THE SOUTH CHURCH. 179 



threc-foiirtlis wlien you were born. But we clierisli :i kindly feeling 

 toward our younger sisters, and rejoice in their prosperity. W(! most 

 sincerely congratulate you on this auspicious senii-centcnnlal, in view 

 of your remarkable history and your inspiring outlook. 

 It is not always true that 



" Memory locks her chaff in binn, 

 And throws away the grain." 



For what multitudes of hallowed associations fill and flood our minds, 

 to-day. I regret that time will allow me to glance at only a very few 

 of these freighted with precious meaning as they are to myself, as. 

 well as to many of you. 



I do not permit any man, unless he is stronger than I am, to call: 

 me old, yet I have had the pleasure ol knowing all the pastors of this 

 church. One of them, the second, was a beloved elder brother to me 

 in my early ministry. In those years of inexperience and self -distrust 

 I owed more to Dr. Goodell than to any other of my associates. It 

 was, indeed, his presence here' and his influence that decided me to 

 come to Hartford as a student of theology. Ever after that year, lS6o, 

 while his home was here, it was a place of manifold attractions for me, 

 from which came choice counsels and kindling incentives. ^Irs. 

 Goodell, whose life was so exquisitely intertwined with that of her 

 husband in all its emotions and its activities, also gave me tender sym- 

 pathy and priceless help. What grace, what pathos, what sicred 

 reminiscence, what lofty consecration, in her charming paper read to 

 us this afternoon ! Did not the spirit of him whom she seemed to im- 

 personate on this occasion breathe through its every line? 



I well remember a meeting for prayer which I attended in 1866 in 

 your former house of worship. We all sat in the pews near the en- 

 trance, and the pastor spoke from one of them. What a contrast this, 

 to your present commodious chapels, parlors, rooms for the Sunday- 

 school, and other complete appointments. 



Dr. Goodell was a member of the council at my ordination, with 

 Dea. W. H. Smith as delegate. He gave a characteristic charge to my 

 people which they have not yet forgotten. 



A year or two after, when I was somewhat in doubt concerning 

 methods and fruitage of work, he sat in my study and told me with 

 tears of gladness how the Holy Spirit was repeating among you the 

 scenes of the Acts of the Apostles. 



But I must not prolong this strain of to me most fascinating recol- 

 lection. For I want a moment in which to speak of these later years 

 of large expansion and ingathering. Your present pastor was my 

 classihate for a year at Andover, and he has been ever among my val- 

 ued friends. The relations between our churches have not been as 



