AN INVESTMENT
On the morning of October 18, 1850, there appeared in San Francisco's
morning paper the following notice:
RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE There will be Religious Services (Unitarian)
on Sunday Morning next, October 20th, at Simmons' Athenaeum Hall.
Entrance on Commercial and Sacramento Streets. A Discourse will be
preached by Rev. Charles A. Farley.
San Francisco at this time was a community very unlike any known to
history. Two years before it is said to have numbered eight hundred
souls, and two years before that about two hundred. During the year
1849, perhaps thirty thousand men had come from all over the world, of
whom many went to the mines. The directory of that year contained
twenty-five hundred names. By October, 1850, the population may have
been twenty thousand. They were scattered thinly over a hilly and rough
peninsula, chaparral-covered but for drifting sand and with few
habitable valleys. From Pacific to California streets and from Dupont to
the bay was the beginning of the city's business. A few streets were
graded and planked. Clay Street stretched up to Stockton. To the south
mountains of sand filled the present Market Street, and protected by
them nestled Happy Valley, reaching from First to Third streets and
beyond Mission. In 1849 it was a city of tents. Wharves were pushing out
into the bay. Long Wharf (Commercial Street) reached deep water about
where Drumm Street now crosses it.
Among the motley argonauts were a goodly number of New Englanders,
especially from Boston and Maine. Naturally some of them were
Unitarians. It seems striking that so many of them were interested in
holding services. They had all left "home" within a year or so, and most
of them expected to go back within two years with their respective
fortunes. When it was learned that a real Unitarian minister was among
them, they arranged for a service. The halls of the period were west of
Kearny Street in Sacramento and California. They secured the Athenaeum
and gave notice in the _Alta California_.
It is significant that the day the notice appeared proved to be
historical. The steamer "Oregon" was due, and it was hoped she would
bring the news of favorable action by Congress on the application of
California to be admitted into the Union. When in the early forenoon the
steamer, profusely decorated with bunting, rounded Clark's Point
assurance was given, and by the time she landed at Commercial and Drumm
the town was wild with excitement.
[Illustration: THOMAS STARR KING. SAN FRANCISCO, 1860-1864]
Eastern papers sold readily at a dollar a copy. All day and night
impromptu celebrations continued. Unnumbered silk hats (commonly worn by
professional men and leading merchants) were demolished and champagne
flowed freely. It should be remembered that thirty-nine days had elapsed
since the actual admission, but none here had known it.
The Pilgrim Yankees must have felt like going to church now that
California was a part of the Union and that another free state had been
born. At any rate, the service conducted by Rev. Charles A. Farley was
voted a great success. One man had brought a service-book and another a
hymnbook. Four of the audience volunteered to lead the singing, while
another played an accompaniment on the violin. After the services
twenty-five men remained to talk things over, and arranged to continue
services from week to week. On November 17, 1850, "The First Unitarian
Church of San Francisco" was organized, Captain Frederick W. Macondray
being made the first Moderator.
Mr. Farley returned to New England in April, 1851, and services were
suspended. Then occurred two very serious fires, disorganizing
conditions and compelling postponement. It was more than a year before
an attempt was made to call another minister.
In May, 1852, Rev. Joseph Harrington was invited to take charge of the
church. He came in August and began services under great promise in the
United States District Court building. A few weeks later he was taken
alarmingly ill, and died on November 2d. It was a sad blow, but the
society withstood it calmly and voted to complete the building it had
begun in Stockton Street, near Sacramento. Rev. Frederic T. Gray, of
Bulfinch Street Chapel, Boston, under a leave of absence for a year,
came to California and dedicated the church on July 1, 1853. This was
the beginning of continuous church services. On the following Sunday,
Pilgrim Sunday-school was organized.
Mr. Gray, a kind and gentle soul, rendered good service in organizing
the activities of the church. He was succeeded by Rev. Rufus P. Cutler,
of Portland, Maine, a refined, scholarly man, who served for nearly five
years. He resigned and sailed for New York in June, 1859. During his
term the Sunday-school prospered under the charge of Samuel L. Lloyd.
Rev. J.A. Buckingham filled the pulpit for ten months preceding April
28, 1860, when Thomas Starr King arrived. The next day Mr. King faced a
congregation that crowded the church to overflowing and won the warm and
enthusiastic regard of all, including many new adherents. With a winning
personality, eloquent and brilliant, he was extraordinarily attractive
as a preacher and as a man. He had great gifts and he was profoundly in
earnest--a kindly, friendly, loving soul.
In 1861 I planned to pass through the city on Sunday with the
possibility of hearing him. The church was crowded. I missed no word of
his wonderful voice. He looked almost boyish, but his eyes and his
bearing proclaimed him a man, and his word was thrilling. I heard him
twice and went to my distant home with a blessed memory and an enlarged
ideal of the power of a preacher. Few who heard him still survive, but a
woman of ninety-three years who loves him well vividly recalls his
second service that led to a friendship that lasted all his life.
In his first year he accomplished wonders for the church. He had felt on
coming that in a year he should return to his devoted people in the
Hollis Street Church of Boston. But when Fort Sumter was fired upon he
saw clearly his appointed place. He threw himself into the struggle to
hold California in the Union. He lectured and preached everywhere,
stimulating patriotism and loyalty. He became a great national leader
and the most influential person on the Pacific Coast. He turned
California from a doubtful state to one of solid loyalty. Secession
defeated, he accomplished wonders for the Sanitary Commission.
A large part of 1863 he gave to the building of the beautiful church in
Geary street near Stockton. It was dedicated in January, 1864. He
preached in it but seven Sundays, when he was attacked with a malady
which in these days is not considered serious but from which he died on
March 4th, confirming a premonition that he would not live to the age of
forty. He was very deeply mourned. It was regarded a calamity to the
entire community. To the church and the denomination the loss seemed
irreparable.
To Dr. Henry W. Bellows, of New York, the acknowledged Unitarian leader,
was entrusted the selection of the one to fill the vacant pulpit. He
knew the available men and did not hesitate. He notified Horatio
Stebbins, of Portland, Maine, that he was called by the great disaster
to give up the parish he loved and was satisfied to serve and take the
post of the fallen leader on the distant shore.
Dr. Bellows at once came to San Francisco to comfort the bereaved church
and to prepare the way for Mr. Stebbins, who in the meantime went to New
York to minister to Dr. Bellows' people in his absence.
It was during the brief and brilliant ministry of Dr. Bellows that good
fortune brought me to San Francisco.
Dr. Bellows was a most attractive preacher, persuasive and eloquent. His
word and his manner were so far in advance of anything to which I was
accustomed that they came as a revelation of power and beauty. I was
entranced, and a new world of thought and feeling opened before me. Life
itself took on a new meaning, and I realized the privilege offered in
such a church home. I joined without delay, and my connection has been
uninterrupted from that day to this. For over fifty-seven years I have
missed few opportunities to profit by its services. I speak of it not in
any spirit of boasting, but in profound gratitude. Physical disability
and absence from the city have both been rare. In the absence of reasons
I have never felt like offering excuses.
Early in September, Horatio Stebbins and family arrived from New York,
and Dr. Bellows returned to his own church. The installation of the
successor of Starr King was an impressive event. The church building
that had been erected by and for King was a beautiful and commodious
building, but it would not hold all the people that sought to attend the
installation of the daring man who came to take up the great work laid
down by the preacher-patriot. He was well received, and a feeling of
relief was manifest. The church was still in strong hands and the
traditions would be maintained.
On September 9th Dr. Stebbins stood modestly but resolutely in the
pulpit so sanctified by the memory of King. Few men have faced sharper
trials and met them with more serenity and apparent lack of
consciousness. It was not because of self-confidence or of failure to
recognize what was before him. He knew very well what was implied in
following such a man as Starr King, but he was so little concerned with
anything so comparatively unimportant as self-interest or so unessential
as personal success that he was unruffled and calm. He indulged in no
illusion of filling Mr. King's place. He stood on his own feet to make
his own place, and to do his own work in his own way, with such results
as came, and he was undisturbed.
Toward the end of his life he spoke of always having preached from the
level of his own mind. It was always true of him. He never strained for
effect, or seemed unduly concerned for results. In one of his prayers he
expresses his deep philosophy of life: "Help us, each one in his place,
in the place which is providentially allotted to us in life, to act well
our part, with consecrated will, with pure affection, with simplicity of
heart--to do our duty, and to leave the rest to God." It was wholly in
that spirit that Dr. Stebbins took up the succession of Thomas Starr
King.
Personally, I was very glad to renew my early admiration for Mr.
Stebbins, who had chosen his first parish at Fitchburg, adjoining my
native town, and had always attracted me when he came to exchange with
our minister. He was a strong, original, manly character, with great
endowments of mind and heart. He was to enjoy a remarkable ministry of
over thirty-five years and endear himself to all who knew him. He was a
great preacher and a great man. He inspired confidence, and was broad
and generous. He served the community as well as his church, being
especially influential in promoting the interests of education. He was a
kindly and helpful man, and he was not burdened by his large duties and
responsibilities, he was never hurried or harassed. He steadily pursued
his placid way and built up a really great influence. He was, above all
else, an inspirer of steadfast faith. With a great capacity for
friendship, he was very generous in it, and was indulgent in judgment of
those he liked. I was a raw and ignorant young man, but he opened his
great heart to me and treated me like an equal. Twenty years difference
in years seemed no barrier. He was fond of companionship in his travels,
and I often accompanied him as he was called up and down the coast. In
1886 I went to the Boston May Meeting in his company and found delight
in both him and it. He was a good traveler, enjoying the change of scene
and the contact with all sorts of people. He was courteous and friendly
with strangers, meeting them on their own ground with sympathy and
understanding.
In his own home he was especially happy, and it was a great privilege to
share his table-talk and hospitality, for he had a great fund of kindly
humor and his speech was bright with homely metaphor and apt allusions.
Not only was he a great preacher, he was a leader, an inspirer, and a
provoker of good.
What it meant to fall under the influence of such a man cannot be told.
Supplementing the blessing was the association with a number of the best
of men among the church adherents. Hardly second to the great and
unearned friendship of Dr. Stebbins was that of Horace Davis, ten years
my senior, and very close to Dr. Stebbins in every way. He had been
connected with the church almost from the first and was a firm friend of
Starr King. Like Dr. Stebbins, he was a graduate of Harvard. Scholarly,
and also able in business, he typified sound judgment and common sense,
was conservative by nature, but fresh and vigorous of mind. He was
active in the Sunday-school. We also were associated in club life and as
fellow directors of the Lick School. Our friendship was uninterrupted
for more than fifty years. I had great regard for Mrs. Davis and many
happy hours were passed in their home. Her interpretation of Beethoven
was in my experience unequaled.
It is impossible even to mention the many men of character and
conscience who were a helpful influence to me in my happy church life.
Captain Levi Stevens was very good to me; C. Adolphe Low was one of the
best men I ever knew; I had unbounded respect for Horatio Frost; Dr.
Henry Gibbons was very dear to me; and Charles R. Bishop I could not but
love. These few represent a host of noble associates. I would I could
mention more of them.
[Illustration: HORATIO STEBBINS. SAN FRANCISCO, 1864-1900]
We all greatly enjoyed the meetings of a Shakespeare Club that was
sustained for more than twelve consecutive years among congenial friends
in the church. We read half a play every other week, devoting the latter
part of the evening to impromptu charades, in which we were utterly
regardless of dignity and became quite expert.
At our annual picnics we joined in the enjoyment of the children. I
recall my surprise and chagrin at having challenged Mr. Davis to a
footrace at Belmont one year, giving him distance as an age handicap,
and finding that I had overestimated the advantage of ten years
difference.
In 1890 we established the Unitarian Club of California. Mr. Davis was
the first president. For seventeen years it was vigorous and prosperous.
We enjoyed a good waiting-list and twice raised the limit of membership
numbers. It was then the only forum in the city for the discussion of
subjects of public interest. Many distinguished visitors were
entertained. Booker T. Washington was greeted by a large audience and so
were Susan B. Anthony and Anna H. Shaw. As time passed, other
organizations afforded opportunity for discussion, and numerous less
formal church clubs accomplished its purpose in a simpler manner.
A feature of strength in our church has been the William and Alice
Hinckley Fund, established in 1879 by the will of Captain William C.
Hinckley, under the counsel and advice of Dr. Stebbins. His wife had
died, he had no children, and he wanted his property to be helpful to
others. He appointed the then church trustees his executors and the
trustees of an endowment to promote human beneficence and charity,
especially commending the aged and lonely and the interests of education
and religion. Shortly after coming to San Francisco, in 1850, he had
bought a lot in Bush Street for sixty dollars. At the time of his death
it was under lease to the California Theater Company at a ground rent of
a thousand dollars a month. After long litigation, the will was
sustained as to $52,000, the full proportion of his estate allowed for
charity. I have served as secretary of the trust fund for forty years. I
am also surviving trustee for a library fund of $10,000 and another
charity fund of $5000. These three funds have earned in interest more
than $105,000. We have disbursed for the purposes indicated $92,000, and
have now on hand as capital more than $80,000, the interest on which we
disburse annually. It has been my fortune to outlive the eight trustees
appointed with me, and, also, eight since appointed to fill vacancies
caused by death or removal.
We worshiped in the Geary and Stockton church for more than twenty-three
years, and then concluded it was time to move from a business district
to a residential section. We sold the building with the lot that had
cost $16,000 for $120,000, and at the corner of Franklin and Geary
streets built a fine church, costing, lot included, $91,000. During
construction we met in the Synagogue Emanu-El, and the Sunday-school was
hospitably entertained in the First Congregational Church, which
circumstances indicate the friendly relations maintained by our
minister, who never arraigned or engaged in controversy with any other
household of faith. In 1889 the new church was dedicated, Dr. Hedge
writing a fine hymn for the occasion.
Dr. Stebbins generally enjoyed robust health, but in 1899 he was
admonished that he must lay down the work he loved so well. In September
of that year, at his own request, he was relieved from active service
and elected Minister Emeritus. Subsequently his health improved, and
frequently he was able to preach; but in 1900, with his family, he
returned to New England, where he lived with a good degree of comfort at
Cambridge, near his children, occasionally preaching, but gradually
failing in health. He suffered severely at the last, and found final
release on April 8, 1901.
Of the later history of the church I need say little. Recollections root
in the remote. For thirteen years we were served by Rev. Bradford
Leavitt, and for the past eight Rev. Caleb S.S. Dutton has been our
leader. The noble traditions of the past have been followed and the
place in the community has been fully maintained. The church has been a
steady and powerful influence for good, and many a life has been
quickened, strengthened, and made more abundant through its ministry. To
me it has been a never-failing source of satisfaction and happiness.
I would also bear brief testimony to the Sunday-school. All my life I
had attended Sunday-school,--the best available. I remember well the
school in Leominster and the stories told by Deacon Cotton and others. I
remember nay teacher in Boston. Coming to California I took what I could
get, first the little Methodist gathering and then the more respectable
Presbyterian. When in early manhood I came to San Francisco I entered
the Bible-class at once. The school was large and vigorous. The
attendance was around four hundred. Lloyd Baldwin, an able lawyer, was
my first teacher, and a good one, but very soon I was induced to take a
class of small boys. They were very bright and too quick for a youth
from the country. One Sunday we chanced to have as a lesson the healing
of the daughter of Jairus. In the gospel account the final word was the
injunction: "Jesus charged them that they tell no man." In all innocence
I asked the somewhat leading question: "What did Jesus charge them?"
Quick as a flash one of the boys answered, "He didn't charge them a
cent." It was so pat and so unexpected that I could not protest at the
levity.
In the Sunday-school library I met Charles W. Wendte, then a clerk in
the Bank of California. He had been befriended and inspired by Starr
King and soon turned from business and studied for the ministry. He is
now a D.D. and has a long record of valuable service.
In 1869 J.C.A. Hill became superintendent of the school and appointed me
his assistant. Four years later he returned to New Hampshire, much to
our regret, and I succeeded him. With the exception of the two years
that Rev. William G. Eliot, Jr., was assistant to Dr. Stebbins, and took
charge of the school, I served until 1914.
Very many pleasant memories cluster around my connection with the
Sunday-school. The friendships made have been enduring. The beautiful
young lives lured me on in service that never grew monotonous, and I
have been paid over and over again for all I ever gave. It is a great
satisfaction to feel that five of our nine church trustees are graduates
of the Sunday-school. I attended my first Christmas festival of the
Sunday-school in Platt's Hall in 1864, and I have never missed one
since. Fifty-seven consecutive celebrations incidentally testify to
unbroken health.
In looking back on what I have gained from the church, I am impressed
with the fact that the association with the fine men and women
attending it has been a very important part of my life. Good friends
are of untold value, and inspiration is not confined to the spoken words
of the minister. Especially am I impressed with the stream of community
helpfulness that has flowed steadily from our church all these years. I
wish I dared to refer to individual instances--but they are too many.
Finally, I must content myself with acknowledgment of great obligation
for all I have profited from and enjoyed in church affiliation. I cannot
conceive how any man can afford not to avail himself of the privilege of
standing by some church. As an investment I am assured that nothing pays
better and surer interest. Returns are liberal, dividends are never
passed, and capital never depreciates.