* 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE. 
PRESIDENT TAFT ATTENDS CENTENNIAL 
SERVICE AT MANCHESTER. 
With His Daughter, Miss Helen, Hears the Rev. Dr. George A. 
Gordon, of Boston, Preach Anniversary Sermon at Con- 
gregational Church. 
Choir of New Old South 
Church Sings and Samuel Carr, Presi- 
dent’s Cousin, Plays Organ. 
On its centennial day, and for the first 
time in its history, the President of the 
United States attended service at the 
Congregational church, Manchester, 
Sunday morning. Accompanied only 
by his daughter, Miss Helen, and Capt. 
Archibold Butt, his military aide, Presi- 
dent Taft came from Beverly in his auto- 
mobile to attend a service which will 
]. ng be remembered—a service at which 
the Rev. Dr. George A. Gordon, the 
eloquent preacher of the New Old South 
church of Boston and one of the fore- 
most men in the Congregational pulpit 
today, dclivered a memorable sermon 
before one of the largest audiences which 
the church has ever held. 
The service commemorated the 100th 
anniversary of the dedication of the 
church and it was planned to make some 
special recognition of the event. Samu- 
el Carr, one of our West Manchester 
summer residents, who has taken some 
interest in the church to the extent that 
the pipe organ was repaired, arranged to 
have Rev. George A. Gordon. L. L D , 
psstor of the New Old South church, at 
which Mr. Carr was until two years ago 
the organist for twenty years, in Man- 
chester to preach at the church Sunday 
morning. He also arranged to have 
the quartet from the New Old South: 
church down forthe day to sinv. It was 
not known that President Taft would 
attend church until a couple of days 
previous to Sunday and even then it was 
not generally known. Mr. Carr is a 
cousin of the President. 
The President arrived at the church 
promptly at 10.45, as the prelude was 
being playedon the organ. “The church 
was well filled. A very small proportion 
of the townspeople knew that such a 
prominent personage as the chief execu- 
tive of the nation was to attend church 
that day in Manchester. ‘The news 
quickly spread, however, after the Pres- 
ident had arrived, for when church was 
over and the President departed the 
square was crowded with people who 
had gathered to catch a glimpse of him. 
Fully a thousand people were on the 
Common—a big crowd for Manchester. 
The u.ual order of service was used 
Sunday, led by the pastor, Rev. L. H. 
Ruge. Dr. Gordon cff-red the prayer, 
read the scripture and preached the ser- 
mon. ‘The music was of a high order. 
The quartet is composed of Mrs. Frances 
Dutton Wood, soprano; Miss Alice 
Robbins Cole, alto; H. Lambert Mur- 
phy, tenor, and David Marks Babcock, 
bass. The musical program included: 
Prelude, an offertory by Salome, by Mr. 
Carr; anthem, “‘Sing Alleluia Forth,’’ 
Buck; solo, “‘If with All Your Hearts,”’ 
from the ora‘o’o ‘‘ Elijah,’? by Mr. 
Murphy; response, ““ Lead Me Lord,”’ 
Wesley; hymn, ‘‘ The King of Love 
Pre:ipenr W. H. Tarr 
My Shepherd Is;’’ hymn, ‘‘ We Bless 
Thee for Thy Peace, O God;’’ con- 
gregational singing, ““America,’? and 
organ postlude, ‘‘March of the Priests,’’ 
Mendelssohn. 
Dr. Gordon referred to the singing in 
announcing one of the hymns by the 
quartet, and said this beautiful singing 
was one of the features of the present 
day service which the builders of this 
church 100 ye.rs azo could not enjoy. 
They had a plain,simple service, but our 
service is filled witha tenderness and 
beauty because of their memory.’’ 
In his payer, Dr. Gordon - said, 
‘ . 
- “bless those who, almost two centuries 
azo, lefc this church, bless the people and 
minister of this church, bless those who 
are near to death, bless the servants of 
all good causes, and all the nations of 
the earth. Bless with love our own bhe- 
loved country. We remember the 
struggle, and the sacrifice, and the se- 
rene hope in which it was born, we re- 
9 
member the many who have given their 
ives for its expansion, we remember the 
time of sacrifice in which it was reborn. 
We commend to thy care the President 
of the United States; may his life be 
precious in thy sight, for the safety of 
the whole nation. May he feel the 
prayers and comforts of all good people. 
Help him to instruct his fellow citizens 
and guide them to righteousness. In 
his day, grant us peace and great pros- 
perity; may the people increase in intel- 
ligence and in character. Hasten the 
day when our nation shall be the great 
exemplar to the nations of the world. 
Dr. Gordon’s sermon was a scholarly 
address along theological lines, but con- 
tained no ‘special reference to popular or 
nationa! topics, or the chief executive. 
Dr. Gordon took as his text the open- 
ing words of the parable of the Good 
Samaritan, ‘‘And behold a_ certain 
lawyer stood up and said, what shall I do 
to inhe it eternal life.’? He said that in 
all Christ's teachings there were two 
parables that stood out preeminently— 
that of the prodigal s»n, and that of the 
good samaritin. ‘The first, he said, 
was a_ theolorical parable ‘* The 
parable of the Good Samaritan is not,’’ 
he continued; ‘‘it is purely a human par- 
able dealinz with a human situation.’’ 
‘(let me first call attention to the 
wealth of character in it. It is one of 
the chief signs of genius to be able to 
strike out in human phrases the like- 
nesses of human action. Homer had 
tw great epics to set forth as many 
great characters. Sophocles, the  su- 
preme artist, wrote a great work for the 
presentation of one glorious idea. We 
all confess how much the world stands 
enriched by the wealth of character in 
the works of Thackeray, Dickens, 
George Eliot, and scores of others 
whose'names will occur toyou. In each 
case, much room was required for the 
presentation of an idea or a character. 
We notice this fact in Shakéspere. 
That wizard required a vast compass to 
exhibit the situations and insights of his 
genius. 
‘“The ‘certain man’ in the parable 
is every man. The ‘robbers’—you see 
their dark taces—just a word, and you 
have them clearly cut and presented to 
the image. Then there are the priests 
and the [Levites—representing types, | 
think; they were so devoted to God that 
they forgot their surroundings and their 
fellow man. Then comes the good 
Samaritan,——a great man with a human 
heart beating with the red blood in it. 
Then we have the keeper of the good 
Samaritan inn, then this lawyer of the 
text, and always the figure of our Lord, 
calm, clear and sovereign through the 
wh 5le scene. 
‘*So in this single parable we have a 
great epityme of character. The mo» 
I study the words and teachings of ] . 5 
