CONSECRATION OF GRACE CHURCH IN CORTLAND

The Cortland Democrat, Friday, April 13, 1888.

Consecration of Grace Church.

Imposing and Impressive Services—An Eloquent and Scholarly Sermon.

   The ceremonies at the consecration of Grace Church yesterday were unusually impressive. The services were conducted by Bishop Huntington, assisted by the Rector and a number of divines from other parishes. The floral decorations were simple but in exquisite taste, and contributed not a little to the beauty of the interior.
   At ten o'clock A. M. a special confirmation service was held, conducted by the Bishop, at which time a number of young ladies and gentlemen were admitted to membership. The words of Dr. Huntington in this service were eloquent and impressive, and must have made a deep impression on the minds of those to whom they were spoken.
   An audience that filled every seat in the church had assembled at the hour appointed for the consecration service. The order of service was as follows:
   1. Procession Psalm.
   2. Reading the Request to Consecrate the Church.
   3. The Bishop's Exhortation and Prayer.
   4. Reading the Sentence of Consecration.
   5. The Thanksgiving.
   6. Morning Prayer.

   The consecration sermon by the Rev. Geo. R. Van De Water, D. D., Rector of St. Andrews church, Harlem, N. Y., was a most eloquent production and was listened to with rapt attention by the large audience present. It was an able exposition of the uses of the church in the Divine economy and an earnest defense of the forms and ceremonies in use in the Episcopal Church. External and internal beauty in both form and color may well be employed and are sometimes more powerful for good than the words of the living orator. Let it utilize all the hues of the rainbow in the tint of the walls and the colors of its windows. Since beauty is to be met with in every natural object, men should not hesitate to employ it whenever and wherever it is found possible in the construction of their houses of worship.
   Tender memories and deep affections cling to the church. In it youth receives its guidance for a noble and useful life; within its walls the vows of lovers are plighted, binding them to sweet companionship, through the rough and uncertain way of life. Here are found the consolations of age, and, when life is ended, it is in the church that the final requiem is sung and the last words spoken. Be true, then, to the church, and loyal to her traditions. Carry her teachings into the matters of every day life, and strive to extend her influence, not only in the town in which it is situated, but into other towns and other lands where its doctrines are as yet unknown.
   At the conclusion of the sermon the communion was partaken of, after which the concluding prayer and Benediction were pronounced by the Bishop.
   With its new, and elegantly appointed church edifice, its strong and harmoniously working congregation, led and directed by the earnest, scholarly young Rector, there seems now to open to Grace Church a career the influence of which shall be as boundless as eternity itself. May she successfully accomplish the work which she has set her hand to do.

  

The Gaiety Gone.

   The London Gaiety Comedy Co., which was billed for the whole of last week at the Opera House, came to grief in the most ignominious manner. On Monday evening they played to a fair house, and had they acquitted themselves creditably, would probably have made their engagement a profitable one. Tuesday evening the audience reached the number of fifteen, and, when the time came to ring up the curtain Wednesday night, there were eight persons visible from the stage. These were told to go to the box office and get their money, and the announcement made that there would be no more performances until Saturday evening.
   When Saturday came the prospects were not at all assuring, and the performance for that evening was also abandoned. The manager and his wife left for Syracuse on the morning train, to raise the funds necessary to pay their bills, and enable them to go to Owego where they had a three night's engagement. He was to get the money and return on Monday morning, but as he has not since been seen, it is fair to presume that his efforts in this direction were not a conspicuous success.
   The remainder of the company staid at the Cortland House in the meantime, and devised ways and means to reach New York, but were unable to solve the problem until Tuesday, when Mr. Bauder [Cortland House proprietor—CC editor] advanced them enough money on their baggage to return to the city. They gratefully accepted the offer, and are now probably in the Metropolis. They had been organized only about two weeks and this was their first engagement.

Camp Fire Entertainment.

   The Good Templars of this place have secured the talented and eloquent Colonel Sherman D. Richardson for one of his entertainments at Taylor Hall, Friday evening, April 30th. Col. Richardson is a Grand Army man, and his rendition of his original poems, ''Sheridan at Stone River," and ''Hancock at Gettysburg," is said to be most effective. His memorials to Logan and Finch, with the latter of whom he was a valued co-worker, stamp him a poet of no mean order, and have been copied by the press throughout the United States.
   Between the reading of these poems the Colonel will intersperse sketches of an amusing character, and the entertainment, taken as a whole, will doubtless be one of the most satisfactory of the season. The prices have been fixed at the extremely low rates of 15, 25 and 35 cents, which should ensure a full house.

The Firemen's Convention.

   Preparations for the Firemen's Convention in August are being pushed rapidly forward and promise better than was anticipated. Letters are being received daily by Chief Engineer Thompson, and Secretary Smith, from the leading manufacturers of fire apparatus, asking what accommodations have been secured for exhibition, and expressing a desire to place their goods on trial.
   The Volunteer fire departments of New York and Brooklyn will arrive Thursday morning, and remain two days. Chief Thompson has received a letter from their committee, stating that they will visit Cortland this month to secure hotel accommodations, and have asked him to make arrangements for them for music. In accordance with the requests, contracts have been made with the Cortland and Homer bands for them for those days.
   A new feature of the convention, which will be original to Cortland, will be a banquet on Wednesday evening in Taylor Hall, given by the ladies of Cortland to the visiting delegates. This will be under their own management throughout, and they will use every effort to make the delegates at home during their stay in the city. The ladies of this town have a record in affairs of this kind of which they are justly proud, and on this occasion will undoubtedly surpass all previous efforts. Another citizens meeting will be called this month and the preparation systematized and pushed vigorously forward.

Annual Meeting of C. L. A.

   At the yearly meeting of the C. L. A. held April 3rd, the following remarks were made by the President, Mrs. C. W. Collins:
   "In view of this being, in all probability, our last 'annual meeting' we have a few words to offer. We stand 'at the parting of the ways,' and before the Cortland Library Association resolves itself into its individual elements, it may not be unbecoming that we give expression to our satisfaction in the work attempted and achieved in the six years of our organized existence.
   "During that time we have received from membership, rent of books, entertainments and other sources, $1,915.36, have expended $1,839. 63, and have now upon our shelves between fourteen and fifteen hundred volumes.
   "We can but believe that whatever of individual or associated effort this result expresses has been most beneficent to the community. We congratulate ourselves that we have assisted to this extent, in the cultivation of a taste for healthful reading. The influence of good books can scarcely be over-estimated, and a varied supply within reach of all classes, and adapted to all ages, is a means of growth and grace to those who avail themselves of it.
   "We are recommended to 'sow beside all waters' and we are glad that the women of Cortland have been led to care for and direct this helpful enterprise. Devotion to our impersonal aim has brought to us the blessing which always comes to those who spend themselves for others. This common interest for the people has widened our womanly sympathies and deepened our kindly regret for each other, and in this way also, our labor has brought its reward. Some of the difficulties of pioneer work have been ours, but none of the real hardships. To sow the seed, carefully guard the unfolding of the blade, watch the steady growth and development of each succeeding shoot, to guard from adverse and to enlist all favoring influences--this has been one part of the work.
   "And now in regard to those who may succeed us in carrying forward this enterprise for the public welfare, we say, may all prosperity attend them, and may they enjoy the satisfaction which has been ours from the first, of seeing their work prosper under their hands, and may they meet with as cordial appreciation from the public whom they endeavor to serve, as has always been accorded us."

"FIRE INSURANCE WAR IS LIBERATING YOU," Cortland Democrat, April 13, 1888.

HERE AND THERE.

   The DEMOCRAT will pay 25 cents each for two well preserved copies of its issue of Jan. 13th, 1888.
   The Senate, Monday, confirmed the nomination of Dwight N. Miller to be postmaster of Homer, N. Y.
   Read what the "Insurance War" advertisement, in this issue, says about lowered rates for fire insurance.
   Dr. A. J. White is repairing his residence on Port Watson street, and is also building an office on the premises which he expects will be ready for occupancy about the middle of May.
   Frank See, who was arrested for indecently assaulting little girls on the street, was given a trial by jury before Justice Squires, last Monday, which resulted in a verdict of guilty, and on Tuesday afternoon he was sentenced to ninety days in the Onondaga Penitentiary.
   The simplest pocket rule is the silver a person usually carries in his pocket. A silver quarter measures 3/4 of an inch; the half dollar 1 inch, and the "dollar of our daddies" 1 and 1/2 inch. On receipt of two of the latter, we shall be pleased to send the DEMOCRAT for one year to any address.
   All boarding house keepers and occupants of private houses, who can and will accommodate visiting firemen with board and lodging during the convention next August, will please report at once to Dorr C. Smith, secretary of the citizens' committee, at his office in Masonic Hall block, so that a circular may be printed for mailing to the various fire companies.
   The old wooden building on Main street, occupied by Smith & Bates' hardware store, is being removed to Orchard street. As soon as it is off the site where it has been so long situated, Mr. Taylor will begin excavating the cellar for the new brick block he proposes to build there during the summer. Smith & Bates will continue business in the old store on Orchard street until the new block is completed.
   At the meeting of the Board of Education, held on Monday evening last, it was decided to repair the old school house on Port Watson street to accommodate children in the first and second grades in that part of the town, until provision could be made for them elsewhere. The first and second grades in the schools throughout the town are badly overcrowded; so much so, in fact, that it has been necessary to refuse a number of applications for sittings on account of lack of room. The crying need of the village at present is a large school house, ample enough to furnish accommodations for our rapidly increasing population.

Neighboring Counties.

   TOMPKINS —A gold watch identified as the property of Paul Layton, who was murdered at Dryden recently, has been found in the mud by an Irish boy named Keenan. The watch was found near where the murdered man's body was discovered. There is as yet no trace of the murderer.... The effort to raise a subscription of five hundred dollars, to be put with an equal amount from the Layton estate, to continue the search for the murderer of Paul Layton, has met with success, and a meeting of interested citizens was held in Dryden, Tuesday afternoon. John H. Kennedy, Theron Johnson, and Charles Keech were chosen as a committee to have charge of carrying on the work. It was the desire of the meeting that the services of a Pinkerton detective be secured at once. 
   It is said to be doubtful if Mason, the victim of Richard Barber, recovers. The wounds on his head are giving serious trouble.
   CHENANGO—"Bloody" Dalton, a well known resident of Norwich, was reported dead from choking, Tuesday morning, and he had a narrow escape as it turned out. While boiling [bolting?] his breakfast at the Adams House, he was choked by a piece of beefsteak, became unconscious, and was given up for dead. While the necessity of sending for the Coroner was being talked of, Mr. Adams pressed his foot upon the stomach of the supposed corpse, when the piece of meat popped from his throat, and "Bloody" still lives.

FIGHTING HORSES.

Terrific Conflict Between Two Stallions and a Jack.

   "Some horses, of course, are almost incurably vicious, and must be conquered by main force. One pleasing brute on my ranch will at times rush at a man open-mouthed like a wolf, and it is a regular trick of the range stallions. In a great many—indeed, in most—localities there are wild horses to be found, which, although invariably of domestic descent, being either themselves runaways from some ranch or Indian [tribe], or else claiming such for their sires and dams, yet are quite as wild as the antelope on whose domain they have intruded. Ranchmen run in these wild horses whenever possible, and they are but little more difficult to break than the so-called 'tame' animals. But the wild stallions are, whenever possible, shot; both because of their propensity for driving off the ranch mares, and because their 'incurable viciousness' makes them always unsafe companions for other horses still more than for men. 
   "A wild stallion fears no beast except the grizzly, and will not always flinch from an encounter with it; yet it is a curious fact that a jack will almost always kill one in a fair fight.
   "The particulars of a fight of this sort were related to me by a cattle man who was engaged in bringing out blooded stock from the East. Among the animals under his charge were two great stallions, one gray and one black, and a fine jackass, not much over half the size of either of the former. The animals were kept in separate pens, but one day both horses got into the same enclosure, next to the jack pen, and began to fight as only enraged stallions can, kicking like boxers with their forefeet, and biting with their teeth. The gray was getting the best of it; but while clinched with his antagonist in one tussle they rolled against the jack pen, breaking it in. No sooner was the jack at liberty than, with ears laid back and mouth wide open, he made straight for the two horses, who had for the moment separated. The gray turned to meet him, rearing on his hind legs and striking at him with his forefeet; but the jack slipped in, and in a minute grasped his antagonist by the throat with his wide open jaws, and then held on like a bull-dog, all four feet planted stiffly in the soil. The stallion made tremendous efforts to shake him off; he would try to whirl round and kick him, but for that the jack was too short; then he would rise up, lifting the jack off the ground, and strike at him with his forefeet; but all that he gained by this was to skin his foe's front legs without making him lose his hold. Twice they fell, and twice the stallion rose, by main strength dragging the jack with him; but all in vain. Meanwhile the black horse attacked both the combatants with perfect impartiality, striking and kicking them with his hoofs, while his teeth, as they slipped off the tough hides met with a snap like that of a bear trap.
   "Undoubtedly the Jack would have killed at least one of the horses had not the men come up, and with no small difficulty separated the maddened brutes."--Theodore Roosevelt in The Century.