The February 19,
1875, Edition of the St. Johnsbury
Caledonian Newspaper[1]
By Ken B.
© 2015 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
Column One (left-hand side)
“Local and State News”
“Union meeting at the North Church
tonight. [= North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury]
. . .
Some friends of Wm. Robinson [whose
situation was discussed at length in the February 12, 1875, issue] have paid
his fine, and he has gone to work at his trade with the Messrs. Lairds [sp?] a
happy and to all appearance a changed man. Changed and renew by Divine grace.
- - - - - - - -
Have faith in God. Jesus says: “God
sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
through him might be saved.” The above is a copy of large placards put in
places of resort in this town.
. . .
It is intended to continue the
union meetings at the North Church, though we do not learn the plan. There will
probably be three or four union meetings a week, announcements of which will be
made every evening. On Saturday evening there is always a union meeting.
- - - - - - - -
[Column 3]
“Religious Awakening.
The union meetings in this place
have been continued during the present week, with marked religious interest. On
Tuesday evening some twenty or more, who had not previously arisen, asked an
interest in the prayers of Christians. The next union meeting will be at the
North Church this (Thursday) evening, at half-past seven. Mr. Langworthy of
Boston[2]
is expected to be present. Mr. Sturgis of Boston, who has led the last two
meetings, returned home last night. Notwithstanding the inclement weather,
these meetings are largely attended, people driving in from miles around. As to
the results, all admit that “It is the Lord’s doings, and it is marvelous in
our eyes.”
The “Mr. Sturgis of Boston” mentioned above was Russell Sturgis, Jr., president of the Young
Men's Christian Association of Boston. He was “. . . a vice president of
the American Institute of Architects, president of the Boston Society of
Architects, and architect of the Hawthorne Monument at Salem.”[3]
Another source
discussing “the Great Awakening” of 1875 in St. Johnsbury had this to say about
Russell Sturgis, Jr.:
About the middle of February Russell Sturgis Jr., President of the Young
Men's Christian Association of Boston, visited St. Johnsbury and conducted
meetings for two or three days. He addressed himself chiefly to Christians and
incited them . . . A few words from him to the students of the [St. Johnsbury] academy
were very effective. . . .[4]
And here is some further background about Russell Sturgis,
Jr.; H. M. Moore;[5] and
F. O. Winslow—all from Massachusetts and all involved in “the Great Awakening”
of 1875 in St. Johnsbury:
“This [State of Massachusetts] committee [of
the Y.M.C.A.] was organized in 1871, and has been uniformly composed of
successful business men, who were leaders in their own churches. Mr. Henry M.
Moore, actively identified with Mr. Moody in his educational and religious
work, and highly honored among Christians of every name, has from the start had
a guiding hand and has thrice been and is now chairman. The late Russell Sturgis
[, Jr.], Oliver H. Durrell and James H. Eaton, representing three leading
denominations and widely known, were also long among its leaders . . .
“The present members of the state
committee are: H. M. Moore, chairman, Somerville; . . . F. O. Winslow, Norwood—all
able men, strong in their churches and leaders in all good works.”[6]
Russell Sturgis,
Jr., was president of the International Convention of the Young Men’s
Christian Associations in the United States and British Provinces in Toronto,
Ontario, July 12-16, 1876.[7]
And he had at least three articles published about the Young Men’s Christian
Associations:
1. Russell
Sturgis, Jr., “The Boston Young Men’s Christian Association” in The Granite Monthly. A New Hampshire
Magazine, Vol. VII. July and August, 1884. Nos. 7 & 8 (Concord, N. H.:
John N. McClintock and Company, n.d.), 249-58
http://mcaf.ee/4g2wns;
accessed 9/4/2015.
2. Russell
Sturgis, Jr., “The Young Men’s Christian Associations of Massachusetts” in The Granite Monthly: A New Hampshire
Magazine Devoted to History, Vol. VII. September and October, 1884. Nos. 9
and 10 (Concord, N.H.: John N. McClintock, n.d.), 302-06: http://mcaf.ee/106ong;
accessed 9/4/2015.
3. Russell
Sturgis, Jr., “Young Men’s Christian Associations” in Granite Monthly: A New Hampshire Magazine, Vol. IX. January and
February, 1886. Nos. I., II. (Concord,
N. H.: John N. McClintock, 1886), 17-30: http://mcaf.ee/n4jlbh; accessed 9/4/2015.
One of the reasons the Young Men’s Christian Association in
Massachusetts generally, and in Boston specifically, often played an important
role in the YMCA’s activities in New England was that Boston was nearly the
first, if not the first, association formed in the United States.[8]
[1] St. Johnsbury Caledonian. Volume,
February 19, 1875, Image 3 (= page 3)
(accessed 8/31/2015).
[2]
Although no mention has so far come to light elsewhere showing whether a “Mr.
Langworthy of Boston” did come to St. Johnsbury to participate in one or more
of the ongoing “Gospel meetings” during 1875, it is fairly likely that the man
mentioned, who seems to have been a well-recognized figure, was Rev. Isaac P.
Langworthy, D.D. (His full name was “Isaac Pendleton Langworthy.” He was also
called “I. P. Langworthy” in the literature of the day.) A graduate of the
Divinity School of Yale College (Class of 1841), he helped organize in that
year a Congregational church in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and became its first
pastor. He was chaplain of the Massachusetts Senate in 1849. And later, for 25
years, he was associated with the Congregational House of the American Congregational
Union, located in Boston, involved with the library, the treasury, and the
Secretaryship of the Congregational Association. [For more on Rev. Isaac P.
Langworthy, see, for example: (a) Albert Hale Plumb, Memorial, Rev. Isaac P. Langworthy, 1806-1888: http://mcaf.ee/sgxlpq;
accessed 9/3/2015; and (b) “Isaac Pendleton Langworthy. Papers” at The New York
Public Library, Rare Books and Manuscripts Division: http://mcaf.ee/wjdlae,
accessed 9/3/2015.
[3] “News
from the Classes” section (pp. 518ff.): Entry: “1881.” In The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine. Vol. XXI. September, 1912. No. 81.
(Boston, Mass.: The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine Association, 1912, 1913), page
530: http://mcaf.ee/ps5zn3;
accessed 9/4/2015.
[4] “Report on the State of the Churches” in Minutes of the Eightieth Annual Meeting of the General Convention of
Congregational Ministers and Churches of Vermont, Held at Bennington, June,
1875. Fifty-Seventh Annual Report of the Vermont Domestic Missionary Society,
and Fifty-Fifth Annual Report of the Vermont Education Society (Montpelier: J. & J. M. Poland, Steam Printers, 1875), 27-38. http://mcaf.ee/jrgle7.
[5] Henry
Martyn (“H. M.”) Moore was one of the Y. M. C. A. lay leaders from
Massachusetts who led the first “Gospel meetings” in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, on
February 6-8, 1875, which marked the beginning of “the Great Awakening” of 1875
in St. Johnsbury.
[6] “The
State Executive Committee of Massachusetts and Rhode Island” in The Christian World, being the first of the
month number of The Congregationalist. Volume LXXXVI, Number 24, Saturday,
15 June 1901 (Boston: W. L. Greene, 1901), 961: http://mcaf.ee/ejcmg2; accessed 9/5/2015.
[7] “List
of the International Conventions in the United States and British Provinces” in
The People’s Cyclopedia of Universal
Knowledge, . . . the Whole Brought Down to the Year 1883, ed. by W. H. De
Puy, Vol. III (New York: Phillips & Hunt, 1879), 1989: http://mcaf.ee/0rw4n7;
accessed 9/5/2015.
[8] “The
first American Association [of the Y. M. C. A.] was organized in Cincinnati in
1848; Dec. 9, 1851, the first society in Canada was organized in Montreal; and
on Dec. 29, 1851, the Boston Association was formed; June 30, 1852, the
association in New York was organized, and during the same year 10 others,
including Washington and Baltimore, were organized.” See: “List of Triennial
Conferences of Young Men’s Christian Associations of All Lands” in The People’s Cyclopedia of Universal
Knowledge, . . . the Whole Brought Down to the Year 1883, ed. by W. H. De
Puy, Vol. III (New York: Phillips & Hunt, 1879), 1989: http://mcaf.ee/0rw4n7;
accessed 9/5/2015.
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