again, at headquarters one day Maurice Pollak was holding forth in vivid language on the subject of people who refused to contribute, and he did not notice Mr. Nelson coming in behind him. When he suddenly stopped in some embarra.s.sment, Mr. Nelson exclaimed, ”Go ahead, Maurice, you are saying just what I feel but can't express so well.” As he was a man of intense fervor, it is probable that he was better at interpreting the inner significance of the cause than in soliciting contributions. In 1922 he was elected the General Chairman of the drive, and from 1916 to 1939 was a director of the Chest.
As the years went by, Mr. Nelson became something of an ”inst.i.tution” in Cincinnati, and his popularity made him ”fas.h.i.+onable” to the superficial-minded. Yet there was something decidedly spontaneous in the acclaim with which he was once greeted by over one thousand canva.s.sers at a campaign dinner in the suburban city of Norwood. To a man the great audience rose when he stood to speak, and applauded with genuine emotion this Christian minister who represented Cincinnati as they wanted it to be. Always sensitive to the reactions of a throng, he poured forth such utterance as made them see the Community Chest as a great moral force, not as just a financial campaign. Their consciences were quickened by his graphic portrayal of their desires for righteousness and decency and fair opportunity.
He was always one of the speakers held in reserve for the crucial last days of the campaigns, and at the large daily luncheons held in the Hotel Gibson for the canva.s.sers he was at his best. The following sentences from a newspaper report of one such address are typical:
You know what this Community Chest has done for this great city, how it has been, as the old seer said long ago, the river of life, flowing through the streets of the city, keeping it clean, refres.h.i.+ng it, strengthening it, heartening it, so that the tree of life, bearing all manner of fruits, through all the year, could grow upon its brink and spread forth its branches to shelter and give new vigor and hope to the inhabitants of the city. That river of life which we call social service is more vital, more important and more needed for the steady maintenance of the morale, well-being, and good life of the whole community than the Ohio River is, believe me.
By the power of simple, forceful speech, strengthened by his great love for people and his belief in them, he enabled Cincinnati to see beyond the horizon, to dream dreams; and by his uncommon labor some of these dreams became actualities. He looked at the city's welfare from the religious viewpoint, and in so doing commended religion to the religiously indifferent. He saw the practical value of spiritual things and the spiritual value of practical things. When, for example, he addressed the National Conference for Social Workers at Denver in 1925 and propounded the theme of Immortality, the audience was at first aghast, and then enthralled. He maintained that they had nothing to work for unless it was for eternity; that their business was concerned with souls, and that the souls of the feeble-minded were as much heirs of immortality as those of others more fortunate, and that no man has the right to condemn or stand in judgment. It was a bold speech to such an audience, and held their rapt attention; it was perhaps the more stimulating because it had been preceded by the scholarly and very formal address of the president of the conference. It was this occasion that produced a choice story which Mr. Nelson loved to tell on himself.
At the close of the long evening two men were overheard commenting on the speeches. One of them remarked, ”The first man was over my head, and the second just plumb crazy.”
He not only made the Community Chest common ground for all, but he also enabled the churches to see it as their work, calling the social service organizations ”sub-committees of the Church, doing for the churches the work that the churches want done and would have to do themselves if it were not for the Chest.”
Frank Nelson's influence on the civic and political life of Cincinnati cannot be measured, but its power was evident and was revealed time and again through the contacts he had with civic leaders. A Roman Catholic priest said that many politicians went secretly to Mr. Nelson before expressing themselves on certain civic matters or endorsing certain projects. If some considered him officious, they could not have known his humility, much less his consuming pa.s.sion for human beings. When he addressed public gatherings, one could gauge his power by watching the audience; as the sincerity of the man made his words convincing, even cynical faces ”broke up,” and the light shed by his stirring eloquence often brought tears.
Among the many tributes paid at the time of Mr. Nelson's death, was one given by the Reverend Jesse Halsey, the beloved former minister of the Seventh Presbyterian Church, who culled the phrase ”An Unmitered Bishop,” a t.i.tle which is signally descriptive of the man by reason of the many civic causes to which he was spiritual advisor, and thus a father-in-G.o.d to diverse groups scattered over the seven hills and in the ”bottoms.” He actively furthered many humanitarian causes: the Juvenile Protective a.s.sociation, the Anti-Tuberculosis League, the Branch Hospital, the Community Chest, the Council of Social Agencies, the Helen S. Trounstine Foundation, the Hospital Social Service, St.
Michael's Convalescent Home, and many others. Now that he is gone, the long list of social enterprises ceases to be a mere string of activities and becomes a roll of drums.[11] His whole life seems to exemplify the words of the philosopher Bacon: ”The n.o.bler a soul is, the more objects of compa.s.sion it hath.” His spirit breathed out upon men, and in his lifetime the city felt its beauty and greatness, drawing from his constancy the courage to endure. He protested impatiently against the nonsense often bandied about concerning the alleged immorality of city folk compared with country folk, and cited confuting evidence out of his pastoral experience to prove his conviction saying, ”Heroes of these days are the poor people who live in our big cities.”
One of the heroines of Cincinnati, though not one of the poor, was Helen S. Trounstine, a remarkable young woman of Jewish faith, who was responsible for making Mr. Nelson the first president of the Juvenile Protective a.s.sociation. She was a pioneer in social service work, but her career was tragically cut short when she died at the early age of twenty-six. At her memorial service held in Christ Church Parish House January 21, 1917, Mr. Nelson made the princ.i.p.al address and some of his words indirectly reveal much of himself:
I remember the organization of the Juvenile Protective a.s.sociation; I first met her then. I had never known her before and I said to myself: ”Here is another person with an enthusiasm come to complicate my life.” I tried to get out of it, but because I wanted to help little children (I built this parish house for the young people, making my people support it for their sake), and she knew it, with infinite patience and constant humor and courtesy she kept forcing me, until gradually she landed me in the Presidency of the Juvenile Protective a.s.sociation, utterly ignorant of what I was to do or what was to be done. And with the same humor and patience she went ahead and did the work and made me and the board responsible for it--made us stand behind her, until at last we were ashamed that our consciences were so dull and poor that we had not seen it long ago. And then we set out to do something.
According to the opinion of Miss Edith Campbell, who was thoroughly acquainted with his social work, though not a member of Christ Church, Frank Nelson's ”doing” resulted in legislation for the Court of Domestic Relations which was to be in the future a real guardian for unfortunate children. His relations.h.i.+p with the Juvenile Protective a.s.sociation is but another instance of the ways in which he not only ministered to the city and awoke its conscience, but also helped to foster understanding between church people and social workers. Possibly in no other city are there such close ties between churches and social agencies, and this relations.h.i.+p was Frank Nelson's achievement. He often attended the social workers' meetings of the Monday Evening Club; the conference of Charities and Philanthropies found a welcome center in his parish house.
Thus he wove a pattern for social service that came to fruition in munic.i.p.al and state laws, the kind of laws which give such work permanence and effectiveness.
Frank Nelson was a chivalrous individual who labored for what he thought was right; he championed numerous causes when many people were marshalled on the other side. It is in keeping with his character that he took a p.r.o.nounced part in the creation of understanding and the removal of prejudices among Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. Years before the National Conference of Jews and Christians was organized, he practiced the principles of the inter-faith movement. At one time after presiding at a ma.s.s meeting in Music Hall held to protest the persecution of Jewish people in Europe, he wrote his friend, Dr. J.
Louis Ransohoff: ”I realize how dreadfully you must feel, and I would like to tell you that no matter how badly you feel as a Jew, I feel worse as a Christian because in the beginning Jews were persecuted in the name of Christ.” On more than one occasion he preached in the Isaac M. Wise synagogue for his friend, Rabbi James G. h.e.l.ler. In one such instance he spoke on his concept of the spiritual life, considering the great thing in man to be his soul, and pointing out that the journey is superior to the road in the realization of man's destiny. His candor won him the respect and admiration of many in all faiths, for they knew that he honored their opinions. No more dramatic incident ill.u.s.trates his spirit than the one occurring in the inter-faith meeting at the Rockdale Temple Annex when he confessed his faith. Dr. h.e.l.ler says there had been a great palaver of generalities by the two preceding speakers, and Mr.
Nelson commenced his address by bluntly asking the audience if they wanted him to speak as he saw the truth, and they roared back, ”Yes!”
Thereupon he launched forth with the ringing declaration, ”Let us be honest! I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!” He then proceeded to say that he would like all Jews to become Christians just as he knew the Jews and Roman Catholics desired universal allegiance to their faiths.
With one or two exceptions, not a soul in that great audience resented his frankness. His ministry was that of one who lived day by day a life of good-will rather than of one who merely talked about it.
Some men considered that he reflected too much surprise at the degree of harmony already existing among the faiths, and that his expressions of pleasure at finding such unanimity thus raised doubts as to its reality. However, in his broad spirit and totally Christ-fas.h.i.+oned personality, he himself was at home with men of all faiths. In 1939, Mr.
William J. Shroder, as Chairman of the Community Chest campaign, chose for the year's theme or slogan ”The Unity of Religion and Democracy.” So excellent a ”sermon” did he preach on numerous occasions that Mr. Nelson jestingly told his friend that he must stay out of his paris.h.!.+
On the rare occasions when Jews change their religion, they usually do so because of marriage. One such instance is of special interest. The daughter of a leading Jewish citizen married a Gentile, and since her rabbi would not perform the ceremony they turned to Frank Nelson, admiring as they did his faith and works. In a large sense he was rabbi and minister to all sorts and conditions of people. Dean Friedlander of the University Medical School, as he lay dying, said to a friend, ”I have told my students how to treat the dying, but it is different when it comes to yourself. Frank Nelson has given me a hand.” Again, another friend in his trouble found such sane religious counsel that, although a devout member of his synagogue, he declared, ”It took a Christian minister to bring out my soul.” He never hesitated to disagree or argue with his best friends, always maintaining that ”works without faith” are not sufficient. Thus all who knew him welcomed him, and in their need turned to him with affection, confident of his understanding.
Mr. Nelson was one of the three founders of the Council of Protestant Churches. No small detail was above him, and with Jesse Halsey he rummaged through second-hand stores for furniture for the first office.
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