Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 10.djvu/173

 Christ Church.

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��A. E. Johnson is Rector of Christ church."

• At the time of writing the new church is up, and ah'eady has a linished look on the outside. The localit}' is line. On the south-east the " Foundry pond" glitters in the sunlight, and lies so quietly in its shallow basin that one can scarce believe it is a part of the noisy Salmon Falls river. The hills in Maine form a stronghold in the east, and westward the tall pines kiss the blue sky.

Perhaps a pen picture of the interior of the old church will not be amiss, since we can never see it more. I venture to describe it as I saw it in January, 1884. After a long collo- quy between the immense key and the rust}' lock, the sulky bolt finally grated back in a most inhospitable manner, and we entered the porch, where the plastering had dropped down and was lying iu a shattered condition on the floor. We pulled the heav}' Gothic door to after us, and shuffled our way through the rubbish to the door opening into the church. A small, rusty stove, bricked into the wall in such a manner that the fire could be kindled in the porch and the heat go into the church, was encountered near the door. The architecture of the interior of the church was very prett}'. Groined arches, supported by clus- tered columns, formed the ends of the building. The centre of the house was filled with a double row of pews; aisles on either side separated these from the side pews. The floor in- clined towards the chancel. In front of the chancel, huddled together in one pew, I saw a number of praj'er- books, and in several I read the name

��of the owner. Opening the tiny gate in the balustrade, we stepped up to the altar, with its faded covering. Two fine ciiairs, quaintly carved, stood on each side: these and the pulpit were upholstered with red damask, trimmed with red worsted bullion fringe, and heavy tassels at the corners. Facing the chancel, in a balcony built in a semi-circle over the entrance doors of the church, stood the ruins of the organ; lead tubes and wooden ones were leaning in a most disconsolate way against each other; the keys were yellow with age, and the music came no more at their bidding. The Gothic windows were set with small, diamond-shaped glass. Inside blinds have served late years to prevent the small, round stones, thrown b}' mischievous boys, from rolling into the church. We crunched tiny bits of glass under our feet at every step. From the clus- tered columns skeleton-like brackets swung in a ghostly way; once the dangerous camphene lamps were hung thereon, and gave their bright light to the people below them. Behind the chancel two small rooms were piled with rubbish. In one we found a few Sabbath-school books, and a list of books added to Christ church S. S. Library, August, 18-14. In the other a Bible, rotten with mold, with its leaves glued together with damp- ness and decay, was lying open in Psalms. After much study we de- ciphered the name " Sabra," but the rest was too dim for us to make out. This old book, bound in heavy leather, time-stained, musty smelling, had for company a book of Common Prayer. We left them, and I wonder to-dav what became of them when

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