THE SOUTH CHURCH. IG.'i 



watches over the whole parish, visiting those in affliction and sorrow, 

 feeding the hungry, clothing the destitute, and carrying the Gospel 

 balm in hands of Christian sympathy into many homes, and comfort- 

 ing many hearts. 



I am unwilling to close my brief paper without alluding to impor- 

 tant work done by the women of this church associated with other 

 women of the city. When the war of the Rebellion burst upon us, 

 men willing to defend the country seized their muskets, anxious to 

 march to the conflict ; but neither the state nor the city could clothe 

 an army in a day. The emergency was fearful. The flag had been 

 dishonored; bombarded Sumter had fallen; the "Plug-uglies" of 

 Baltimore were resisting the passage of troops. The uniforms 

 must be had immediately, and the women of the South Churcli, to- 

 gether with other women of the city, left the dough unbaked at 

 home, and worked day and night, with an earnestness that inspired 

 the men who were to wear these uniforms into the " jaws of death." 

 Mrs. Erwin's parlor was one of the tailoring shops, her piano was one 

 of the cutting boards. And so the first company of volunteers from 

 New Britain hastened away in uniforms made by the patriotic women 

 of the city. 



The New Britain Tract Society, in which the women of this church 

 were conspicuous, during the years of its existence accomplished a 

 work of Christian benevolence that has not been surpassed in the his- 

 tory of the town. It included the Evangelical churches of the place, 

 but did not aim to build up any one of them. It was gospel in the 

 widest sense. It undertook to visit every family monthly, regardless 

 of nationality and faith. It relieved the distressed, watched at the 

 bedside of the sick and dying. It left a Bible or a tract in every 

 home, and carried the Gospel with its help and sympathy to many bur- 

 dened hearts. Among its conspicuous workers are names that are red- 

 olent of the atmosphere of Heaven, names which the Master will 

 call with the plaudit "Well done." Some have answered the call, 

 and have heard the plaudit — Mrs. William A. Churchill, Mrs. Vir- 

 gil Cornish — while others equally deserving still linger and labor 

 among us. 



Woman's work in our church has ever been what we might expect 

 from that class of redeemed humanity that "lingered latest at the 

 cross, and gathered earliest at the sepulchre." 



