diff options
Diffstat (limited to '26980-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 26980-8.txt | 4050 |
1 files changed, 4050 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/26980-8.txt b/26980-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..249e6e4 --- /dev/null +++ b/26980-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4050 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati, by Warren C. Herrick + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati + +Author: Warren C. Herrick + +Release Date: October 20, 2008 [EBook #26980] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRANK H. NELSON OF CINCINNATI *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Barbara Kosker and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +FRANK NELSON _of_ CINCINNATI + + + _Writing is the offspring of thought, the lamp of + remembrance, the tongue of him that is far-off, and + the life of him whose age has been blotted out._ + + + --_Anon_ + + + [Illustration] + + + + + _Frank H Nelson + of CINCINNATI_ + + + _by_ + + + WARREN C. HERRICK + _a sometime Assistant_ + + + + _With A Foreword + by Charles P. Taft_ + + + LOUISVILLE · THE CLOISTER PRESS · MCMXLV + + COPYRIGHT, 1945, BY + + + The Cloister Press + + + _All rights reserved. No part of this + book may be reproduced without the + written permission of The Cloister Press._ + + + [Illustration: _The Cloister Press_ + VITAL BOOKS] + + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + _To My Wife_ + + + + + CONTENTS + Page + + 1. "Arise, and go into the city" 2 + + 2. Reclaiming A Church to Meet A New Age 14 + + 3. The Shepherd Among His Flock 30 + + 4. The Spokesman of The City's Conscience 42 + + 5. They Came to Be in His Presence 62 + + 6. Beyond Cincinnati 76 + + 7. The Mystery of Personality 88 + + 8. Last Years 102 + + 9. The Afterglow 110 + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENTS + + +This book is made possible only through the interest and contributions +of the many friends of Frank H. Nelson. Space does not permit my +mentioning by name all who have furnished me with material, but I do +wish to record my gratitude to them. In addition to the years 1925-1928 +as Mr. Nelson's assistant I spent two weeks in the autumn of 1943 +interviewing a cross-section of Cincinnati and Christ Church. Many +business men gladly gave of their time because they enjoyed recounting +memories of one whom they loved, and often detained me when I felt I had +imposed myself long enough. I noticed also that Mr. Nelson's photograph +occupied a place of honor in more than one office as well as in many +homes. + +There are others far better qualified than I to write this story, and I +accepted the task, though with a keen sense of my inadequacy, first, +because Mrs. Nelson honored me with the request, and second because I +have the strong conviction that it should be done for the sake of those +who knew Mr. Nelson, and also for those of a succeeding generation who +ought to know how one minister more than met the requirements of an +exacting profession. Furthermore, I have written as one who owes an +incalculable debt, and, therefore, cannot be wholly objective. While I +have endeavored not to make this biography a eulogy, it is frankly his +life as I saw it, and depicts one whom I loved, admired, and have tried +to follow. + +For innumerable suggestions and for valuable material I am particularly +grateful to Mrs. Frank H. Nelson, to Mr. Nelson's sisters, Miss +Margaret[1] and Miss Dorothea Nelson, and to Mr. Howard N. Bacon, who +have helped me more than perhaps they know. Then there is the pleasant +duty of expressing my thanks to Mr. Charles P. Taft, the Junior Warden +of Christ Church, Cincinnati, for writing the foreword; to the Vestry of +Trinity Church, Melrose, Massachusetts for gladly granting me a leave of +absence in 1943, and to Mrs. E. Howard Favor, my secretary, for the +typing cheerfully undertaken. In the labor of preparing the final draft +for the publishers I shall ever remember with gratitude the careful +thought and skillful phrasing of Miss Mary Putnam of the English +Department of the Melrose High School whose corrections and amendments +were nothing less than creative. Finally, I wish to let stand my +heartfelt thanks to the Right Reverend Henry Knox Sherrill, Bishop of +Massachusetts, without whose encouragement and advice this little book +could not have been written. + + WARREN C. HERRICK + + _Trinity Church_, + _Melrose, Massachusetts_; + 1945. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Deceased, July 6, 1945. + + + + +A FOREWORD + + +How does one life affect another? + +I have tried to remember what Frank Nelson directly asked me to do. He +asked me to teach in the Sunday School, and I did it. Gradually I found +myself studying out an intellectual foundation for faith in God. He +never said anything to me about that, except from the pulpit. He wrote +me asking that I act as captain in the Nation-wide Campaign, and I +answered that I could not. But the next thing I remember was being a +visitor in the Nation-wide Campaign, and I was always in it after that. +He asked me to serve on the Vestry, and somehow made me feel that +nothing except being really sick was an excuse for not being there. + +Certainly he never exhorted people to be civic patriots or reformers, +and save the city. He just gave you such a human picture of the teeming +life of a great city that it made a tear come to your eye to think of +what the city could be at its best, and it made you love it and the +people in it. Your own actions in civic affairs just naturally followed. + +He wasn't an exhorter of virtue, but he made of clean living and noble +service such a fascinating objective that people went to work on their +own problems with fresh faith. + +The only time I recall he was really annoyed with me was when I had an +emergency operation for appendicitis in the middle of the night, and +didn't let him know until the next day. He was my minister, and that +meant _minister_. After that, when I had a major choice to make, I felt +I was risking his disappointment unless I went down to talk to him about +it. + +He didn't want me to go to a great school as headmaster. "The city is +the place that needs service and talents," said he. To that he had given +his life, in the personal contact with his parish. His life stands as a +symbol of the way a true love of home and community is tied to a love of +all God's children everywhere. + + CHARLES P. TAFT + + + + + _Arise, And Go + Into The City_ + + + "_Arise, And Go Into The City_" + + --_Acts 9:6_ + + + 1 + + +"Tell the rector of Christ Church that if he doesn't call off the +Woman's Club, I'll bring the women of the streets to the polls." And he +added, "He knows I can do it." The boss of old Ward Eight, in which +Christ Episcopal Church in downtown Cincinnati is located, had become +alarmed by a serious threat to his power. Although this incident took +place long before the coming of universal suffrage, Reverend Frank H. +Nelson, the young rector, had discovered that women had a legal right to +vote in public school matters. Following his leadership, the Woman's +Club of Christ Church was actively supporting as a candidate for the +Board of Education John R. Schindel, a fearless young lawyer in the +Ward. This independent action was an open challenge to the dominance of +the boss of Ward Eight, Mike Mullen. Though the courageous lawyer was +defeated, and without the aid of the women of the streets, the affair +was one of many which presaged the uprising that eventually wrenched the +control of Cincinnati from the hands of one of the most notorious +political gangs in American democracy. + +A second "passage of arms" between the rector and Boss Mullen had its +origin in the work of Christ Church among boys, and ultimately involved +the boss of the entire city and his powerful machine. The privilege of +running gambling games throughout Cincinnati had been alloted to one of +the higher-ups in the organization. Within a block of the Parish House +of Christ Church was a flourishing candy store, so-called, but the chief +"confection" was a crap game run for the boys of the neighborhood under +the direction of a member of the City Council, and with the knowledge +and acquiescence of the police department. It was inevitable that some +members of Christ Church Boys' Clubs should lose their earnings, and +whatever of character the church was building up was thus broken down. +To meet this danger, Mr. Nelson organized a good citizenship club among +his parishioners. The members made a survey of the gambling places which +were catering especially to boys, and found nearly one hundred +throughout the city. The publication of their findings was one of many +"shots heard 'round the ward."[2] When in later years Frank Nelson spoke +for the City Charter or Reform Party, he knew from first-hand experience +the moral and spiritual influence of good government in the lives of +boys and young men. Behind the youthful clergyman's deep concern for +decent government was a vital religious faith, without which he was +convinced social service and reform work can never attain the best +results. + +Frank H. Nelson was Rector of Christ Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1900 +to 1939, having been the assistant minister in the year 1899. These +forty years in the one parish constitute a career seldom paralleled for +breadth of vision and devoted service. He became one of the first +citizens of a great city, a crusader for honest municipal government, +and the foremost Protestant clergyman. For the understanding of his +ministry and of his religious convictions, one must know something of +his early life and family, and the preparatory years. + +Frank Howard Nelson was born in Hartford, Connecticut on September 6, +1869. His father, Henry Wells Nelson, the nephew of the Reverend E. M. +P. Wells, a pioneer in early Christian social service in Boston, was the +Rector of the Church of The Good Shepherd in Hartford. Before Frank was +ten years old, his father accepted a call to Trinity Church, Geneva, New +York, and there exercised a distinguished ministry for twenty-five +years. Geneva, an attractive college town situated on lovely Seneca +Lake, was an ideal place in which to bring up a family. There were five +children: Margaret, George, Frank, Mary, and Dorothea. George now lives +in Brookline, Massachusetts, and Mary, who married Edward L. Pierce, +lives in Princeton, New Jersey. After the father's retirement, Margaret +and Dorothea lived with their parents in the family home at North +Marshfield, Massachusetts where they still reside. Frank was not a +strong child, but in the freedom and simplicity of the life which a +small town affords, he gained strength rapidly. A sister relates that +he was unusually venturesome, and sometimes horrified timid ladies in +the parish by walking on stilts on open rafters, and by frequenting the +canal, where once he fell in and was pulled out by a bargee. As all boys +do, he roamed the environs of his home with his chums, occasionally +pilfering fruit and getting into all kinds of mischief; but though other +boys might go unpunished because of doting parents, he was always firmly +chastised for his pranks. + +The influence of both father and mother upon these strong-minded +children was vital and enduring. The father possessed that happy +combination of gaiety and goodness that commends religion. As he was +deeply and naturally spiritual himself, the expression of religion in +his home and parish was unusually beautiful and appealing. The last +twenty-five years of his life were spent in blindness, but his courage +and his deepened understanding of the ways of God because of this +affliction led him to a thankful acceptance of his limitation; and his +continuing interest in people "made the latter years of his ministry," +to quote Bishop Lawrence, "as fruitful as the more active ones." His +devoted wife, who was Hortense Chew Lewis of New London, Connecticut, +guided the children through their formative years with skill and +understanding. She was an intelligent mother, discriminating in taste +and judgment. Because of her abounding love of good literature, the +family passed many delightful evenings in listening to her readings from +Scott, Milton, Shakespeare and many other great writers. Her fine gifts +of interpretation made the masterpieces of English prose and poetry come +alive. In later years, Christ Church people were to love Frank Nelson's +readings at Christmas parties in the parish house and in his own home. +The older he grew the deeper became his appreciation of the character of +his parents. An intimate friend once said to him, "You are a fortunate +and a blessed man to have had such a father and mother." + +The family was privileged in possessing means beyond a minister's +salary, and Frank, at the age of thirteen, was sent to aristocratic St. +Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. The headmaster, Dr. Henry A. +Coit, an austere and exacting teacher of the old New England type, +stimulated the natural student, and under his influence Nelson achieved +a scholastic standing among the first five in his class. He was not +particularly skillful in athletics, and had even then a cough which +persisted throughout his life. The lad was not noticeably popular, and +had more than the average measure of shyness peculiar to adolescence. He +was extremely sensitive, somewhat unhappy, and in many accomplishments +and activities was overshadowed by his older brother who was in the same +school. + +In the fall of 1886, upon graduation from St. Paul's School, Frank +returned to Geneva and entered Hobart College, a small church college of +considerable standing. There he began to find himself, and became one of +the popular men in his class and in the Sigma Phi Fraternity. Although +in college he took more active interest in athletics and participated in +rowing, tennis, and track, he never excelled in sports. At his +graduation in 1890 he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, _Magna +Cum Laude_, being valedictorian and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. +Throughout his life he maintained relationships with his Alma Mater, +coming to know the successive presidents, and in 1907 was instrumental +in securing a large gift for a new gymnasium. Still later he refused the +presidency of the college. In 1906 Hobart bestowed upon him the honorary +degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology. + +In the course of his undergraduate days at Hobart, Frank Nelson had +seriously considered the profession of the ministry, but graduation +found him still undecided. As it turned out, the summer following the +close of his college years was one of critical importance to his entire +life. He accompanied a surveying expedition to the state of Washington. +The party put up for a while in Merrysville, a rough-mannered, +tough-living town of the old West. Into this place there came one day a +circuit rider who fearlessly preached the Gospel in the face of +opposition and outright hostility. This Methodist minister was utterly +sincere, and Nelson saw what could be done by the sheer power of the +spirit against the forces of evil. It surged over him that a man can +hold the mastery over wrong, an inner conviction which at the same time +was set aflame by a Communion Service held for the surveyors in the +out-of-doors. The circumstances and surroundings were strikingly +different from those associated in his mind with such a service. +Possibly for the first time in his life he was intensely conscious of +the presence of God. As in all such experiences the vision illumined and +deepened his thinking and living. It has been said that in all great +Christian leaders and reformers are found two elements: "The imperious +commission from above, and the tumultuous experience within." Both these +elements were present in the experiences of that eventful summer, and +all Frank Nelson's doubts and waverings concerning the ministry were +resolved. He returned East aware of being called to preach the Gospel. +In the light of this happening one is not surprised that later when a +professor dogmatically stated that there could be no true Sacrament +without the Apostolic Succession, Nelson walked out of the classroom +saying to himself, "It is a lie." To those who knew him through his +forty years' ministry in Christ Church, this experience in the far West +sheds light upon his burning sense of mission, for in those hours of +inward tumult he had come close to God in the breaking of bread and in +the society of his fellows, conditions which he preached throughout his +life as being always the essence of fellowship with God. + +On September 18, 1890, he matriculated at the General Theological +Seminary in New York City. The General Seminary is directly under the +government of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, and while +it has always been characterized by a conservative type of +churchmanship, all shades of opinion were and are to be found within its +faculty and student body. At this time the respectability of the +Episcopal Church was considered an asset and not a liability, and the +Seminary community was in the social forefront. When an upstanding man +like Frank Nelson, whose background was well-known and whose +intellectual gifts and social graces were obvious, entered this +environment, it was inevitable that he should immediately take a leading +place in the undergraduate body. His tall, commanding figure naturally +attracted notice, and within a few days he was elected president of his +class. There was magnetism in his personality, and he was soon welcomed +among the socially distinguished in both seminary and city. His +fellow-students at General, when speculating about the future, as +students do, always considered him destined for the highest office of +the church; throughout those now remote years he clearly revealed the +qualities of the born leader. His class was a notable one, and through +the passing years gave a good account of itself, listing four bishops +and ten honorary degrees, Frank Nelson himself receiving the degree of +Doctor of Sacred Theology from the General Seminary in 1934. + +As a student he excelled in Pastoral Theology, Biblical Learning and +Evidences, subjects which in their nature give some indication of his +intensely human interest in all aspects of life. Like many theological +students, he was groping and feeling his way through the multiple +problems that center upon man in the light of God. One of his classmates +says that the curriculum and the methods of instruction in that day bear +poor comparison to modern standards, but Nelson, unlike many students, +was never in a state of open or even tacit rebellion. He did his work +faithfully and well. He was graduated in 1894, but for some reason was +not present at Commencement to receive the degree of Bachelor of Sacred +Theology, which is the mark of scholastic distinction at General. On May +19, 1894, he was made a deacon in his father's church in Geneva, New +York by the Right Reverend Arthur Cleveland Coxe, the Bishop of Western +New York. During his senior year he had assumed work on the staff of St. +George's Church, New York City, and after his ordination was quickly +absorbed into the work of that great parish. Because he did not feel +ready, Frank Nelson, at his own request, was not advanced to the +priesthood until November 14, 1897, when he was so ordered in St. +George's Church by Bishop Henry Codman Potter of the Diocese of New +York. + +Another important element in Mr. Nelson's preparation for his unique +ministry in Cincinnati was this experience on the staff of St. George's +Church from 1894 to 1899 under the prophetic leadership of the Reverend +William S. Rainsford. This notable rector possessed unusual gifts and +exerted an incalculable influence upon the Episcopal Church. He gathered +about him a group of young men the like of whom has never been found +elsewhere. St. George's stands as the pioneer of what was known as the +"institutional church," and in the midst of the teeming activities of +the parish house and a heterogeneous congregation, Dr. Rainsford set +loose his young and enthusiastic assistants. They experienced a training +comparable to the clinical instruction gained by an intern in a modern +hospital. Under his tutelage these men received a course in applied +religion, and their rector set a standard of preaching, parish +administration, and pastoral care that not one of his "boys," as he +called them, failed to practice in an unusual manner. Dr. Rainsford's +impassioned preaching of the essentials of Christianity as opposed to +those aspects which are merely traditional, and his forceful efforts, +radical for those times, to democratize a conventional Episcopal parish +were significant contributions to church life throughout America. + +Although Dr. Rainsford exerted a lasting influence upon all his young +assistants, he set his stamp to a marked degree upon Frank Nelson. For +the first time in his life this young man, the choicest flowering of a +cultured home, lived among the underprivileged, spending his afternoons +climbing interminable tenement stairs, and his evenings in the parish +house. He came to know poverty and squalor and the honest worth of +struggling humanity. If "The Rector," as Dr. Rainsford's "boys" called +him, bade them preach on the street corners, he himself had done the +same. His example and his personal religious faith were those of a +living St. George touched with the heart-stirring Gospel of Love. Under +him young Nelson found the services and work of the church taking on a +meaning that was like a cool, refreshing breeze. Things concerning the +Church, doctrine, and ritual, which had formerly perplexed his youthful +mind, now seemed subordinate. + +Dr. Rainsford evoked a loyalty which held his young men long after they +had "graduated," and when he died in 1933 at the age of eighty-three, +many of his former assistants were in the chancel of old St. George's +for the burial service. One who was present said, "We shall not see a +service like that again, for we shall never see and know another +Rainsford." Eulogies are not customary at funerals in Episcopal +Churches, but on this occasion the tradition was fittingly broken, and +Mr. Nelson delivered a brief address from the pulpit in a breaking +voice, barely audible at times. In this very moving tribute, the speaker +reveals much of himself: + + I am not here to presume to speak of the man we loved in any + formal way; to try to weigh the imponderable, to measure the + immeasurable--but only to say a word out of our hearts of + thanksgiving to God that the rector was our rector in the days + that are passed, was The Rector always and will be always, for + those who knew him, who loved him, to whom he gave that + tremendous love of his. + + A book was written by a friend of his some years ago, and the + dedication of that book was this: "To William Stephen Rainsford, + who has seen the Christ and has shown Him to men." + + I know of no more perfect description of the rector than that. + For twenty years and more of his rectorship in this great parish + he showed Christ to men; showed Him in the incomparable words + that he poured forth Sunday after Sunday and year after year from + this pulpit--in his great concern for the men and women and + little children; for the strong and for the weak; for the wise + and the foolish; for the saints and the sinners; for those who + labor and were hungry and perplexed, and were strained by the + tasks of life. They came here week by week; they heard from him + the words that refreshed them and sent them back with courage and + with faith in God and in man, to the tasks that were breaking + them, to the problems that were perplexing them. + + I suppose that to every one of us who knew him in his great days + here and have known him in the years since, the one supreme thing + that poured out of his life was his love of God. Not the love of + God that theologians speak of, that men reason about, but that + pure love that a man gives to his friend, to his loved + ones--personal, intense, vital, real. + + We came here church people, professing the Christian faith, + thinking we believed in God and in His son, Jesus Christ, and as + we sat under the rector here Sunday after Sunday, we came to know + that our profession was a form of sound words, that in him was + the form of unsound words, but that he poured forth _reality_ for + the thing that we _professed_ to believe in, and he helped us to + see the real work of God, the real passionate love of God for + men--not for the chosen few, but the weak, the broken, the + struggling--those in sorrow and the hungry--the love of God that + drove him to lay down his life as few men had laid down their + lives before. He gave of himself without stint, rejoicing in the + chance to serve his God and his fellowmen with his whole heart + and soul, with such passionate devotion that at last broke + through his own conventional beliefs and tore them to shreds, and + made him the voice of the living God, to us in St. George's, to + New York and to America. + + In the great days of his preaching, he took us who were his + clergy--young, inexperienced and conceited--and made us over. He + took us, to whom religion was a profession, and made of it a + passion. He was ever patient with us, giving us his best; day + after day walking with us around Stuyvesant Square in the + morning, sometimes for hours, and then pouring out to us as we + walked the best religious thought of his time, his judgment on + the questions of the day, his interpretations of religion and the + tremendous work of the church as a gift that God had put into the + souls of men for service to their fellowmen. + + He told us of his thought for men and women, of the problems of + the time, of the problems of the church--not conventional, but + vital, not formal, but distinctly real--and then he would take us + into his study and we would kneel there. And never have I heard a + man pray as the rector prayed--without any of the ecclesiastical + technique and form of prayer, without any formal discussions of + the value of prayer, but pouring out the things that we had been + talking of; as real to God as they were real to us, bringing into + them God; God's companionship, God's sympathy, God's + understanding and patience; God's ruthless will that we should + love our fellowmen and serve our fellowmen--without name, without + a distinction. + + That is the vivid life, a little of it, that we lived with, which + made God real to New York and to us here at St. George's, and to + his clergy. God has taken him home, and we meet here, every one + of us, because the rector--broken though he was in these later + years--because the rector, whose great and lovely smile we had + loved to see, as we had loved just to touch his hand to gain + strength, courage, faith and joy--because we cannot do that any + more. His work is done and God gives him a safe lodging and he + shall rest in peace to the last. Thank God who gave him to us, to + know and to love, that we might be lifted by him to find God and + Jesus through him. + + He wrote a little prayer, and in closing I am going to read it + and ask you to join with me in making it our own. Let us pray: + + Heavenly Father, I am trying to do right and be right and help + others to be right. Give me my daily bread. I am Thy child; Thy + little, weak child. Give me Thy strength; Thy patience; Thy + wisdom; Thy love--that with confidence and with joy I may do the + work Thou hast given me to do in my home and among men. Amen.[3] + +The charter of Frank Nelson's future is set forth in the impression he +made at the General Theological Seminary, and in the zest and +enlargement of vision which characterized his five years under Dr. +Rainsford at St. George's. When the opportunity presented itself to +create in Christ Church, Cincinnati, Ohio a work similar to that of St. +George's, he displayed a characteristically wise judgment in making his +decision. Henceforth he was to live "in the upper story" of that +decision, conceiving of his work as a mission to the city, and pursuing +it with a fidelity and a diligence that ranked him as an unusual servant +of God. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] For these stories I am indebted to the Rev. J. Howard Melish, D.D. +whose forthright denunciations of political corruption in Cincinnati +were further "shots heard 'round" the city. + +[3] _The Churchman_, January 1st, 1934. + + + + + _Reclaiming A Church + To Meet A New Age_ + + + "_By the grace of God, and the loyalty of the + members of Christ Church I was enabled to + carry on the work when Alexis Stein had to + give it up._" + + --_Frank H. Nelson_ + + + 2 + + +The surging currents of city life had left old Christ Church in a back +eddy, and certain leaders including the senior warden advocated selling +the property or turning it over to the Diocese for a mission. The +population, as in many another American city, was shifting from the +downtown district, and many believed that the parish had seen its best +days. In those late nineties, parishioners of wealth and prominence were +moving to the suburbs; the older, conservative members still attended +the morning service, but the young people either attached themselves to +churches nearer their residences or were drifting away from church +affiliations altogether. + +Christ Church was established in 1817 when Cincinnati was a small river +town of nine thousand inhabitants; looking at the present church +building which seats over one thousand people and is flanked by an +enormous and ever busy parish house, one finds it difficult to picture +Bishop Philander Chase meeting in that year with a group of men in the +home of Dr. Daniel Drake to lay the foundations of what was to become +one of the largest parishes in the Middle West. The first services were +held in a cotton factory, and the church slowly developed into a strong +parish, small in numbers but served by several very able rectors, one of +whom later became the Bishop of Virginia. As the first Episcopal Church +to be founded in Cincinnati, it was the parent of a number of other +parishes; but at the close of the nineteenth century it appeared that +the "mother-church" was about finished. Churches of other communions +located in the downtown district were going through the same transition. +The slump in finances by reason of removals created something akin to +panic in the fearful and timid vestrymen, but because of some loyal and +far-sighted women Christ Church was not disbanded. They wanted it to +mean to their children what it meant to them, and they gave assurance of +support in substantial ways. + +These ardent supporters had a definite vision and plan. In 1897 Dr. +William S. Rainsford had come on from New York City and had packed old +Pike's Opera House for a week in Lent, and thrilled his hearers with the +recital of his efforts to anchor St. George's Church in the heart of +that great metropolis, and make it free to serve the community. When +Bishop Vincent of Southern Ohio wrote him about the difficulties of +Christ Church, he replied with this momentous letter: + + I am going to give you the greatest proof I can of my love and + deep interest in Cincinnati. I have a plan for Christ Church. + Here it is. Take two of my men--let them work and live together; + they could take a mighty strong hold, and do a really good work. + I feel sure that in the future many a position of great + difficulty can be much better occupied by two men, pulling + together, than by one alone. There are two magnificent + fellows--dear, dear boys after my own heart--who have been here + with me for years; and I shall be lost without them, if you call + them. Stein (Alexis) is the ablest preacher of his age (28) in + our Church in these United States today. Nelson (Frank) is a + strong, capable man, full of energy and charm and a first-class + organizer. This is a big idea, my friend; but I believe God may + be in it. It is like offering to cut off both my hands for you. + +Thus the Reverend Alexis Stein became Rector of Christ Church in +December, 1898, and within a few weeks of his arrival the people of +Cincinnati awoke to the mighty fact that a prophet was in their midst; +the doors of all churches were flung open to him, and everywhere he +spoke, new interest and hope in the Church were born. Stein has been +called a modern Savonarola, but, unlike the great reformer, he was +burned within by the fire of his own consuming message. "He was a +preacher of most unusual power with a message he burned to give; and a +vision of truth that made him a leader of men. He loved God and showed +Him to men; he loved men and led them to God."[4] Before Stein left New +York, he had asked his friend, Frank Nelson, to join him in the new +venture, but it was not until May 21, 1899 that he was free to come. + + We came out to Cincinnati because Dr. Rainsford sent us; he told + us that we ought to come--not that we wanted to come. Stein and I + both had always lived in the East. It was the America that we + knew, and it seemed a desirable place to live, just as those of + you who have been born here think that Cincinnati is the most + desirable place to live, because it is your home. But he, with a + larger vision of America, and a larger vision of the calling of + God to a man in the ministry, sent us here to do what we + could.[5] + +In February, 1900, the doctor ordered Alexis Stein out West, a victim of +tuberculosis. He lived a short twelve years, but was never well enough +to do more than a little incidental work. This tragedy was a deep, +personal loss to his young associate, for all through their St. George's +days they had been the closest of friends. They complemented one another +and made an ideal team. + +Invariably on Good Friday in the course of his address on the Sixth Word +from The Cross, Frank Nelson spoke of Stein's influence upon him and +upon Christ Church: "The work he began is witnessed to by you who are +here. You wouldn't have been here forty years ago or the likes of you +would not have been here, but he opened the door of life and the spirit +to the people of this city, as to the members of this church. His work +goes on. The thing that God wanted him to do he did, and it was +finished." He expressed himself in more intimate fashion to his friend +Bishop Touret: "The heart of all its worth (Nelson's own forty years' +ministry) has been that I was carrying on for Alexis. I've first been +his assistant in my own mind always, and that has made it possible for +me to dare to undertake it." If Stein's work was finished, and a prophet +needs no great length of time, then it was brought to fruition through +the resolute efforts of this devoted servant who with great humility and +genuine searchings of heart took up the reins so tragically +relinquished. + +Frank H. Nelson was elected Rector of Christ Church on May 5, 1900. In +the light of subsequent events his letter of acceptance is of interest: + + + May 16, 1900 + + Gentlemen: + + In a letter from your Secretary, I have been informed of your + action of last Saturday, in electing me to succeed the Rev. + Alexis Stein, as Rector of Christ Church. That I appreciate very + deeply the honor that you have conferred upon me, I do not need + to say. I have considered the subject very carefully, and painful + to us all though the circumstances are that have led to this, I + feel strangely that it is God's work we have undertaken, and that + He has led us in it all. I therefore accept the call you have + given me, and I believe that working together we can, with God's + help, do a real work for Him in this city. For the success of the + work I regard two things as essential: the first that the Church + shall remain absolutely free, and the second that the lines of + work represented by the Parish House shall be continued. I ask + your cooperation and support in them both. I am writing the Rev. + J. H. Melish to ask him to be my associate. I hope to have him + begin his work with us in June. I feel deeply the burden of + responsibility, and the great opportunity that your call + involves. I can but say that I shall do all in my power to be + faithful to both. + +Frank Nelson distrusted his own ability. Stein's preaching had packed +the church, and the numbers drastically declined when his eloquent voice +was stilled. The Bishop, conscious of the difficult problem confronting +a downtown church, advised Rev. Mr. Melish not to become associated, +saying "Stein could have solved it, but Frank Nelson never will." The +Bishop, however, had not sufficient evidence to gauge the young rector's +talents, nor could he foresee the capacity of the parish to respond to +the man's magnetic appeal. + +There was at this time not only a break in the center of population in +the city, but also a shifting of the center of gravity in religion. +There was dawning a unity of the spirit which led men to break away from +the orthodox emphasis on creeds, and which strove to express itself in +many forms; such as parish houses, Christian associations, reforms, and +educational and missionary movements. Mr. Nelson's mind, being busy with +the stars, was concerned with the moral and spiritual movement which +outlasts the stars. He said, "To some of us it seems that Jesus was not +so much interested in establishing an institution as in revealing a new +quality of life." Likewise, Frank Nelson was not so much interested in +being the rector of a large, prosperous parish as in making the church +an agency for leavening the city's life with the spirit of Jesus Christ. +He caught the imagination of his people when he pointed to the +possibility of a church becoming the community center for multitudes in +the downtown district. In the near neighborhood of Christ Church were +new offices, factories, and boarding houses, and at the distance of one +block began the tenement houses where lived the poor and +underprivileged. He said: + + We owe to them the gift of Christian friendship, of spiritual + influence irrespective of religious affiliations. The church + should provide not only a place to pray, but to play; a place not + only for worship, but for friendship. There are no places for + leisure except the streets, saloons, burlesque houses, + pool-rooms, public dance halls, or other commercial places of + entertainment. The Church is not here for its own sake. It is + here to bear witness, and to spread a spirit. It should be the + center from which radiate the forces of righteousness and the + spirit of brotherhood and every human activity and interest in + the community. Therefore, it must speak not to the individual + only, but to the business, social, and political problems, + dealing with them not from the viewpoint of the economist or + political theorist, but from that of the preacher of + righteousness. If Christ Church can be a force for righteousness + in the city, it matters but little whether it gain in numbers.[6] + +"Distinction," it has been said, "is the emphasis put upon qualities by +circumstances." There were two circumstances which enabled this young +rector to create in Christ Church, Cincinnati a far-famed chapter in the +history of American churches and cities. One was his conception of the +place and function of the modern church in the new age, as just +outlined. It has been the reproach of the Protestant Churches that they +have too largely attracted only the well-to-do and middle classes. Frank +Nelson made Christ Church a place where rich and poor met on equal +footing. Drawn by his personality, both responded to his vision. There +was something about working in his parish that gave people a peculiar +zest and joy in living. There was, for instance, a Jewish lad in the +Sunday School, (Mr. Nelson never liked the term Church School) who after +his marriage came every Christmas to Christ Church with his wife and two +children. He proudly introduced them to Mr. Nelson, saying, "Though I am +a Jew, this is my church!" + +On the other hand, Mr. Nelson's special gifts as a rector were developed +and brought into full flower in Christ Church because of the many +remarkable people who formed the backbone of his parish. In point of +numbers and in ability, they were an unusual group, a group +characterized by breadth of vision, and by a faith sufficient for them +to carry through the bold projects outlined by their leader. Many were +blessed with abundant means, and, above all, were filled with a +consummate loyalty and affection for their church. In this happy +partnership of pastor and parish, each inspired the other to great +accomplishment. The older members who were in the parish at the +beginning of Mr. Nelson's rectorship were vigorous, strong-minded people +accustomed to having their own way. They hewed to the old lines, +suspicious of change. With his deep sense of loyalty, Mr. Nelson felt +bound to maintain the sort of practices and low-church ceremony which +prevailed when he took over, but such was his adroitness, skill and tact +in leading them that he won their complete confidence and trust, and +they gave him an unreserved support as well as a free hand in many +things. This unbounded support of his early work he never forgot; nor +did he let his appreciation diminish with the success of later years. In +the course of the observances that marked his forty years as rector, he +said of them: + + We found here, as the days went on, a group of people that I + think have never been equaled. Not a very large group of people, + but a group of people who gave us freedom--freedom to speak the + thing that was in our minds: to do the things that we believed + the Church ought to do and to stand for in the heart of a great + city. + +A new parish house had been erected as Alexis Stein's rectorship closed, +and Mr. Nelson's organizing abilities made it hum. With the assistance +of the Rev. J. Howard Melish, the most competent of all his clerical +assistants, a Men's Club was organized, and became a mecca for the young +men of the city. For those of small means, it was the only sort of club +available, and was thrown open to every race and creed. In 1901 the +yearly attendance was 7,000, and by 1903 it had grown to 16,973. In line +with the policy of a community center, the Club included members of all +faiths, Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic. The Roman priest was always +notified of Catholics joining the club and informed that no proselyting +was intended, but rather that it was hoped these young men would become +better members of their own church. Athletic grounds were secured +together with a field-house, and Christ Church teams won an enviable +reputation for high standards of sportsmanship. Their spirit may be +judged by the story of a football player who waxed into colorful +profanity in the heat of a game and was bawled out by a Roman Catholic +teammate in terse words: "Don't you know who you represent?" During an +interim when another parish house was being built, Christ Church +basketball teams used the Holy Cross Monastery Hall for an entire year, +with the full approval of the Roman authorities and the gratitude of Mr. +Nelson. At that time, the captain of the Christ Church team, John M. +Cronin, was a prefect of the St. Xavier Sodality and also the secretary +of the Christ Church Men's Club. By 1911 it was necessary to limit the +Club's membership to six hundred, and there was always a long waiting +list. The social atmosphere, the entertainments, the athletic record, +the camp established by the church on the Miami River made this club one +of the most popular in the city. Mr. Nelson and Mr. Melish spent untold +hours in the work and gained an intimate knowledge of the individual +members and their views, particularly on labor questions. The men +expressed themselves freely, and at the close of an evening's discussion +Mr. Nelson would gather up the points of argument into a clear and +effective summary easily understood and remembered. It was in this club +that a small group once earnestly discussed how they might best help a +member when he should be released from a prison term which he was +serving. Nothing gratified the rector more than this sort of human +comradeship because it is the very essence of the Christian fellowship +which he was striving to implant. + +As time went on, an increasing number of girls and young women entering +the business world created a social problem which weighed heavily on the +rector's mind and heart. Knowing the special conditions which these +young women must meet in a large city, he applied grave thought and much +energy to the study of their needs and to the opportunity which Christ +Church had in meeting them. Finding nothing for them socially in the +city except the Y.W.C.A., some distance away, he sent invitations to +department stores for a meeting at the parish house. At this meeting he +proposed to establish a branch of the Girls' Friendly Society which is +found throughout the Episcopal Church and which exists for social and +educational purposes. Mr. Nelson gave himself particularly to this +organization. He gathered a set of workers in the parish, women of +character and cultural background, who became the leaders and friends of +the various groups. He was a frequent visitor at meetings and often +conducted a question box. He encouraged the members to make it one of +their prime objectives to work for the city's interest. The rapid growth +of the Society enabled it to support a bed in the Children's Hospital, +to finance the Vacation House on the Ohio River, and to promote other +civic projects. The Christ Church organization became one of the largest +and most active branches in the national society, and had a succession +of remarkable directors, such as Deaconess Lloyd and Miss Alice Simrall. +Mr. Nelson's faith and incomparable friendship as well as his careful +planning made the Girls' Friendly a strong and useful force in +Cincinnati and an influence in the national body. + +In those days the public schools provided nothing in the way of training +in the practical arts, and a large work along these lines was carried on +among the boys and girls who lived in the districts adjacent to Christ +Church. The Sewing School, for instance, grew in membership in three +years from twenty-four to over two hundred under unfavorable conditions +in the already cramped parish house. When the College Settlement on +Third Street closed, the church took over its kindergarten equipment and +its list of members, and every morning gathered in the children of +pre-school age. + +When some people said it was a mistake to make a parish house a +community center, because in their minds it was being used only for +social purposes, Mr. Nelson's scorn was beautiful to hear. He asserted, +"The Church claims to be the Body of Christ, doesn't it? How did our +Lord regard His body? He used it freely with no thought of preserving +it, even to the final extent of hanging it upon a Cross. This is the +only way, His Way, that the Church will have eternal life." + +Not many years passed before it became apparent that the parish house, +though not an old building, was literally worn out and was entirely +inadequate for such an extensive work. In 1907 Mr. Nelson announced the +gift of a new parish house from Mrs. Thomas J. Emery, a devoted member +of the church. So munificent a gift had rarely been equaled anywhere. +The six-story building, complete in every detail, was not finished until +1909. In it are club rooms, a large auditorium, a gymnasium, locker +rooms, and bowling alleys. At the corner next to the church rises a +beautiful clock tower which before the day of skyscrapers could be seen +from distant parts of the city, and which has been sketched by many +artists. Under the impetus of this gift the parish took on increased +vigor and extended the work into new fields. A Baby Clinic set up by the +Visiting Nurses' Association provided one more opportunity for service; +in 1910 the problem of crowded conditions in the nearby Guilford School +was solved by the use of Christ Church parish house for Kindergarten +and Domestic Science classes. It was a long list of services which gave +Christ Church and Mr. Nelson a far reaching reputation for efficient and +intelligent social service. + + In the Parish House we meet each other, not as having the same + point of view, the same opportunities, but as having a common + humanity infinitely various in thought, in faith, in desire. Each + may learn from each, and grow in breadth and depth, and the + knowledge of God through his brother. It is in recognition of + this that we have a free church and free parish house. No + distinction of wealth may mar the worship in the one; no + distinction of faith may hinder the service in the other.[7] + +The passing years brought fresh opportunities which were seized upon +with tireless energy by this far-seeing rector. In August, 1917 came the +opportunity to establish a Red Cross unit which through day and evening +groups enlisted the woman power of the parish. At the close of the war, +Mr. Nelson envisioned the continuance of this work on a scale far +exceeding the conventional idea of church missionary work. Tactfully +overcoming certain prejudices and narrow points of view, he again +secured the enthusiastic support of the same group of women. This unit +became one of the largest and most diligent organizations in the parish, +continuing the indispensable Red Cross work, and enlisting larger +numbers in the special program of the Woman's Auxiliary as it is +conducted in Episcopal parishes throughout the country. + +In 1913 and again in 1937, floods devastated the Ohio River valley. Mr. +Nelson quickly organized his parish to do its share in caring for the +refugees. Committees fed, clothed, and entertained one hundred and fifty +people on the first occasion, and two hundred on the second. Experienced +dieticians planned and supervised the meals, a trained nurse was kept on +constant duty, and doctors gave medical service and examinations. But +Christ Church did more than provide physical care; it knew the moral +and spiritual needs of the homeless, and each day, through the +cooperation of the government agencies (especially in 1937), city +organizations, and individuals, it provided two hours of entertainment +for them. Every night Mr. Nelson conducted family prayers, and won the +undying gratitude of the refugees by his friendliness and personal +interest in their present comfort and future needs. His reputation +travelled from New England to California, and checks poured in from all +over the country for this work. The atmosphere of helpfulness in Christ +Church was his creation, and many volunteers in this emergency were not +of the parish at all. One mother and daughter engaged in this relief +work found the associations so delightful that the mother remarked to +Howard Bacon, the superintendent of the parish house, "My daughter wants +to join this place; it is the swellest club in the city!" Another +instance revealing the sort of spirit which pervaded the parish house +and filled the people of Christ Church was the serving of dinners to the +American Legion during their convention because colored Legionnaires at +that time were not allowed in Cincinnati hotels. + +The fact that the people in the immediate vicinity were coming to Christ +Church and using its privileges in such great measure, calling upon the +clergy for their services, and joining in the work was immensely +satisfying to Mr. Nelson, for this kind of thing was the fruitage of +many years of earnest labor, and amply justified his conception of the +function of the church and parish house as a community center. The +rector always held that the work of the parish organizations should be a +result of inspiration from worship and sermons, something first-hand and +immediate, so that the impetus of the services would not be lost. In +1912, to mention only one year, there were more than two hundred +volunteer workers. In addition, his people were serving in numerous +organizations throughout the community, such as the Juvenile Protective +Association, the Bureau of Municipal Research, the Hospital Services, +the Consumers' League, the Anti-Tuberculosis Society, the Playgrounds, +Fresh Air Society, and Tenement House Reform. Moreover, there was the +inspiring fact that the parish house had become a civic center, and by +channeling the idealism and energy of a group of young men, of whom +Henry Bentley of City Charter Committee fame was one, the Church created +comradeship and generated faith in Christian principles which led later +to far-reaching usefulness throughout the city. + +No account of Mr. Nelson's work could possibly be complete without +recording the place in it of his chief assistant, Howard N. Bacon, who +has been superintendent of the parish house for thirty-eight years. +Howard Bacon came to Cincinnati at the age of twenty-two with the +purpose of pursuing a business career. Through Dr. McKinnon of Kansas +City, Mr. Nelson learned of Bacon's marked abilities in church and +social service lines. They had dinner together, and Mr. Nelson outlined +the plans for the new parish house. Though a relative had advised Bacon +"to cut-out the soul-saving business," the avenues of service under +Frank Nelson's leadership impelled him to abandon his planned career. No +agreement was made about salary until much later when Mr. Nelson said, +"We cannot give you much. Will you come for a hundred dollars a month +and live in the parish house?" At the annual meeting of the church on +Easter Monday, 1908, the rector made the announcement: "I am very glad +to be able to tell you that Mr. Howard N. Bacon has joined the staff, +giving up a very promising business future to devote his life to work +among boys and young men. He will have charge of the camp, and manage +the parish house as well as working in the Sunday School." It is not the +slightest exaggeration to say that no appointment to the staff of Christ +Church was ever more momentous and fruitful. He served Mr. Nelson +thirty-one years, though many other attractive positions were offered +him. Upon him Mr. Nelson leaned as on no other. Through the years he has +performed the larger part of a clergyman's office, and though not +ordained is often called "Reverend." He took over the multitudinous +details of a highly organized parish as did or could no other assistant +or paid parish worker; consequently, Mr. Nelson was able to devote his +time to many civic enterprises, and to play a vital role in the national +life of the Episcopal Church. To have rendered such a service means +that he is completely self-effacing and richly merited Mr. Nelson's +tribute: "I would not know how to get on without him." + +The phenomenal development of the parish house as a community center +kept pace with the striking growth of the church. During Mr. Nelson's +rectorship the communicant list of the parish expanded from 599 in 1900 +to 2089 in 1939; the number of contributors to the budget from 200 to +1002; the parish and missionary budgets from $15,103.00 in 1900 to +$77,493.00 in 1927, to cite a high year; the Endowment Fund from +$11,770.00 in 1900 to $531,384.00 in 1939. In a way it seemed as if Mr. +Nelson had only to walk down Fourth Street and the money met him! In any +case, in the prosperous years it flowed in steadily from a people given +to generosity. One morning he met a parishioner who had been abroad +during the past year, and the man asked Mr. Nelson to accompany him to +his bank. Taking the rector to his safety deposit box, he handed over a +thousand dollar bond saying, "I haven't done anything for Christ Church +in a long time." One Sunday morning in the course of the notices (with +him, announcements were really an art) Mr. Nelson spoke of his friend, +Dr. Paul Wakefield, who had been left stranded in China during the +Communist uprising of 1927, and from whom he had just received a letter. +The special offering that morning, together with contributions sent in +over the week, amounted to five hundred dollars. + +In the course of the great forty years of Mr. Nelson's ministry, a long +series of extraordinary gifts was made, including the parish house +already mentioned, memorial windows, an altar, an organ, and numberless +others, all indicative of the liberality of the people. These gifts were +grandly climaxed by the erection of a chapel to commemorate the +Centennial of Christ Church. It was designed to express the beauty, +mystery, and nobility of the Christian faith, and to provide for the +many services for which the large church was unsuited. The Chapel was +largely a thank-offering on the part of parishioners and many others who +had found in Christ Church a spiritual home for which they were +profoundly grateful. Another remarkable aspect of this gift was its +conception in the uncertain days of 1917. + +As the years brought the ever-changing conditions of city life, and as +civic institutions, social agencies, and the public schools afforded +gymnasiums, swimming pools, playgrounds, and social centers such as were +scarcely known in the first decades of Mr. Nelson's ministry, he +continued to believe in the religious motive which Christ Church gave to +all these recreational and social activities. To the end of his days he +held that religious faith gives to social work an enthusiasm, a personal +fervor, and a genuineness without which the one thing needful is +lacking. He led his people to see in the drinking fountain outside the +parish house a symbol of the Church's undying service to the world of +men. The fact that passers-by, whether on foot or in pleasure car or +truck, stopped to quaff of its ice-cold water was to him an expression +of man's eternal need for the water of life, a need which, please God, +would always be met by a church whose gospel resides in the nether +springs of God's loving purpose for the children of men. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] Frank H. Nelson. + +[5] Frank H. Nelson, _Centennial Address_, May 17, 1917. + +[6] Frank H. Nelson, _Year Books_, 1902 and 1903. + +[7] Mr. Nelson's report, _Year Book_, 1908. + + + + + _The Shepherd + Among His + Flock_ + + + "_And he shall stand and feed his flock in the + strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the + name of the Lord his God: and they shall + abide ... and this man shall be our peace._" + + --_Micah 5:4_ + + + 3 + + +A Cincinnati taxi-cab driver said to me, "Frank Nelson was sure a real +man. If you had a million dollars, you got a fifteen minute funeral +service; if you had twenty-five cents, you got a fifteen minute service. +He was just as concerned over the family with two rooms as the one with +twenty." This man had lived all his life in the Queen City, and had +driven Mr. Nelson to innumerable services as far back as the days of +horse-cabs, and though he was not aware of the restraint and brevity of +the Prayer Book Service, he unwittingly put his finger on the very pulse +of Mr. Nelson's ministry. + +In all relationships with people, Frank Nelson possessed the true +instinct of the pastor because he was moved by the zest and pity of +human life as well as by an eager willingness to spend himself. He +invariably had the right word for the occasion, and responded with a +finely balanced emotion to each individual situation. His discerning +sense of the human element in life's experiences was matchless. He spoke +humorously when lightness and gaiety were in order, and seriously when +the word of faith was needed. There is much to be learned from his +approach. Called one day to a humble dwelling on Mt. Adams where a +mother was hysterical because her boy had just undergone an emergency +operation, Mr. Nelson tore a button from his coat before entering the +room, and said in an off-hand manner, "Oh! this has just come off! Will +you sew it on?" + +In a surpassingly unselfish fashion he thought of himself as the head of +the Christ Church family, and it mattered not at all to him whether +people who needed him were on the church register or were connected only +through a parish house organization. When told of someone's illness, +though the patient had membership in another church yet belonged to the +Men's Club for instance, he would say, "Oh! I must go to see him." The +agent for an Industrial Insurance Company tells of calling in a home +where the policy was about to lapse. The woman said, "I will see Mr. +Nelson. Will you come back at five o'clock?" When he returned, she had +the money. + +In these tragic years of World War II we have learned that time is of +the essence, and Frank Nelson exemplified this principle in an +extraordinary manner. Through all his years of service he seemed to have +a special sense of timeliness. He acted when one should act but does not +always do so. He was what a minister should be yet is not always. He was +there when needed, not when it suited his convenience. Immediacy again +and again opened an opportunity that otherwise would have been lost and +with it the possibilities for widening his circle of usefulness. An +out-of-town friend telegraphed requesting Mr. Nelson to call on a +certain man in a hospital, a stranger to Mr. Nelson, and he went at +once. On another occasion a new member of the choir who had been in +Cincinnati only a few weeks was suddenly taken ill. The doctors at the +hospital were some time in deciding to operate, and called the girl's +roommate. Although not knowing Mr. Nelson, she phoned him of her +friend's serious condition, and he went immediately to her bedside. +Though the operation was not until midnight, he stayed with her through +the hours of waiting, joked to keep up her courage, and saw her through +the ordeal and was there when she came out of the anesthetic. It turned +out that the young lady was the daughter of a Methodist Bishop, and one +can imagine her parents' gratitude when they learned over the phone that +Mr. Nelson was with her. It was the sort of thing he loved to do, and +people could not say enough of his help during such times of stress. +There was a peculiar radiancy to his ministry which issued from this +alacrity, the special glow that surrounds all lives that are nobly +unselfish. He never spared himself, not even in his later years when +illness had laid its relentless hand upon him who had always been robust +and free of physical infirmities. + +In a parish as diverse as that of Christ Church, there were unnumbered +happenings of a tragic-comic nature, and they all bespoke his special +place in the hearts of his people. Howard Bacon was once closeted in the +parish house office on a certain winter's night with a man who became +definitely and increasingly insane. Greatly alarmed, he succeeded in +locating Mr. Nelson, who arrived in evening clothes; together they got +the man into a car and drove him out to the distant suburb of College +Hill. On the way they were stalled by a flat tire, and Mr. Nelson +insisted on Mr. Bacon's staying in the car while he himself put on the +spare. In the midst of all this, the poor man's mind apparently cleared +briefly for he asked, "Do all great men come way out here to do things +like this?" In another instance a choir soloist developed melancholia +and refused to eat, and Mr. Nelson often fed her because she would eat +for him. Nothing was too trivial to be encompassed by his great heart. +Everyone, and sometimes it appeared as if everything, that was clothed +with any need was his responsibility and called out his limitless +sympathy. A friend jested that even the dog fights required his presence +and the remark seemed to carry a kernel of truth! Once he prayed with a +poor, broken-hearted woman who had lost her dearest possession, a pet +canary bird, and again he sat down and talked as one sportsman to +another with a friend who had lost a polo game. To this clergyman these +were the peculiar privileges of his position, and never duties. Parents, +with a true instinct for loving a man who was really good, wanted him to +baptize their children, for in laying his hand upon the infant he was +also laying his hand upon their hearts, and this act was the genuine +blessing of a father-in-God, the shepherd calling his own by name. + +There came to me the following letter from a parishioner whose first +child lived only a few hours: + + The one thing I wanted to do was to receive the Holy Communion. + My husband called the Parish House and left word. We expected his + assistant or possibly the deaconess, and you can imagine how + honored and comforted we felt when Mr. Nelson came himself. It + was indeed comforting to know that such a busy person could take + time for one of the most humble of his church. We shall never + forget the talk we had with him in the hospital before receiving + the Holy Communion. He asked all about our little boy, and told + us always to speak of him by name and think of him alive with the + Father. Mr. Nelson told us of a baby sister of his who died, and + how he felt about her. He said he always visited that tiny grave + when he went home. He really stands in our hearts. + +The strength of the Lord dwelt in his heart else he never could have +given himself so indefatigably to the demands of a great city parish. +There were no barriers of access to him. Until 1919 he did not have a +private secretary, preferring to answer personally all his mail in long +hand, and the only times he allowed himself to be out of reach of the +telephone were during Holy Week and possibly on Saturdays. Everyone who +came to the office was able to see him without any formality. I remember +showing him an article in a church paper on the misuse of the title +"Reverend," and suggesting that it might be well to print it in the +Sunday leaflet. He was amused and only said, "What does it matter what +we are called as long as they _call_ us." This intense desire to give of +himself lay back of his disappointment when friends and parishioners +failed to communicate with him because they hesitated to trouble so busy +a man. Former Mayor Russell Wilson remarked that "Frank Nelson was the +spiritual advisor to many men whom you would not think of as having +spiritual advisors." The downright sincerity of the man and his +"at-homeness" with human beings of all kinds made it natural for men to +talk with him. + +There was, however, more in his personality than mere sociability and a +genial manner, because an indefinable power or strength went forth from +him. It was in his ministry to the sick that people felt especially a +certain grace in his faith. He carried about with him "the medicine of a +merry heart," and patients wanted to see him. He was a door through +which a person passed to a deeper consciousness of the mystery and +greatness of life and the infinities which brood over it. Therefore, his +ministry to the sick commended itself to an unusual degree. One of the +leading surgeons of Cincinnati, Dr. J. Louis Ransohoff, declared it his +firm conviction that Frank Nelson gave a patient a double chance. Few +ministers are welcomed by the medical profession in as intimate a role +as this pastor took upon himself. Well known in Cincinnati is the story +of his entering a Roman Catholic Hospital to be greeted by the Mother +Superior with a hearty "Good-morning, Father Nelson," and the Jewish +surgeon, "Good-morning, Rabbi Nelson," while the parishioner-patient +said, "Good-morning, Mr. Nelson." His presence calmed panic-stricken +patients, and if he had sought to carry further along this line, there +are those who felt that he could easily have established a clinic or +healing class. Of no end are those who maintained that they could not +have undergone an operation without his standing beside them. Because he +cared he often came out haggard and worn. Such incidents are revealing +examples of the acceptance on the part of a large portion of the entire +city of the ministry of one who was utterly sincere, utterly genuine. +Those who follow the same calling must with pride point to him as +superbly a man of God. + +Frank Nelson was held in the highest respect by the medical profession +because physicians generally felt, in the words of Dr. Ransohoff, that +"his life had a spiritual significance; there was no cant, only +humility." Sometimes he walked to the operating room beside a fearful +patient, and one man later said, "Something came through him to me. The +fear was gone." He often went with parishioners to a doctor's office, +and sent hundreds of others giving them an infinite amount of time and +thought. Because of Frank Nelson the name "Christ Church" was an open +sesame for all the little-known workers and assistants on the staff of +the church. For these countless favors he frequently expressed publicly +his gratitude saying, "We very often have need of the help of lawyers, +doctors and nurses. And we never appeal in vain. Without thought of any +return the doctors and lawyers of the city, the hospitals, and the +Visiting Nurses' Association give us quick response of their very best." + +Those who worked with him have unforgettable memories of the way in +which he visited the poorest tenements, always with the same courtesy +and unconsciousness of environment that he showed to wealthy +parishioners. Whether East Hill or Mt. Adams they were his people, and +each received the kind of attention, the friendship, the grave dignity +and consideration that each most wanted. When it was a Communion +Service for the sick in a poor section of the city, he had a deeply +sympathetic approach. Usually he himself would clear a little table in +the dingy room, and when he had placed the fair linen and the silver +vessels where the sick person could watch him and had donned his +vestments, the place was transformed. As he commenced the beautiful +liturgy, read only as the Rector could read it, there was in the humble +room a Presence for which he was the channel. + +In his reading of the Burial Office, there was a play of light and shade +upon this man of God who, like Moses, "wist not that his face shone." +The majestic notes of faith and assurance which reverberate in the words +of this service were, on his lips and in his sympathetic and superb +reading, like the overtones and rich harmonies of an organ. There was no +formalism nor coldness, no hesitancy to plumb the stark reality of the +occasion, but only the vibrant convictions of his own great faith in the +goodness of God. Few can fail to recall the clarity and feeling with +which he read St. Paul's immortal passage in 1st Corinthians, nor ever +forget the prayer he invariably used in this service, "We seem to give +him back to Thee, dear God." + +Frank Nelson made Christ Church known throughout the city, and on +occasions of trouble and stress, as just mentioned, people other than +those in his flock turned to him naturally and wistfully. Their desires +were not always consistent with the customs of the Episcopal Church. In +one such instance a widow requested a eulogy, but Mr. Nelson told her +that it was not the procedure of his church and, furthermore, he would +not know what to say. Not abashed in the slightest, she replied, "Oh, +that doesn't matter. Just give the address you made at the Mabley-Carew +Department Store dinner!" However, he did read a poem, and in trying to +express her sincere appreciation the widow somewhat astounded him by +saying, "Why, that was enough to make Bob stand up in his coffin." + +He knew what was in the human heart, and realized the craving for +understanding in times of despair and sorrow. Somehow he managed to do +and say the right thing. At one time the mother of a parishioner had +died in a distant state, and when the family arrived in Cincinnati, he +was at the railroad station at seven o'clock in the morning to meet them +and accompanied the coffin from the baggage car to the hearse. So simple +an act bespeaks the innate dignity and simplicity of the man. It was his +custom at the cemetery to walk with the chief mourner, and by such +little kindnesses and numberless other courtesies he endeared himself to +each generation in his long ministry. A parishioner whose mother died +late one Good Friday evening remembers that despite the heavy tax of the +day Mr. Nelson came to her house shortly before ten o'clock, and, though +no lights were on, rang the bell, calling, "I want to talk with you." By +his coming, a sleepless night was shorn of its dread and vastness, and +confidence and serenity took their place. At another time when a family +received the fearful word from Washington that a son had been killed in +the Argonne, Mr. Nelson though confined to his bed with illness went at +once to call in the home. On the day of the funeral, before going to the +church, he read the identical service in that suburban home for the +invalid mother. As many people in Boston have said that until Phillips +Brooks came to them in their sorrow they never knew what Isaiah meant in +his words, "And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime +from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from rain," +so Christ Church people found in Frank Nelson a stronghold in time of +trouble. + +There are many incidents that illustrate the ideals of this incomparable +pastor. For instance, the Council of Churches had two social workers in +the Juvenile Court, one of whom was a parishioner, young and beautiful. +Mr. Nelson did not really want her to do such work, but her parents +thought her trained and equipped for it. In his solicitude he went to +the Executive Secretary and asked, "Do you have staff meetings? I want +you to have her there in your office. Give her the knowledge that she is +dealing with the abnormal, and that not all life is perversion." The +welfare of each individual in his church was his personal concern. + +He exercised this same solicitude for us young clergymen, some fourteen +in number, who were his assistants and to whom he gave a tutelage and +friendship that continued long after our apprenticeship was ended. He +was an exacting teacher and beyond us, but like all others who labored +in his parish, we felt a special joy and pride in working under him. It +was a tremendous strain to keep up with him, and his own daily stint of +work often put us to shame; in the fullness of his powers he made as +many as thirty calls a week. One was never through, one could never do +enough, and when tempted to let down, there was felt, even when not +heard, that imperious voice, "Go on! Don't be easy on yourself." His own +shepherding exemplified his belief that in the ministry honor for one's +self is nothing, humanity everything. No task, even scrubbing floors, +was too menial or too hard to be beneath the position of him who is +God's servant. When the problems and the pressure of work in such a +large institution weighed upon us, and their full scope inevitably was +revealed at staff meetings, it was then as we were on our knees that his +informal, absolutely real prayers lifted and strengthened us. Yes, on +some rare occasions in his tower study we were on the Mount and gained +fleeting glimpses of the City of God. + +It was difficult at times for those of lesser faith not to be appalled +by the awful waste and stupidity of human life such as any great city +unbares. But the Rector used the many instances to illustrate the +requirements of wide sympathy, and to teach us to reverence the +qualities of personality even when we could not fathom the reasons for +apparent foolishness. He would say things like this: "Never forget that +the development of our free will is what God wants. Love may make +mistakes, but they are not failures. There are times when one's own life +is of very little importance compared with the need for sacrifice." The +assistants, the deaconesses, and parish visitors had, in addition to a +training in modern social methods, the supreme advantage of religious +direction. His guidance issued from his own example and experience. + +Deaconess Margaret Lloyd writes: + + It seemed in those early years as though all our parish poor + lived on the top floors of tenements, and I often thought that + climbing the famous penitents' stairway in Rome would have been + an easy climb compared with the ascent of Mt. Adams! It was + climbed almost daily by some member of the staff, and very + frequently by the Rector. It was not only the climb, but the + drab, dreary houses of the period. For those were the days of + heavy, soft coal smoke, of a yellow, unpurified water supply, and + a lack of adequate housing or health laws. The consequences were + that a large parish like ours always had typhoid or T. B. folk + needing material help as well as sympathy and compassion. The + annals of such a parish always contain numberless "human interest + stories." There was a very large family which never was able to + provide shoes or to have quite enough clothing for six children. + We suspected that, despite all efforts, sufficient food was + lacking, and especially at those times when the head of the + family was on one of his happy-go-lucky sprees. Everyone on the + staff felt a sense of relief when this bibulous father died for + there was enough insurance money not only to bury him, but to + leave funds to tide the family over the next few months, and + until the mother and her two eldest children had found jobs. + Imagine our feelings when, in less than two weeks after the + funeral, the widow appeared at the parish house! She had come to + ask Christ Church for a little help until she had work. "But what + has become of your insurance money, surely you have not used it + all up so soon?" "Oh! yes we have, deaconess! You see we always + craved gold band rings for the children, and I always doted on + having a pink enamel bed." It was really true! The bed that they + had longed for stood in their shabby front room, pink enamel, + gold curlicue trimmings and all! Its enormous expanse was covered + with tawdry silk pillows and silk spread, and it stood out, the + one glorious object in the whole tenement. Also the children with + the utmost pride showed their gold band rings which according to + the custom of those days each wore on the "wedding finger"; even + the five year old displayed his golden trophy. Mr. Nelson did his + best to modify the protests of his outraged staff. Finally we did + see at least something of his point of view, that to the family + these symbols of respectability meant what a Persian rug would + have meant in a more sophisticated family. For these friends of + ours had "arrived," socially speaking, via the pink enamel bed, + and their admiring neighbors could never again refer to them as + "poor white trash." It takes a long, long time to change ideas, + but the Rector's respect for human personality (foolishness and + stupidity notwithstanding) and his method of patience, tact, and + a sense of humor did change many of us. And a controlled sense of + humor has a marvelous effect at times. There was the instance + when the Rector went to conduct a funeral service on Mt. Adams. + It was a very hot day, the little rooms were crowded, and family + and neighbors were close to the coffin. Mr. Nelson put on his + vestments in the stuffy kitchen. He had begun the majestic words + of the service when there strolled into the room the small boy of + the family nonchalantly carrying a very large slice of + watermelon! He found a spot on the floor at the foot of the + coffin, and proceeded to eat the juicy treat. The Rector + continued with the service, and the mourners gave him absorbed + attention until the last prayer. No incongruity could possibly + change the beauty and dignity of that service as conducted by our + Rector. + +Frank Nelson was shepherd to all. To be sure, there were complaints that +he did not call in every home, and to some who did not have the +opportunity to experience at first-hand his sympathy and concern, he +seemed aloof. But when a need arose he met it; and as years were added +to years he won the confidence of all types of people. To the rich he +said, "Your money is the smallest gift you can offer. Yes, Christ Church +needs money, but it needs you yourself far more." He said to the poor, +"You are splendid in the way you are helping us. The parish could not +get along without such workers as you. Keep it up!" In the warm climate +of his enthusiasm and appreciation, young and old, rich and poor +discovered within themselves an undreamed-of capacity to respond to his +faith and to his demands for service. In turn he was generous in +gratitude. At the time of his twenty-fifth anniversary he wrote the +following acknowledgment to a parishioner who had written to him of all +that Christ Church and his ministry meant: + + Thank you indeed, and thank you still more for these seventeen + years of most extraordinary service, and personal loyalty and + friendship. I can never tell you how much I have appreciated + them, and do appreciate them. I know I have made life harder for + you--both in the work I have put on you--and by the way I have + often left you to carry the burden unaided. But I know too that + the Spirit has carried you on and filled you with new visions and + powers of life. And that makes all the rest worth while. I am so + glad that you are coming up to us at Cranberry. I know you will + love its loveliness, and in its quiet and the sweep of sea and + sky, you will find refreshment and renewed strength. And then we + can talk not of plans and work, but what lies beneath them, faith + and God and the abundant life. + +As his forty years' ministry came to a close, there was throughout the +entire city a growing crescendo of acclaim, which found fervent +expression in words like these: "He was our best friend for years." +Deeper than the affection which drew forth such recognition was his +profound faith in the Father-God of all mankind. It was Frank Nelson's +limitless trust in his Heavenly Father that gave him his strength and +influence. Many an evening on his way home he went into his church or +chapel to pray, and lay before God the problems and griefs of his people +which he carried in his great heart. + + "Therefore to thee it was given + Many to save with thyself; + And, at the end of the day, + O faithful shepherd! to come, + Bringing thy sheep in thy hand."[8] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] _Rugby Chapel_ by Matthew Arnold. Macmillan Co. Used by permission. + + + + + _The Spokesman + of the City's + Conscience_ + + + "_He so stirred the very soul of our responsibility + for social living that we felt he had + come to break the old city's sleep of habit or + despair._" + + --_Miss Edith Campbell_ + + + 4 + + +Frank Nelson loved the city, and was moved by its swift, tumultuous +life; hence, he was able to stir it. No mere reformer or "up-lifter" who +sees only ugliness and sordidness can effect very far-reaching changes, +and retain his faith. Mr. Nelson succeeded in both. He came to +Cincinnati under the high compulsion of a mission, and relinquished his +work on the same high plane of faith and vision. To have retained such +conviction over a period of forty years in the sort of work which was +his testifies to a quality of realism that is at once impressive and +authoritative. He knew the vice and corruption that lurked the streets, +and yet he reiterated to the end that "there is a glory in the city seen +in the faces of men and women, boys and girls, which is the immortal +soul growing clean, and entering into paradise." Something of that glory +he created. Christ Church is located in Ward Six, formerly Ward Eight, +and there also Mr. Nelson had his residence at 311 Pike Street. One of +the boys who grew up in the district and is now a successful business +man declares that this ward would be entirely different today if it had +not been for Frank Nelson and the work carried on in Christ Church. But +this clergyman's work and influence spread far outside his parish and +beyond his ward. + +By many Catholics, Jews, and Protestants Frank Nelson was acknowledged +as "the flaming sword of the Charter Movement"; the man who so +interpreted the Community Chest that "he made it a platform upon which +every man could stand"; and in the minds of some of them he so +o'er-leaped sectarian differences that they considered him their +minister. His was a position as unique as it was remarkable considering +the fact that he held no title or high-ranking office such as Bishop. +This minister quickened the conscience of Cincinnati, and brought into +full bloom vague, half-formed ideals. Many looked upon him as the +spokesman of the city's conscience. + +Mr. Nelson did not grow up in an age of radical and revolutionary +economic and social programs. He was not a student of such +philosophies, yet he had in his heart that particular treasure, namely +an affection for people, for the fortunate and no less for the poor and +the dispossessed. Without this love for the common man, these +philosophies are never translated into the natural order of things nor +ever become more than intellectual pronouncements. He was neither a +mystic nor a reformer, but a citizen who was deeply cognizant of +religious faith as laying upon him and upon everyone a compulsive +service. This mighty conviction he expressed in varying ways as we shall +see, but never in more arresting words than in a sermon which he +preached on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Presbyterian Church of +The Covenant from the text, "Ye shall not see my face except your +brother be with you." Though delivered in 1916, this sermon was recalled +twenty-three years later on the occasion of Mr. Nelson's retirement as a +consummate expression of his faith and convictions, namely that we are +not isolated individuals each to be saved by means of self-centered +piety, but only through practicing religion in fellowship with one +another. + +A study of his annual reports indicates that from his St. George's days +he was dominated by the vision of the Church as having a mission to the +city. As early as 1903 he outlined the conditions that confront +Christian people, and the relation of the Church to them: + + The city of today is the point of concentration of the forces + that are making the character, and determining the standards of + our time. So complex is our modern civilization that it is not + possible to separate the individual in our estimation of his + standards and character from the conditions by which he is + surrounded, and in which he lives. For they vitally influence his + point of view, his ideals, his efforts to attain them. A boy who + grows up in an atmosphere of openly accepted corruption will + inevitably lack sensitiveness of moral perception. Our young men + and women, our boys and girls are subjected to a moral pressure + that is extremely difficult to resist. What is the duty of the + Church? The moral welfare of these young people is its intimate + concern. It may, and it must, bring to bear a counter pressure of + high individual moral standards and ideals. It may, and it must, + hold up before them faith in purity and honesty, and persuade + them to receive it. But that is not enough. It must utter its + word of protest against the rule of the Boss, not because it + wishes to enter the arena of politics, not because it differs + from him on political questions, not even because he is the + denial of democracy, but because he maintains his power of + corrupting manhood and womanhood by protecting and fostering vice + in order that they may be his allies. It must utter its protest + against the dictum, "Whatever pays is right," not because it + wishes to dictate business methods, or to set itself up as an + authority on economics, but because it finds this corruption in + business demoralizing to standards and character. It must utter + its protest against overcrowded and unsanitary tenement houses, + not because it considers its function to be the censorship of + buildings, but because such conditions breed immorality among the + boys and girls. The individual message alone is made ineffective + by the constant pressure of these conditions. To make that + message effective, the conditions must be changed. And it is + peculiarly the work of a church, situated as is Christ Church, to + say and do what it can to make them intolerable to the conscience + of a Christian city. I have said all this because I want you to + see clearly the place in the pulpit and church of such preaching + and work as we have tried to give and do. We must go forward with + increasing energy and purpose, and that whether the results seem + great or small. We may, and must, at least sow the seed in the + faith that God will inevitably bring it to the harvest. + +Again and again he thundered, "The conditions must be made intolerable +to the conscience of a Christian city," and the spirit of the times +rolled back the sterile answer, "It can't be done in Cincinnati." But he +shook himself like a lion and took up the battle. + +The fight for honest municipal government in Cincinnati was a mighty one +and the story of it is fairly well known, but a few pertinent facts are +essential as a background to Mr. Nelson's part in it. For more than +thirty years George B. Cox controlled the city by all the devices known +to the wily, astute politician. Few presumed to run for any office on +the Republican ticket without his approval. Unburdened by shame, he +declared, "I am the Boss of Cincinnati ... I've got the best system of +government in this country. If I didn't think my system was the best, I +would consider that I was a failure in life." He openly derided +reformers. Lincoln Steffens had surveyed and written up the city as he +had many others and declared it under the dominance of "the most vicious +political gang in any city." Few inroads were made on Cox's preserves +until after his death in 1916. At the close of World War I, the city +began to reap the bitterest and most evil results of its contentment +with benevolent despotism, and in 1922 found itself verging on +bankruptcy. Aroused citizens were determined not only that Cincinnati +should have an efficient, economical government but also that its +reputation as a sink of iniquity should be erased. + +When the Republican organization perceived that an investigation was +inescapable, it determined to name the investigators! The Republican +Executive and Advisory Committee appointed a survey committee to devise +a plan to solve the city's and county's most pressing administrative and +financial problems. A distinguished group was selected; among the +members were Frank H. Nelson, George H. Warrington, Charles P. Taft, and +other eminent citizens some twenty-one in number. This committee engaged +Dr. Lent D. Upson of the Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research, who +with a large staff of specialists proceeded to turn the city and county +governments inside out. The Upson Report furnished the ammunition for +what turned out to be nothing short of a revolution. + +A City Charter Committee had been organized which, after the Upson +Committee reported, proposed an amendment to the city's home rule +charter embodying the city manager plan of municipal government and a +small council of nine elected at large by proportional representation. +In the fall of 1924 the critical issue was submitted to the electorate, +and a significant victory won. "This new movement, its representatives +youthful, clear-eyed, energetic and determined, took its place in the +books of our history as the first reform enterprise of any permanence +in a great city of the United States."[9] In this crusade of civic +warriors Frank Nelson ranked as "a flaming sword," to use the colorful +phrase of his friend Mr. Ralph Holterhoff. He was a constant worker in +planting the first seeds of the moral rightness of the cause, the +crusader whose faith clarified the fundamental religious background +inherent in good government. During the initial campaign of 1924, Mr. +Nelson, preaching this gospel from his pulpit, carried his parish with +him into the righteous cause, and he literally toured the city wards as +well. When the City Charter Committee was given permanent form, +following the sweeping victory of November 1924, it is significant that +the organization meeting was held in the Parish House of Christ Church. +Among the speakers were Mr. Nelson, Charles P. Taft, John R. Schindel, +and Henry Bentley, who was known as "the Commander of the legions that +gave a city a new body and a new soul," all of them leaders in the +campaign, and members and vestrymen of Christ Church. Another +parishioner, Ralph Holterhoff, was, almost single-handed, responsible +for financing the Committee's work for its next fifteen years. + +Repeatedly throughout successive years Mr. Nelson spoke at Charter +rallies, giving a series of remarkably effective addresses which +assisted immeasurably in sustaining the zest and interest of citizens in +the reform ideal. As Mr. Murray Seasongood has said, "The technique of +good local government has been developed by study, but the will to bring +about good local government has not been infused into the residents of +our cities." Toward that will and fusion in the city of Cincinnati, men +are agreed that Frank Nelson's moral and spiritual contribution was +enormous. Leaders declare that in routing the forces of corrupt +government from their strongholds, his was the most powerful voice +raised in the city. His trenchant words, his statesmanlike ability +spurred the lagging energies and fired men's spirits to greater effort; +he gave the necessary courage and drive and inspiration to carry through +and maintain the reform movement. "It is the man of ideals and faith," +Frank Nelson reiterated, "who has more courage than any politician. We +shall set our faces steadfastly to the victory not only for good +government and efficiency, but for the morality and the righteousness +and the power of faith in this community." In the opinion of Mr. Ralph +Holterhoff, the treasurer of the City Charter organization, Mr. Nelson, +by his extensive contacts with all classes of citizens, radiating not +only through his parish but throughout the entire fabric of Cincinnati's +economic and social life, aroused the people with more success than any +other individual. He literally mustered thousands of recruits who became +zealous apostles and voters for the cause, although many had not voted +for years because they felt nothing could be done about the existing +evils. During the recurring campaigns for councilmen, Mr. Nelson was at +the beck and call of the organization, giving extravagantly of his time +and vitality at many rallies, particularly at the opening meeting of +campaigns, where he either was the keynote speaker or took such part as +expressed the religious convictions that lay behind the movement. +"Hearing him," wrote Alfred Segal, a newspaper columnist, "people felt +that good government was more than a matter of efficiency and economy. +It had to do with civic self-respect and social morale and bright +ideals." + +Because the issue was clearly moral, this minister did not hesitate to +use his pulpit and his parish organization to further the cause. It is a +tribute to his church that he met with only minor criticism. He carried +his people with him because he enabled them to perceive the relationship +between religion and politics. Of course he met with criticism from +those who felt that a clergyman should remain aloof from politics, yet +at the same time he was genuinely admired and respected by those who did +not agree with him. Several of his bitterest political critics, such as, +for example, James Garfield Stewart, and Doc Hagen, a ward politician, +were not lacking in keen appreciation of his position. And on other +civic issues where he made no concealment of his opinions he was, +according to Herbert Bigelow, the minister of The People's Church and a +former city councilman, "never a trimmer, and those who have seen him in +tight places never saw him crawl." + +Though the Cincinnati Community Chest is not in politics, it has +definitely influenced the course of good government because of the +character of the people who carry on the work of the numerous social +agencies which it comprises. In 1913, these agencies were organized into +a Council, and Frank Nelson's vision, enthusiasm and tireless efforts +were determining factors in welding together the diverse religious and +racial groups engaged in social service throughout the city. Through +this Council, multiple activities were coordinated, and Jewish, +Catholic, and Protestant welfare agencies were kindled with new spirit +and power which resulted in greater efficiency and an increased +opportunity for reaching larger numbers of people. As a consequence, the +majority of the social welfare enterprises were able to make a united +financial appeal, and since 1919 have continued together without a break +in the ranks. Charles P. Taft says of the Cincinnati Community Chest: + + The executive direction and social vision of C. M. Bookman, and + the spiritual leadership of Reverend Frank H. Nelson have given + to the campaign and year-round organizations of volunteers a most + distinctive quality. It is not that we raise each year an amount + greater per capita than most other cities, although we do that; + but it seems to one attending our gatherings that all the men and + women of good will in our community have come together and that + their spirits are welded together in a great cause, the education + of the whole city to the highest standards of health, character, + and welfare.[10] + +The welding together was again the work of many civic-minded men and +women, and Frank Nelson was the fire which fused the different parts +into a unity. "He made the Community Chest a platform upon which every +man could stand," says C. M. Bookman, the Executive Secretary. His work +in the formative years of the Council, particularly in the raising of +funds for the first three years, was of untold value. As the Council +achieved coherence and a consciousness of its identity, he went on to +the larger work of conveying to the city the idea that in this cause the +people of Cincinnati could be supremely united, above politics, and +beyond racial and religious prejudices. It was his ability to interpret +the spiritual basis of this work that made it a common platform. As a +result, contributors felt their gifts to have a downright significance. +"It is," he said, "God's way of making cities good in spite of +themselves." + +Frank Nelson believed so thoroughly in the work of the social agencies +that the financial drives became a crusade, an adventure in human +relationships. He took off his coat, so to speak, and plunged into the +drives as one of the solicitors. The calls assigned him were the general +run as well as the difficult cases. He canvassed people of modest means +whom he didn't know as well as the large donors. As the calling was done +by two men soliciting together, he often found himself teamed with a man +whose occupation contrasted sharply with his own, once being paired with +a distiller! In the personal interviews his was not the milk and honey +approach, and he often became quite indignant if some did not give +according to their means. On one occasion he called with Mr. William J. +Shroder on a man who headed a large corporation but who refused to give +commensurately, using as an excuse the fact that the directors were +away. Mr. Nelson's feelings blazed forth and he blurted out, "You run +this corporation, and you can do as you please," and with that he strode +out of the room leaving his calmer friend to secure a gift of $500.00. +Sham irritated him beyond measure. Again, at headquarters one day +Maurice Pollak was holding forth in vivid language on the subject of +people who refused to contribute, and he did not notice Mr. Nelson +coming in behind him. When he suddenly stopped in some embarrassment, +Mr. Nelson exclaimed, "Go ahead, Maurice, you are saying just what I +feel but can't express so well." As he was a man of intense fervor, it +is probable that he was better at interpreting the inner significance of +the cause than in soliciting contributions. In 1922 he was elected the +General Chairman of the drive, and from 1916 to 1939 was a director of +the Chest. + +As the years went by, Mr. Nelson became something of an "institution" in +Cincinnati, and his popularity made him "fashionable" to the +superficial-minded. Yet there was something decidedly spontaneous in the +acclaim with which he was once greeted by over one thousand canvassers +at a campaign dinner in the suburban city of Norwood. To a man the great +audience rose when he stood to speak, and applauded with genuine emotion +this Christian minister who represented Cincinnati as they wanted it to +be. Always sensitive to the reactions of a throng, he poured forth such +utterance as made them see the Community Chest as a great moral force, +not as just a financial campaign. Their consciences were quickened by +his graphic portrayal of their desires for righteousness and decency and +fair opportunity. + +He was always one of the speakers held in reserve for the crucial last +days of the campaigns, and at the large daily luncheons held in the +Hotel Gibson for the canvassers he was at his best. The following +sentences from a newspaper report of one such address are typical: + + You know what this Community Chest has done for this great city, + how it has been, as the old seer said long ago, the river of + life, flowing through the streets of the city, keeping it clean, + refreshing it, strengthening it, heartening it, so that the tree + of life, bearing all manner of fruits, through all the year, + could grow upon its brink and spread forth its branches to + shelter and give new vigor and hope to the inhabitants of the + city. That river of life which we call social service is more + vital, more important and more needed for the steady maintenance + of the morale, well-being, and good life of the whole community + than the Ohio River is, believe me. + +By the power of simple, forceful speech, strengthened by his great love +for people and his belief in them, he enabled Cincinnati to see beyond +the horizon, to dream dreams; and by his uncommon labor some of these +dreams became actualities. He looked at the city's welfare from the +religious viewpoint, and in so doing commended religion to the +religiously indifferent. He saw the practical value of spiritual things +and the spiritual value of practical things. When, for example, he +addressed the National Conference for Social Workers at Denver in 1925 +and propounded the theme of Immortality, the audience was at first +aghast, and then enthralled. He maintained that they had nothing to work +for unless it was for eternity; that their business was concerned with +souls, and that the souls of the feeble-minded were as much heirs of +immortality as those of others more fortunate, and that no man has the +right to condemn or stand in judgment. It was a bold speech to such an +audience, and held their rapt attention; it was perhaps the more +stimulating because it had been preceded by the scholarly and very +formal address of the president of the conference. It was this occasion +that produced a choice story which Mr. Nelson loved to tell on himself. +At the close of the long evening two men were overheard commenting on +the speeches. One of them remarked, "The first man was over my head, and +the second just plumb crazy." + +He not only made the Community Chest common ground for all, but he also +enabled the churches to see it as their work, calling the social service +organizations "sub-committees of the Church, doing for the churches the +work that the churches want done and would have to do themselves if it +were not for the Chest." + +Frank Nelson's influence on the civic and political life of Cincinnati +cannot be measured, but its power was evident and was revealed time and +again through the contacts he had with civic leaders. A Roman Catholic +priest said that many politicians went secretly to Mr. Nelson before +expressing themselves on certain civic matters or endorsing certain +projects. If some considered him officious, they could not have known +his humility, much less his consuming passion for human beings. When he +addressed public gatherings, one could gauge his power by watching the +audience; as the sincerity of the man made his words convincing, even +cynical faces "broke up," and the light shed by his stirring eloquence +often brought tears. + +Among the many tributes paid at the time of Mr. Nelson's death, was one +given by the Reverend Jesse Halsey, the beloved former minister of the +Seventh Presbyterian Church, who culled the phrase "An Unmitered +Bishop," a title which is signally descriptive of the man by reason of +the many civic causes to which he was spiritual advisor, and thus a +father-in-God to diverse groups scattered over the seven hills and in +the "bottoms." He actively furthered many humanitarian causes: the +Juvenile Protective Association, the Anti-Tuberculosis League, the +Branch Hospital, the Community Chest, the Council of Social Agencies, +the Helen S. Trounstine Foundation, the Hospital Social Service, St. +Michael's Convalescent Home, and many others. Now that he is gone, the +long list of social enterprises ceases to be a mere string of activities +and becomes a roll of drums.[11] His whole life seems to exemplify the +words of the philosopher Bacon: "The nobler a soul is, the more objects +of compassion it hath." His spirit breathed out upon men, and in his +lifetime the city felt its beauty and greatness, drawing from his +constancy the courage to endure. He protested impatiently against the +nonsense often bandied about concerning the alleged immorality of city +folk compared with country folk, and cited confuting evidence out of his +pastoral experience to prove his conviction saying, "Heroes of these +days are the poor people who live in our big cities." + +One of the heroines of Cincinnati, though not one of the poor, was Helen +S. Trounstine, a remarkable young woman of Jewish faith, who was +responsible for making Mr. Nelson the first president of the Juvenile +Protective Association. She was a pioneer in social service work, but +her career was tragically cut short when she died at the early age of +twenty-six. At her memorial service held in Christ Church Parish House +January 21, 1917, Mr. Nelson made the principal address and some of his +words indirectly reveal much of himself: + + I remember the organization of the Juvenile Protective + Association; I first met her then. I had never known her before + and I said to myself: "Here is another person with an enthusiasm + come to complicate my life." I tried to get out of it, but + because I wanted to help little children (I built this parish + house for the young people, making my people support it for their + sake), and she knew it, with infinite patience and constant humor + and courtesy she kept forcing me, until gradually she landed me + in the Presidency of the Juvenile Protective Association, utterly + ignorant of what I was to do or what was to be done. And with the + same humor and patience she went ahead and did the work and made + me and the board responsible for it--made us stand behind her, + until at last we were ashamed that our consciences were so dull + and poor that we had not seen it long ago. And then we set out to + do something. + +According to the opinion of Miss Edith Campbell, who was thoroughly +acquainted with his social work, though not a member of Christ Church, +Frank Nelson's "doing" resulted in legislation for the Court of Domestic +Relations which was to be in the future a real guardian for unfortunate +children. His relationship with the Juvenile Protective Association is +but another instance of the ways in which he not only ministered to the +city and awoke its conscience, but also helped to foster understanding +between church people and social workers. Possibly in no other city are +there such close ties between churches and social agencies, and this +relationship was Frank Nelson's achievement. He often attended the +social workers' meetings of the Monday Evening Club; the conference of +Charities and Philanthropies found a welcome center in his parish house. +Thus he wove a pattern for social service that came to fruition in +municipal and state laws, the kind of laws which give such work +permanence and effectiveness. + +Frank Nelson was a chivalrous individual who labored for what he thought +was right; he championed numerous causes when many people were +marshalled on the other side. It is in keeping with his character that +he took a pronounced part in the creation of understanding and the +removal of prejudices among Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. Years +before the National Conference of Jews and Christians was organized, he +practiced the principles of the inter-faith movement. At one time after +presiding at a mass meeting in Music Hall held to protest the +persecution of Jewish people in Europe, he wrote his friend, Dr. J. +Louis Ransohoff: "I realize how dreadfully you must feel, and I would +like to tell you that no matter how badly you feel as a Jew, I feel +worse as a Christian because in the beginning Jews were persecuted in +the name of Christ." On more than one occasion he preached in the Isaac +M. Wise synagogue for his friend, Rabbi James G. Heller. In one such +instance he spoke on his concept of the spiritual life, considering the +great thing in man to be his soul, and pointing out that the journey is +superior to the road in the realization of man's destiny. His candor won +him the respect and admiration of many in all faiths, for they knew that +he honored their opinions. No more dramatic incident illustrates his +spirit than the one occurring in the inter-faith meeting at the Rockdale +Temple Annex when he confessed his faith. Dr. Heller says there had been +a great palaver of generalities by the two preceding speakers, and Mr. +Nelson commenced his address by bluntly asking the audience if they +wanted him to speak as he saw the truth, and they roared back, "Yes!" +Thereupon he launched forth with the ringing declaration, "Let us be +honest! I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!" He then proceeded to say +that he would like all Jews to become Christians just as he knew the +Jews and Roman Catholics desired universal allegiance to their faiths. +With one or two exceptions, not a soul in that great audience resented +his frankness. His ministry was that of one who lived day by day a life +of good-will rather than of one who merely talked about it. + +Some men considered that he reflected too much surprise at the degree +of harmony already existing among the faiths, and that his expressions +of pleasure at finding such unanimity thus raised doubts as to its +reality. However, in his broad spirit and totally Christ-fashioned +personality, he himself was at home with men of all faiths. In 1939, Mr. +William J. Shroder, as Chairman of the Community Chest campaign, chose +for the year's theme or slogan "The Unity of Religion and Democracy." So +excellent a "sermon" did he preach on numerous occasions that Mr. Nelson +jestingly told his friend that he must stay out of his parish! + +On the rare occasions when Jews change their religion, they usually do +so because of marriage. One such instance is of special interest. The +daughter of a leading Jewish citizen married a Gentile, and since her +rabbi would not perform the ceremony they turned to Frank Nelson, +admiring as they did his faith and works. In a large sense he was rabbi +and minister to all sorts and conditions of people. Dean Friedlander of +the University Medical School, as he lay dying, said to a friend, "I +have told my students how to treat the dying, but it is different when +it comes to yourself. Frank Nelson has given me a hand." Again, another +friend in his trouble found such sane religious counsel that, although a +devout member of his synagogue, he declared, "It took a Christian +minister to bring out my soul." He never hesitated to disagree or argue +with his best friends, always maintaining that "works without faith" are +not sufficient. Thus all who knew him welcomed him, and in their need +turned to him with affection, confident of his understanding. + +Mr. Nelson was one of the three founders of the Council of Protestant +Churches. No small detail was above him, and with Jesse Halsey he +rummaged through second-hand stores for furniture for the first office. +With the ministers of other churches he worked in closest cooperation, +and together they fought the Cox Gang, supported the Social Agencies, +and many other activities to which the civic-minded and church-minded in +Cincinnati gave unstintingly of their devotion. The Reverend John F. +Herget, the distinguished former minister of another downtown church, +the Ninth Street Baptist, says, "For twenty-five years we labored +together and the passing years only added to my confidence in his +intellectual and spiritual integrity. He was a real friend, and when my +only son died, he was the first minister in Cincinnati to step through +my doorway. I can never forget it. Do you wonder that I loved him and +cherish his memory? We were very different in many ways but those +differences never deprived us of mutual respect and deep affection." +Without a doubt, ministers of all Protestant churches regarded him as +the foremost clergyman in the city. + +In 1901 Mr. Nelson was elected to membership in the Clergy Club of +Cincinnati, an organization which is composed of many of the leading +Protestant ministers. On the occasion of the club's twenty-fifth +anniversary in 1919, Dr. Dwight M. Pratt, then of the Walnut Hills +Congregational Church, wrote a witty and apt characterization of each +member. The following is his superb sketch of Mr. Nelson: + + NELSON: The Apollo of the Club, equally recognized as such + whether in ecclesiastical robes and millinery or in outing + negligee; the physical having its counterpart in athletic + qualities of mind and heart; a broad-minded, tolerant Churchman, + incapable of surrendering to the artificial in form and ceremony + or to the pretentious in self-constituted human authority, even + when sanctified by tradition and usage, and aware of its historic + affinities to Rome. Fundamentally spiritual in his conceptions of + the Church and of the Kingdom; quickly alert to elements in + religion that are born of the flesh and vitiated by human pride; + unsurpassed in the Club for his exalted conception of historic + Christianity and of the glory and prestige of a spirit-filled and + spirit-guided church, having a vision of church unity impossible + of realization under the assumption and the exclusiveness of + Episcopacy; a genial democrat in spite of aristocratic training + and environment; intimately acquainted with the trend and quality + of modern critical scholarship, and in sympathetic touch with the + social movements of the day, in the church and outside of it; too + thorough and vital, however, to make the mistake, more common in + his church than any other, of substituting social Christianity + for evangelistic, thus making the care, culture and comfort of + the outer man more important than his spiritual redemption; a + student of men and books; an observant traveller, a recent and + scholarly resident of the ancient metropolis of the world:[12] a + keen interpreter of the movements of history, ancient and modern; + endowed as a preacher with homiletic skill and the spiritual art + of making life seem large and the Kingdom of God the one supreme + reality for man; and all this in spite of the fact that he is far + from being Puritan; never showing the marks of an ascetic nor any + tendency or inclination to self-martyrdom; as much in need of + reform in some things as the time honored secretary of the Club; + popular with men because in so many respects like them; popular + also as a public speaker and on occasions where grace of speech + and manner constitute an essential factor in the program; a + conspicuous personality in a pageant, having the note of + sincerity, sympathy and appeal that commands assemblies; a man + whose promotion will always be in spite of high-churchmen and the + favorites of Bishops; a man indispensable to the breadth and + representative character of the Club. + +There remains one other activity to be mentioned in Mr. Nelson's +city-wide ministry. In 1930 Mayor Murray Seasongood appointed him to the +Board of Directors of the University of Cincinnati, a board commonly +known as the Trustees. It was a distinguished appointment, +characteristic of Mayor Seasongood's primary emphasis on the welfare of +the city, and indicative of the confidence placed by intellectual and +civic leaders in Mr. Nelson's judgment and ability. The Board was made +up of eight business men and lawyers and concerned itself mainly with +the financial problems of the University. Mr. Nelson's approach was to +the human element in each situation with which this Board had to deal. +He served in this capacity for eight years, and became "an acute, +piercing trustee." The University Medical School has oversight of the +Cincinnati General Hospital, and Mr. Nelson was troubled by the large +number of cases of tuberculosis among members of the staff and the +nurses and interns. The hours were long, the pay poor, and living +conditions deplorable. He was very active in his support of the efforts +by the authorities to bring about improvement in these conditions. + +He was chairman of the committee which interviewed candidates for the +office of Dean of Woman, since many on the Board did not feel qualified +to make such a selection. During the depression in the thirties when +reduction of salaries and of department personnel became necessary, Mr. +Nelson was instrumental in securing fair treatment for the individual +teacher. He would ask if the teacher whose salary reduction was under +consideration had a family and how many children. His colleagues +considered him a very important agent in preserving morale during these +difficult years, and the President and deans frequently sought his +counsel. + +He was a firm believer in academic freedom. When the Engineering College +arranged lectures for business men, he gave the plan his hearty support, +and occasionally came under fire because of certain radical speakers. He +was frequently the choice of the University as its representative on +public occasions in the city. At the Commencement of 1924, the +University of Cincinnati bestowed upon Mr. Nelson the honorary degree of +Doctor of Laws, "as one who has ever striven to advance the government +of the mind and spirit, and who by his own severe self-discipline and +true humility has taught all of us to subdue ourselves to the +imperishable laws of reason and faith." + +When one considers the recognition which the entire city whole-heartedly +and unreservedly accorded Mr. Nelson, it is a sorry commentary on the +influence of politics that upon the expiration of his second term as a +trustee of the University the new Republican Mayor, James Garfield +Stewart, failed to reappoint him. He was deeply hurt, but there was +satisfaction in the realization that it was because of his continued +denunciation of party politics that the reappointment did not go +through. He was a clergyman who never curried favor nor withheld opinion +when forthrightness was the moral requisite. The people knew where he +stood, and no office could silence him. To behave as a citizen is "to +conduct oneself as pledged to some law of life." His faithful obedience +was recognized on many occasions and in numerous ways. One such +recognition was his place in a group of fifteen leading citizens +selected by four Cincinnatians chosen at random by "_The Cincinnati +Post_." He was described as "having given vision and voice to public +service, and in the art of human relations a leader in many fields for +many people." + +Few public testimonials have awakened so spontaneous a response as that +tendered Mr. Nelson on December 3, 1923, in honor of his twenty-five +years of service to church and city. Originating among his own +parishioners, the plan quickly developed into a city-wide observance. +The committee on arrangements was expanded, and included the Reverend +Doctor Francis J. Finn, Rabbi David Philipson, the Reverend John F. +Herget, and the Right Reverend Boyd Vincent, as well as a large number +of prominent laity outside Christ Church. When the evening arrived, one +thousand one hundred people from all paths of life sat down to dinner in +the Hotel Gibson. The President of the University, Dr. Frederick C. +Hicks, presided. The Mayor, then George P. Carrell, cut short a vacation +in order to be present and speak for the city, Mr. George D. Crabbs +represented the Social Agencies, Dr. William S. Rainsford came on from +New York to join in the acclaim. Mayor Carrell voiced a perfect tribute +when he spoke of Mr. Nelson in these simple words: "Here is a true man. +He loves his fellows. He does not recognize creed or color. Cincinnati +is proud of him. Cincinnati loves him." At the conclusion of the +speeches, Mr. Nelson, visibly affected, rose to speak. The tumultuous +applause lasted five minutes. With characteristic humility he expressed +his thanks, and then drew the attention of the audience to the central +theme of any true public servant's work, namely, that "Faith creates; +cynicism destroys." This enthusiastic testimonial was a moving +demonstration of the place Frank Nelson filled in the hearts of his +fellow-citizens, an exception to the rule that a prophet is without +honor in his own city. There were two interesting side-lights to the +occasion. On the morning of the dinner the Reverend Francis J. Finn, a +particular friend, and the pastor of St. Francis Xavier's Roman +Catholic Church, offered up the Holy Sacrifice with his Protestant +friend as his special intention; and in the evening there stood among +the waiters, but not of them, Detroit Williams, the colored sexton of +Christ Church, who could not have been present but for Mr. Nelson's +skillful arrangement. + +Such was the spirit of Cincinnati's great Christian citizen. His +humanity was all inclusive, his spirit discerning, and the city claimed +him as its own, for he gave voice to its conscience and helped it find +its soul. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[9] _City Management_ Charles P. Taft, p. 108 Farrar and Rineheart, +1933. Used by permission. Other statements on the Charter Movement are +based upon the report of the Consultant Service of the National +Municipal League entitled _The Government of Cincinnati, 1924-1944_. + +[10] _City Management_ C. P. Taft, p. 30. Farrar and Rineheart. Used +with permission. + +[11] Adaptation of a thought expressed by Alexander Woollcott in _While +Rome Burns_, p. 7. + +[12] Mr. Nelson twice spent a year in Rome on leave of absence. + + + + + _They Came + To Be In + His Presence_ + + + _In This Church + The Reverend Frank Howard Nelson, D.D. + Preached The Gospel of Christ + for Forty Years + + 1899-1939_ + + + "_I thank my God upon every remembrance + of you._" + + --_Memorial Plaque at Entrance + to Christ Church._ + + + 5 + + +"You can't change me, old man. I am the last of the black Protestants." +In this whimsical way Frank Nelson spoke of himself one day in +conversation with a friend on some point of ritual. It is abundantly +evident that he was in no way a bigoted churchman, and with all his +fine, broad sympathies he stood forth as a Protestant. He represented +that aspect of the Catholic-Protestant structure of the Episcopal +Church, he conducted the services in Christ Church from that angle, his +preaching reflected it, and the absence of the clerical collar +emphasized it. There is a measure of truth in his droll description of +himself. + +In the first decades of this century Mr. Nelson was one of a group of +broad-churchmen whose influence was just beginning to be felt. +Theologically he was a liberal with reservations, and stood in what is +now called "Central Anglicanism" in the sense of "essential orthodoxy, +continuity, and breadth and liberality within limits, checked by the +principle of discipline, and an outlook, above all, theocentric; +fidelity to Christianity as the religion of the Incarnation, and of the +Church viewed as Christ's mystical body."[13] + +The truth is that he was different from certain brands of so-called +liberals. Like many of them he was an individualist but not, as in the +popular conception of that word, an eccentric. His individualism resided +in his strong personality, whole and complete rather than partial. He +had an immense scorn of the petty narrow-minded points of view. He said, +"There is no one so narrow as the broad-minded liberal! Look out! Be +sure that you do not develop a closed mind toward the other man's point +of view!" Frank Nelson stood in the stream of the best traditions of +historic Anglicanism. He had, for instance, a tremendous feeling of +reverence for the Altar and the appointments for the celebration of the +Holy Communion; and his manner of conducting the Lord's Supper brought +that service very close to the most sensitive of worshipers. On the +first Sunday of each month the Holy Communion was celebrated at eight +and at eleven A.M., and he made it the chief factor in building +up the younger members of the parish into the Church. Usually Christ +Church was crowded for the first as well as the later service, and it +was immensely impressive to contemplate the congregation that came at +the early hour of eight o'clock from all parts of the city and from +distant suburbs. There is communicated serenity as well as reverence in +the stately, liturgical service, but that feeling-tone is dependent on +the minister conducting it. Mr. Nelson was a medium for the +communication of the very spirit of Christ in that service. The ancient, +familiar words were given a fresh beauty by his manner and his natural, +virile voice. His methods reflected certain qualities of his character. +It was his custom to read the service up through the Sanctus from the +north end of the Altar, moving to the center for the remainder, and at +the moment of the consecration of the Bread and Wine to turn halfway +around so that the congregation could see the blessing of the Elements. +It was in part an observance of the Apostolic custom of the minister's +standing behind the Altar and facing the congregation, and one which he +had learned from his days at St. George's under Dr. Rainsford. + +In a time of much disparagement, Frank Nelson and his parish upheld the +fair reputation of the Church. Bishop Hobson says, "Many a minister and +many a church have taken heart and courage because of his ministry." +Because he was unafraid to experiment and venture on fresh approaches to +old problems, he risked misunderstanding and criticism. He had a marked +sense of the dignity of his office, and all who worked on the staff of +Christ Church were aware that he was the rector, a czar if you will, but +one with a gloved hand. He ran the parish, but not for his own sake nor +from delight in power. As a matter of fact, he distrusted power, +particularly when wielded by small men in the office of Bishop, and +because of that distrust, and because of the democratic nature of the +government of the Episcopal Church, he held the leadership of rectors +to be equal in value to that of the Episcopate. + +In the management of the parish, he was "a man set under authority." He +expected hard work of those to whom he delegated responsibility. Though +he occasionally interfered, he invariably backed up his leaders even +when they were in the wrong. He did not hesitate to criticize: a +retiring choir-master said to his successor, "He is a tyrant, and you +won't last three months." After eighteen years, he is still there! There +were those who sometimes found Mr. Nelson abrupt, but as they came to +understand his temperament and to appreciate his insistence that things +should be run decently and in order, they were the very ones who would +have stood on their heads for him because his nature inspired endless +devotion. It is easy to lose sight of human values in a large +institution, but he was the kind of person who was quick to apologize +for any rudeness, and if the instance had to do with some fine point of +procedure, he would grin and say, "But I was right!"--and he was. A +unique thing about his rectorship was his willingness to take the blame +upon himself when something went wrong. He felt he was at fault for not +having given his subordinates the right training. The conception he held +of his office of rector impelled him to give each year a comprehensive +report of his parish work along with an audited financial accounting of +all monies that he had handled personally. + +In the services of Christ Church, Frank Nelson's individuality found +complete expression. The Prayer Book offices were marked by an absence +of ceremonial, but filled with a profound simplicity and a noble +dignity. People coming from other parishes and accustomed to +considerable ritual and better architecture (Christ Church has been +likened to a Moorish mosque!) learned that such externals occupy in +reality a subordinate position in the Christian life, as the rector's +manner and forceful preaching lifted them to the plane of spirit-filled +worship. He was concerned not with the creation of an atmosphere in +which to bathe with satisfaction one's feelings about God but with the +living message of the Gospel. One came at last to love the old church +building because there the spirit was fed, the mind enlightened, and the +will impelled to action. + +People came to be in his presence. They found a new, bright sense of the +glory of religious faith; they felt how precious is the least of the +human vessels into which God pours His Spirit. The man in himself +communicated a personality so wholly infused with the grace of the Lord +Jesus that his hearers were stirred to action, which result stems from +the authentic note in preaching. "Effective preaching can only mean +effective in the sense of doing God's work."[14] Frank Nelson did God's +work. He stirred people to do God's work. The atmosphere of conviction +generated by the preacher is due to his whole personality rather than to +his words; hence the impact made upon his hearers at the moment of his +speaking is never conveyed through the printed page. Its influence, +however, continues in their lives, and measured by this standard Frank +Nelson was a powerful and effective preacher. The gift of swift, +magnetic, eloquent speech was his. Words with the quality and vigor of +intuitive imagination poured out of him. Yet preaching was never easy +for him, and as it was dominated by his characteristic intensity and +fervor, he was nervous beforehand and exhausted afterward. His emotional +range sometimes led him off the main thread of a discourse; at times he +ranted; and more than once preached an entirely different sermon from +the one outlined in his written notes. His preaching was "feeling warmed +up to vision," and the word of God passed through him to men. He +believed tremendously in preaching; there were few services in Christ +Church at which he did not preach,[15] but he was not a so-called +popular preacher; crowds did not constantly fill the pews. To some his +driving power was wearing, and even some of his admirers would exclaim, +"Oh, I do wish Mr. Nelson would not tear his throat so when he +preaches." But his very force of delivery, and his vehemence were a part +of the man, and he no more could have preached in another manner than +have changed his stature. + +But these characteristics had compensations or off-setting factors. +After Mr. Nelson's exchange with the rector of St. Paul's Church, Rome, +Italy in 1912, a certain dowager commented, "Mr. Lowrie's sermons made +me feel comfortable, but Mr. Nelson makes me feel a miserable sinner!" A +newcomer, on his first Sunday in Cincinnati, went to Christ Church +intending to "sample" several churches before casting his lot with one. +The choir came in, followed by a young, boyish-looking clergyman whom +the man presumed to be the assistant. During the sermon Mr. Nelson +continually entangled himself in his stole and gave the impression of +one so inextricably caught up in his message that he was a part of it, +stole and all! The newcomer was Frederick C. Hicks, later the President +of the University of Cincinnati. He did not go elsewhere but continued +at Christ Church and eventually became a vestryman. + +Mr. Nelson did not talk in an amiable sort of way about the Christian +virtues; his sermons, thank God, were not colorless essays on the +doctrine of God, and the Church. He preached with abandon, and there +issued forth a fiery stream of conviction that stabbed his hearers into +life. Within those in whom the seed found good soil there was +reproduced his hunger for righteousness, his integrity of character. +What we heard from the pulpit of Christ Church was the product of +hard-won battles, the forthrightness of a man stirred by his struggle to +live as a follower of Jesus Christ. He was no respecter of persons but +of personality, saying "We don't dare to be Christians." Some said Frank +Nelson did not preach doctrinal sermons, but if not, then church +doctrine needs another name, for this man preached the Christian faith, +pouring it forth in great bucketfuls. If after hearing him one didn't +know something about the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, then there +is no such thing as doctrine. + +The rector was sensitive about his failure to attract larger +congregations, and deprecated his ability as a speaker. He was forever +saying that he could not preach, and that he preached too long, but +jested that he was too old to change! Once in the midst of an +after-dinner speech, he paused to make an aside to his friend, J. +Hollister Lynch, "Am I talking too long?" "Yes," whispered Dr. Lynch, +but he kept right on! Cincinnati is not a church-going city like +Pittsburgh, for instance, but, as one witty observer has remarked, +"Cincinnati has fewer moral lapses!" In making judgments on this point, +one should take into consideration the fact that there was a large Roman +Catholic constituency, and that the predominant German population of +Cincinnati which came in such large numbers during the middle of the +nineteenth century, was definitely anti-religious. Christ Church, +moreover, is a downtown church, and the greater number of the +communicants live in suburbs. His parish took him for granted as was +inevitable over a forty-year period, but when we recall his multiple +civic associations, and the fact that whenever he spoke there was a +religious foundation to his address and in his presence, we perceive +that Mr. Nelson's preaching reached far beyond the bounds of Christ +Church. + +The sermons of Frank Nelson were pervaded with a fine ethical +perception. He was in the succession of the ancient Hebrew prophets in +their profound love of justice and concern for humanity. He had a keen, +quick feeling for spiritual values, and succeeded in relating them in +vital fashion to the throbbing stress of daily living. Beyond his +piercing eloquence, captivating as it most certainly was, was the +compelling fact that in his interpretation of the religious significance +of human experience he stood forth like a pine tree towering above +scraggly growth. No one can ever forget that tall, dynamic figure in the +spacious pulpit of Christ Church preaching the Word of God with gripping +power. It was not merely the power of virility and eloquence, but the +power of grasp, of comprehension, the ability to communicate truth and +make it come alive, and cry out for expression in the hearts and lives +of his hearers. We felt the majesty of the human spirit, the impatience +of sure faith with the rags and blemishes of doubt and cynicism. "Like +rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth," Frank Nelson +poured out his soul, and revealed the grand proportions of human +destiny. + +In his beautiful address at the Helen S. Trounstine Memorial Service, a +portion of which follows, we find one of the best examples of Mr. +Nelson's ability to interpret human experience, as well as of his +intuitive understanding of another's travail of soul: + + And then her courage. There are the lesser courages and the + greater. There are many who dare face danger and undertake hard + tasks, and face ridicule and failure. It is a fine and a true + courage and I do not underrate it. Helen Trounstine had it and + had it to the full. She tackled hard tasks; she faced some men + whose interests she opposed. She fought out her fights against + all comers, and never flinched. She would go into the court or + into the saloon or dance hall, the places of commercial + recreation, and fight her fight with all, for what she believed + to be right; and she won most of the time. It was a noble thing + to see that delicate woman unafraid before the problems and evils + of the world. + + Yet that was not the finest courage she had. That other finer + courage is the one that I would emphasize. It was given her to + reconcile a spirit filled with high ideals and great desires, + with a body weak, often bent and torn with pain, unsuited to the + tasks she longed to do, until at last she was stricken with utter + helplessness waiting for the end. For only a few brief years was + her body adequate, even a little, to her will. And instead of + bending before that limitation and saying that she could do + nothing because of it, instead of growing bitter with resentment + at a fate that had so burdened her, she but grappled with it the + more determinedly. With utter courage of heart and mind, she + fought her inner fight and won the victory of cheer and energy + and peace. With no excuse and no complaints, and no relaxing of + her will before the limitations of her strength, she lived and + loved and served as if she had the health she longed for. The + limitations of her stricken body meant the giving up of many dear + desires, of hopes that would have made life sweet and joyous, of + work she yearned to undertake. + + Any of you who have had much to do with one stricken with a sore + disease, who knows he never can be well again, know that it is + not the sickness, the physical weakness and pain that make the + problem and the tragedy. It is the reconciling of the will to + surrender life's hopes and the readjustment of the life to the + conditions that have got to be, that nothing can change. That was + Helen Trounstine's problem and her tragedy. She sat down with her + fate and fought that fight and won it. It must have meant many + hours of untold darkness and suffering and bitter questioning and + struggle. But of such hours she gave us no outward sign. At least + I saw none in the years I knew her, except that finest one of + all, the victory of her soul in the glad and joyous doing of what + remained within her power. + +It is not surprising that his addresses on Good Friday and his sermons +on Easter Day were more nearly adequate to those great days than is +commonly the case. He cared for these days tremendously, and never +ceased to be heartened by the throngs that crowded the old church, +filled up the chancel, and stood in the vestibule through the Three +Hours on Good Friday. It seemed as if the whole city was aroused as +people from offices and factories, and from the outlying districts came +to these special services year after year during his long rectorship. It +stirs the imagination to think of that gathering, the rich and the poor, +the highly-cultivated, and the meekly endowed, shop girls and clerks, +the faithful and those groping for faith, all drawn by the mysterious +fire kindled by this man of God. There was a concentrated intensity to +his preaching on these occasions, for he saw clearly and felt deeply the +tragedies of life. In that vibrant voice and in his passionate concern +for the soul of men, there burned a white-souled homage to God, and a +faith and love that spoke to each one's condition. Out of his long +brooding over the darkly colored stream of history, and the chequered +progress of Christianity of which his daily contact with the city's life +as well as his study gave him profound knowledge, there came forth +"great out-bursts of unshakable certainty which stand up like Alpine +peaks in the spiritual landscape of humanity." The integrity of the man +along with the power and dramatic quality of his speech was unveiled for +all the world to see. One recalls in this particular a certain Good +Friday after World War I when he took up Sarah Bernhardt's ghastly +reversal of the First Word from the Cross, "Father, do _not_ forgive +them for they _know_ what they do," and with terrific intensity +literally shouted, "That is a lie straight from hell." + +His preaching always illumined a fine feeling for the mastery of +language, and those who heard him over the span of the years were +conscious that in his Good Friday addresses he employed plain, +Anglo-Saxon words, fundamental, strong words that lent a cumulative +effect to his speech. Because of his modesty he never consented to the +publication of any of his Good Friday addresses, which is lamentable for +without a doubt they represent his best preaching. A full, stenographic +report, however, was made of his last addresses in 1939, and certain +paragraphs from the Third Word may well be quoted. This Word from the +Cross, "When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by +whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then +saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!", was greatly loved by his +people because he gave to it an interpretation that was entirely +original: + + As those of you who have been here on other Good Fridays know, I + give that my own interpretation. Some say that I am wrong: that + when Jesus Christ said "Woman, behold thy son," He meant He was + directing her attention to His friend, St. John, who would be a + son to her now that He was going away. Perhaps. But I like to + think the other way: that He was revealing to that mother of His + the thing that should justify her motherhood, and her faith, and + her love. He was saying, as it seems to me, things like this: + + "Behold, your Son, bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh. Known + and yet unknown. The Son whom the angel announced to you long ago + among the Judean hills. The things that you have treasured and + pondered in your heart must be brought out now to allow God to + open to you their hidden meaning. For I am your Son, your + first-born. In these years of wonder and strangeness I have not + forgotten the love and care and protection given me. Through you + I grew up in the knowledge of the Scriptures and the love of + God's House. No, I have not forgotten those years in the + carpenter's shop in Nazareth, and the laboring for daily bread. + Neither was it easy to break away, and leave home, but God called + me, and deep down in your heart you were glad that God chose + me--it was the confirmation of all that the angels had whispered + in your heart. You were proud of me, sure that God had somewhat + in store for me that had never been known in the world, never + known to the mothers of other sons. And then murmurs came to you + of opposition, of the hostility of men high up in the synagogues, + weird reports of my deeds, and strange teachings, and finally all + that I said and did seemed to go against the authority and + sanctions of your religion, and you were fearful of my mind. And + now I have come to this disgraceful end. This cross is the + fruitage of those thirty years spent with you and in the + fulfilling of God's pleasure. This fruitage of the Cross is not + the fruitage that God gives to the sons of evil as seems to be + the just fruitage of these thieves crucified beside me. In + reality this Cross is the crown of my life, and some day the + world will see it, and take Me unto itself, and the Cross will + have become a throne." + + It is the word of justification and comfort that Jesus gives the + broken-hearted Mary. It is the word of God to woman. "Now we see + through a glass darkly, but then face to face." In Jesus, the son + of Mary, we see what the world will be like 'when the years have + died away.' + +It was on these special occasions that he so frequently was inspired. +Easter Day, for instance, with its many services and huge congregations +stimulated him to the utmost, and to many of us it seemed as if we stood +in one of the vestibules of immortality, certainly in the temple of this +man's faith. He preached at both the eight and the eleven o'clock +services, and each time with undiminished vigor and clarity of thought. +In the interim, he personally greeted all the parishioners who remained +after the first service for breakfast in the parish house. + +Frank Nelson loved the ministry, and his convictions glowed and radiated +pervasively. Innumerable scenes flood the memory, and I recall an +ordinary Sunday which included the early celebration of the Holy +Communion at eight forty-five A.M.; an address to his Chapel +Class at nine forty-five; and a sermon at eleven o'clock; in addition to +all these he went, in the afternoon, to a labor union memorial service. +There he repeated the morning's sermon from the text, "The last enemy +that shall be destroyed is death." It was the fruit of all his ministry +to the bereaved, and of his penetrating, sympathetic insight into the +loneliness and devastation of death's inroads. As he brought the +Christian faith to bear upon the problem, he imparted by clarity of +thought and eloquence of words as well as by accent and genuineness of +emotion that certitude which is possible only for one who himself +possesses that which he proclaims. This sermon was a notable example of +Phillips Brooks' definition of preaching, "Truth conveyed through +personality." The few notes here included give only a glimmer of the +range of his thought, and do not adequately convey the personal factor +which made one want to rise up and call him blessed: + + Men have ever striven to conquer death, and never succeeded. + Christ too died and though He rose from the dead, He did not + return to this life and take up its habits and tasks again. St. + Paul was not thinking of overcoming death in this way, but rather + of the new consciousness and gift of power that Christ has given + men. Christianity is a conquering power. Faces what appears to + be the impossible, what experience declares to be impossible, but + does so with the word that "all things are subject to Christ." + "We see not yet all things put under him--but we see Jesus." + There is nothing that may not become subject to the spirit of man + through Christ. + + Christ facing human problems: the fear of God's wrath, + superstitions arising from doubt of God's moral goodness, + sickness, sorrow, hopelessness, sin, worldliness, bitterness of + spirit and mind, suffering, and at last conquering death as an + enemy by His resurrection. + + Death's mastery over us is not a physical thing. It is its power + over our spirits, its apparent defeat of hope, of work begun, of + love entered into, of faith laid hold upon, and the bitterness + that is the fruit of that defeat. Through Christ the power of + achievement was strengthened, and released by death. We resent + death perhaps--reason for shrinking is that so impersonal and + physical a process should be able to overcome a spiritual + consciousness and experience. We resent always the victory of a + lower over a higher order. (Feb. 28, 1926) + +Frank Nelson combined a happy idealism with common sense, and when the +occasion moved him to inspired utterance, he drew upon the deep wells of +his being, and spoke without effort as waters flow from a fountain. This +quality characterized many of his speeches, such as the one in Music +Hall after the Armistice of 1918 which he himself considered his best, +and those at Masonic gatherings when men flocked to drink in his words +and to be in his presence. He overshadowed other speakers, and what +Henry Ward Beecher said of another is doubtless applicable to Mr. +Nelson: "When he speaks first, I do not care to follow him, and if I +speak first, then when he gets up I wish I had not spoken at all." + +The worth of so much preaching troubled him at times, and he too had his +darker moments. Sometimes he paced up and down Howard Bacon's study +never saying a word, or perhaps bursting out in boyish petulance, "When +I am down, the parish is down. Why can't they stay up?" At a staff +meeting one morning he told the incident of an organization that had +requested him to address them, and when he asked on what subject, the +reply was "Oh! just talk!" He passed this off as a sort of reflection on +his fluency of words. + +Preaching was desperate business to him because "the burden of the Word +of the Lord" lay upon him, and if he rose to great heights, he also was +dashed down to the depths. To preach for forty years from the same +pulpit is an exacting task, and the net result of such an experience is +no better summed up than in the remark of a humble parishioner by whose +house he was walking one morning with Frederick C. Hicks. It was Monday, +and the woman was hanging out her wash. Mr. Nelson said, "Let's stop and +ask her what she remembers of my sermon." The good soul was non-plussed, +and could not recall even his text. And then with a leap of inspired +insight she said, "But Mr. Nelson, this cloth is whiter every time I +pour water over it." Perhaps this is the lasting effect on every humble +soul who patiently waits as God communicates His truth in earthen +vessels. + +People came to be in Frank Nelson's presence. He never let them down. He +had said of William S. Rainsford's preaching: We came here as church +people, professing the faith, and as "we sat before him we saw poured +forth the reality of the thing we had professed to believe in ... He +took us to whom religion was a profession, and made it a passion." +Christ Church people find these words set up poignant echoes of a day +when they sat before Frank Nelson and heard the living Word of God. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[13] _Central Anglicanism_, Charles W. Lowry, Jr. _The Witness_ May 27, +1943. Used by permission. + +[14] _The Servant of The Word_, Farmer p. 6, Charles Scribner's Sons. +Used by permission. + +[15] Farmer in his brilliant book, _The Servant of the Word_, makes this +illuminating comment on preaching: + +"The wisdom of the reformers appears in always associating the speaking +of the word with the other sacraments, and the protestant habit, which +is sometimes derided, of always having an address at every meeting is +seen to have sound reason behind it. It is part of our whole +understanding and valuation of the person and the personal way in which +God deals with him. I want the thrusting intrusiveness, the +interjection, of another's serious speech. I believe there can be no +substitute for the sermon." _Ibid_ pp. 80-81. + + + + + _Beyond + Cincinnati_ + + + _"He was easily the prince of us all in diocese + and national church."_ + + --_ZeBarney Phillips_ + + + 6 + + +The diocese of southern Ohio, of which Christ Church is a part, was +vastly strengthened by the leadership of Frank Nelson. In the earlier +years of his rectorship he had had little time for diocesan affairs, not +that he was indifferent, but he was essentially the kind of person who +did one thing at a time, and never allowed himself to be diverted from +the immediate task. Moreover, because he was impelled by burning +convictions to express freely his pronounced views, he was considered +radical, and was misunderstood and disliked by many churchmen. The +diocese of those earlier years was conservative and static, and politics +then played a more weighty part than now. A clerical friend in speaking +of Mr. Nelson candidly stated, "I had to grow into friendship with him. +In those early days I had a sort of prejudice against him as a militant +opponent of things, but I soon saw my mistake and recognized that he was +of nobler cast." He never sought position, and never until 1916, with +one exception, was he elected a deputy to the General Convention, which +is the highest body of authority in the Episcopal Church. Even when the +Convention met in Cincinnati in 1910 and Christ Church was the host to +numerous services and meetings, he had no vote. Until 1916 he had +represented his diocese at the General Convention only in 1904; he was +defeated for re-election in 1907 because he had defended Dr. Algernon +Crapsey in a once famous heresy trial. + +His larger interest in the diocese probably had its beginning when in +1908 as a member of the Social Service Commission he visited the Hocking +Valley, and was shocked by the abominable living conditions of the +miners and the almost intolerable injustice of their economic +circumstances. His interest, thus fired, increased with the years until +he came to be depended upon in every sphere of diocesan life, serving on +the Standing Committee, the Bishop and Chapter, the Board of Strategy +and Finance, and in practically every other committee and department of +importance. He was most insistent on maintaining the missionary program, +which he held to be the very heart-beat of the life of the Church. Even +during depressions, Christ Church never lowered its missionary giving +of $24,000, and one year voted $3000.00 from its parish budget to make +up a deficit in the missionary budget because as he said "We have failed +to educate the people." His thorough knowledge and good judgment were of +infinite value to a succession of bishops. On the occasion of Mr. +Nelson's Fortieth Anniversary, the present Bishop, Henry Wise Hobson +said, "In all parts of the Diocese I have heard clergy and lay people +say such words as these: 'The spirit of honesty, courage, fellowship, +and service which has grown up in the life of our Diocese is primarily +the result of the influence of Frank Nelson, whose own spirit has been a +contagious force in our midst.'" Others who have observed the remarkable +growth and increasing strength of this Diocese say that its present +vitality has been generated, not by numbers, nor by wealth, but by the +passionate spirit of certain recognizable characters of whom Frank +Nelson was easily the leader. During Bishop Reese's long illness, Mr. +Nelson largely conducted the business of the Diocese, and for a man with +such positive convictions, he was extremely fair in presiding at the +Convention. He leaned over backward to be just, and did not silence even +those who brought up petty reasons for disagreement on the subjects +under debate. + +When in 1929 the illness of Bishop Reese necessitated his resignation, +the Diocese spontaneously turned to Frank Nelson as his successor. There +is a certain piquancy in the contemplation of the change that by this +time had come over the Diocese. A man who at one time had been +distrusted, and branded as radical if not reckless, had so won the +respect and affection of his associates that they desired to express +their trust and belief in him by electing him to the highest office of +his Church. Reverend Sidney E. Sweet, now Dean of Christ Church +Cathedral, St. Louis, nominated Mr. Nelson at the Convention saying, "He +is a man whose intellectual and spiritual gifts rank him with the finest +in the Church throughout the United States. It will make the Diocese of +Southern Ohio proud to present the name of Dr. Nelson to the House of +Bishops as the representative of this Diocese." Another discerning +friend, Alfred Segal of _The Cincinnati Post_, put the case +dramatically when he wrote in his column: "The other day Rev. Frank +Nelson stood on the threshold of ecclesiastical glory. He needed but to +take one step and he would have been on his way to the eminence of +Bishop. But he turned away, though many welcoming hands beckoned him." + +In declining the nomination, Mr. Nelson said that his decision came as a +result of consultation with friends whose opinions he valued, and from +his own best judgment which counselled against his acceptance. He felt +that it was desirable to elect a man with no local associations, and his +own long ties with the diocese made him an unsuitable candidate. He had +confided in friends his lack of diocesan consciousness, and confessed a +reluctance to assume at his age another kind of work. Furthermore, the +parish of Christ Church and the city were by now so deeply embedded in +his very soul that even a change, if not a severance, of such ties was +unthinkable. He put forward the name of Dr. Howard Chandler Robbins, who +later refused the election. The selection of Dr. Robbins, important as +it was, nonetheless seemed secondary to the insistent attempts of +leaders to place this humble servant in the office of Bishop. Upon Mr. +Nelson's entry into the luncheon hall after the convention, he was +greeted by a tremendous ovation. He was a strong man among strong men. +The following letter from the late Right Reverend William Lawrence of +Massachusetts did not dissuade him from his firm decision: + + + November 22, 1929 + + My dear Frank: + + You well know that it is my rule not to "butt in," but as a + Pullman conductor once told me, "there ain't no use in having + rules that you can't break when you have to." + + I believe that you respect my judgment; my judgment is that you + are the one man who has the qualifications to be Bishop of + Southern Ohio. I know your loyalty to your parish and your humble + estimate of yourself. But the Diocese and the opportunity which + the Church will give you as Bishop are greater than your parish. + Think of Trinity, Boston, at Brooks' election and its result + today. Spaulding of Utah brought into the House of Bishops a + breeze of fresh air, a new life and courage which abide there + still--You will do the same. + + Think of the cheer that your election will bring to Vincent, + Reese, and the whole Diocese. + + Let them have your name and your life. I never wrote such a + letter before and no one knows that I am doing it now. + + Yours affectionately, + + William Lawrence. + + + + + +At the succeeding convention another concerted effort was made to induce +Mr. Nelson to become Bishop. It was refreshing to find the office +seeking the man, especially a man who had never sought for himself +positions of prestige, a man never found in the society of office +seekers. Although he was gratefully aware of the well-meaning intentions +of his friends, and felt in the proposed honor the warmth of their +personal affection, he did not want it said that he had permitted the +election and then declined it. In as tactful a manner as possible he +labored to prevent the Committee on Nominations from presenting his +name. During a stormy session of the Committee a movement was under way +to over-ride Mr. Nelson's wishes and present his name as the nominee of +the Committee anyway. At this juncture Dr. Hicks, his close friend and a +Vestryman of Christ Church, rose and protested with considerable +indignation, "Gentlemen, this means you simply do not know Frank +Nelson." The debate went on, but Mr. Nelson remained firm, saying on the +Convention floor, "I _may_ not be Bishop of Southern Ohio," and he used +the word _may_ in the ancient sense of having "power to prevent." "I +cherish the tribute, but I tell you without recourse to thought or +prayer that I cannot do it." Finally, the Convention proceeded to the +happy election of Henry Wise Hobson, and the Diocese of Southern Ohio +remembers with gratitude that it owes Bishop Hobson to Frank Nelson. + +From 1916 until his death, Mr. Nelson was a deputy to the triennial +meetings of every General Convention, and became the principal +spokesman in the House of Deputies. This body is not always as decorous +and staid in its deliberations as the House of Bishops, but Mr. Nelson +at all times commanded a respectful hearing among the deputies. He came +to be one of the leaders who, as a veteran church-paper correspondent +put it, "could read the signs of the times." His opinions carried +enormous weight though not habitually swaying votes. + +In Diocesan circles as well as in Christ Church, he was absolutely +fearless in utterance, and was among those who were eager for the +Episcopal Church to make large ventures of faith. Like Bishop Brent, he +commanded a vision and a breadth of spirit which were incomprehensible +to those who could not conceive of a universal Christianity free of +sectarian doctrines and dogmas. In this respect he reflected and +perpetuated the greatness of Phillips Brooks who thus stated his +position: "I cannot live truly with the men of my own church unless I +also have a consciousness of common life with all Christian believers, +with all religious men, with all mankind." As a natural consequence of +such conviction, Mr. Nelson was insistent that the Episcopal Church +become a constituent member of the Federal Council of Churches, and +lived to see accomplished that small but significant step towards +cooperation among the churches. + +In the debates that occurred in various years on such subjects as the +proposal to eliminate the word "Protestant" from the official name of +the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and on +the status of the Presiding Bishop, he was very firm but kindly and +tactful in setting forth the Protestant emphasis in the +Catholic-Protestant fabric of his church. He argued that the word +"Protestant" in the title is there to protect the right of every sort of +churchman. His candor was disarming, and he could get away with such +unvarnished statements as this: "As you know I am a Protestant of the +Protestants. I do not belong to the Catholic party in the Episcopal +Church. I belong to the Protestant party. I believe in Protestantism; I +do not believe in Catholicism, I never have, and please God, I never +will. I believe in Protestantism; but I believe more, and deeper, and +further and broader, and higher in manhood and womanhood. I can see a +vision of God in the man and in the woman, in the Catholic as well as in +the Protestant, in the Jew, in the atheist, as well as in the +Episcopalian."[16] He was alert to any move that threatened the +democratic basis of the Episcopal Church and diminished the power of the +clergy and the laity, holding in the instance of the Presiding Bishop's +status that the proposal for something similar to an archbishopric would +introduce a monarchical form of government into a church whose +government closely resembles that of the United States. + +At those conventions when the Prayer Book was under revision, Mr. +Nelson's spiritual discernment, large-heartedness, and wise judgment +were an important supplement to the work of the liturgical authorities. +One of the really notable speeches of any General Convention was his +plea for the church to place the emphasis in the Baptismal Service where +the Apostles did, namely, on discipleship rather than on Creed. "The +Creed ought to be on the Altar, not at the door of the Church," he said. +"I want the Creed in the service, and I believe it will receive more +emphasis than before if it is inserted where I have proposed to place +it.[17] The important thing required of Christians is to follow Christ. +It is harder to follow Christ than to accept a creed, and God forbid +that I should make membership in the Church easier than Christ made it." +His earnestness and deep religious feeling made a profound impression, +but there were those who saw in the proposal an opening wedge for the +subordination of the creeds, and timidity and caution overcame the surge +of approbation which followed immediately on his speech. + +Commencing in 1925 and continuing until his death, Mr. Nelson served on +the Joint Commission on Holy Matrimony, which dealt with the highly +controversial issue of divorce. In upholding the high standards embraced +in the canons of the Church, he supported that section of the +Commission which sought to take into account the far-reaching human +factors involved in marriage and divorce. He was absolutely convinced +that the Church was not approaching the problem in the right way. To him +it was not an ecclesiastical problem but a definitely human affair. He +said he preferred to submit a delicate, ethical problem to a human +bishop rather than to the arbitrary operation of a rule. He maintained, +"Divorce is now on a legalistic basis. That was not the way of our Lord, +and the Commission desires to lift it out of the legal atmosphere into +the sphere of the fellowship of the Gospel." Towards this end the +Commission had (in 1931) drawn up a proposed canon which was the result +of six years' study on the part of an extremely able group of clergymen +and laymen. Among the latter were some of the great lawyers of America, +such as George W. Wickersham, Roland Morris, and Professor Joseph Beale +of the Harvard Law School. This Commission proposed that "any person to +whom a divorce from a former marriage has been granted for any cause by +a civil court may apply to his Bishop to marry another person." In other +words the Commission was endeavoring to have the matter decided not by +some hard and fast rule which was bound to do many injustices to +individuals, but by a more general principle to be interpreted by the +Bishop or Marital Court. The proposal was defeated, but in the battle +which ensued and has not ceased "Frank Nelson," says Bishop William +Scarlett of Missouri, "was a leading figure. He was trying to see this +whole matter through what he believed to be the mind of Christ, and to +act and legislate accordingly." + +At the Church Congress in Richmond, Virginia, in 1926 in a paper on +_What Is Loyal Churchmanship?_ he boldly stated: + + Even when it comes to the canon in regard to remarriage of + divorced persons, when I find in my conscience, standing before + God in the presence of Christ, as I try to do, that a man and a + woman have a right to be remarried, I will remarry them and take + the consequences. I do not mean that I would go about seeking + ways of disobeying the Church. I am putting extreme cases. Of + course I do not mean that.... My first loyalty, my highest + loyalty is to the Spirit and to the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ + as God gives me grace to see it.... The human soul is more sacred + than constitution or canons. Canons and forms of worship are used + to illuminate and guide men's minds and souls to Christ, not to + dominate them or compel them to conform to this or that.[18] + +In a few exceptional instances he remarried divorced persons. He held +the present canon of the church to be utterly ridiculous in permitting +reinstatement to communicant status following remarriage after divorce: +"If one commits so grave a sin as to demand excommunication, how can one +be reinstated while continuing to live in that sin? It is absurd on the +face of it."[19] + +There were those who sneered at his position, saying it was +individualistic and amounted to the setting up of oneself against the +law of the church, yet he of all people was most conscious of the sin of +pride and excessive individualism. At his last Convention in 1937, he +reemphasized the point that the object of rewriting the marriage canon +was not to liberalize divorce and remarriage: "We have been trying to +interpret the mind of our Lord. We have presumed to separate men from +the love of God by excommunication. This Commission is trying to set +free to a higher plane this tremendous question which is facing us, to +lift this tremendous relationship from regulation to the life of the +spirit. We want this church to face reality." Nevertheless, the +Commission marched from one defeat to another, but it still marches! +There was passed in 1931 one constructive piece of legislation bearing +on instruction in Christian marriage which was enacted largely through +the extremely forceful defense of Frank Nelson. + +The same human touch which guided all his thought and effort was +apparent in his work on another Commission, namely, the Budget and +Program. He usually was chosen to present the report in the House of +Deputies, and it was always a masterly presentation. Like Gladstone, he +had the faculty of making people like figures, because he set them forth +in terms of human values or in what the newspaper writer calls +"human-interest" stories. This same humanness was delightfully manifest +on occasions when friends endeavoured to make him the presiding officer +or President of the House of Deputies. He would never consent, and +humorously said that if he became an official, he would have to attend +all the extra meetings and couldn't play golf! + +In 1937 the General Convention met in Cincinnati. Though far from well +and worn out after the usual strenuous year in his parish, Mr. Nelson +gave up a large part of his vacation to assist in the arduous +preparations always entailed by such affairs. At the opening service in +the University Stadium he was selected by the Presiding Bishop to read +one of the Lessons, the deserved recognition of his place in diocese and +national church. + +In the extensive work of forwarding the policies set up by the General +Conventions he was called upon, as one of the representative rectors, to +speak in many parts of the country. He was foremost in commending the +Nation-Wide-Campaign or budget plan of operation instituted in 1919, as +a means of re-awakening the church to a sense of national +responsibility. Despite heavy work in parish and city he never spared +himself, and willingly put his services at the command of the Presiding +Bishop. Only eight months before his death, he spent an entire week in +the Diocese of Massachusetts speaking two and three times a day to +groups of vestrymen on the forward work of the church. + +When General Convention met in Kansas City in 1940, the first meeting +after Mr. Nelson's death, the President of the House of Deputies, the +late ZeBarney Phillips, said at the opening session: + + Later on we shall have the regular memorial to all members of the + Convention who have died during the triennium, but as the + Convention opens without them I cannot refrain from paying + tribute to some of those whom we loved best and best remember. + First you will all agree is Frank Nelson who was the outstanding + member of this House at Cincinnati. His genuine Christian + devotion, his courtesy, his fairness and his gentleness can never + be forgotten. Let me tell you one little thing that shows his + character. You all know his type of churchmanship, and yet, for + the sake of others he placed candles on his altar for the + corporate communion. It was a little thing but it was so like + Frank Nelson.[20] + +Whether in parish, city, or the whole Episcopal Church, his work was +affected by a mighty vision of the Kingdom of God on earth which set him +apart as an unusual servant who humbly read the scroll of life as it is +unrolled to the children of men. He passed on to others the torch of +faith which lights the path to the City of God. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[16] Address at the Centennial of Christ Church, 1917. He spoke in this +vein at Conventions though I cannot locate exact statements in official +records. + +[17] Mr. Nelson's proposal placed the Creed immediately after the +Lesson. + +[18] _The Church and Truth_, p. 138, Macmillan Co. 1924. Used by +permission. + +[19] Letter to the author, September 12, 1932. + +[20] Letter to Mrs. Nelson from Mr. Richard Inglis of Cleveland. + + + + + _The Mystery of + Personality_ + + + "_There is not one of us but in some measure + is in his debt._" + + --_The Cincinnati Enquirer_ + + + 7 + + +"All the hold those people have on God is me. It is terrible. It bothers +me. They love me but they don't come to church." Mr. Nelson confided in +this vein one night to his intimate friend, Jesse Halsey, into whose +study he had stopped on his way home from a call in a distant suburb. +While it was inevitable that some people should use him as a crutch or +should let him do their climbing for them, the truth of the matter is +that he was a chosen channel for the communication of the Divine Spirit +to earth-bound men. Because he was genuinely humble, he was troubled +about those people who could approach God only through him. If they +little sensed that what they loved in him was God, they nevertheless +were compelled by their limitations to think of God in terms of Frank +Nelson. + +He was only a voice in the successive generations of men whom God has +sent to minister unto this world, but men loved the voice and though it +is now no longer heard, the mystery and wonder of his personality still +remain. The happy blend of the spiritual and the human in his nature had +a profound influence upon those who knew him. Though poor, faltering +words may suggest the salient outlines of his character, the richness +and singularity of it defy complete expression. + +Mr. Nelson's rare gifts of mind and spirit were enhanced by a robust +physique. He was tall, well-proportioned, and in his last twenty years +took on an almost majestic bearing which gave him a distinguished +appearance in any company. In his manner there was that graciousness +which men call charm or presence. Those who associated with him, whether +rich or poor, talented or commonplace, felt his friendliness. He was at +home with all kinds of people, and though born on the sunny side of the +street, and by birth and breeding an aristocrat, he became one of the +most democratic of men. Because of his greatness some approached him +hesitatingly, but they went away remembering only his kindness of heart. +He never stood on his dignity in that sense which conveys condescension. +His gay, infectious laughter which so often filled a room put people +immediately at ease, and yet he never belittled his calling nor lowered +himself to meet men. + +There was a look of keenness in his eyes that sometimes pierced one +through and through, but always there shone forth faith and sympathy and +understanding. It was the warmth of his humanity that drew people, and +consciously or unconsciously gave them confidence and a stronger +readiness to meet life. Bishop Edward L. Parsons of California writes, +"When with him you felt as if you were entirely safe. You knew that his +judgment would be sound. You knew that he was too big to be dominated by +personal considerations." + +The same warmth expressed itself in his appreciation of other men's +opinions, and because he was decisive in outlook and views, he found +pleasure and stimulus in the spirited exchange of ideas and in sprightly +repartee. In the Episcopal Church there is an amazing diversity of +thought on ecclesiastical matters. Frank Nelson, for instance, +represented one conviction, and the Right Reverend Spence Burton, now +Lord Bishop of Nassau, quite another. "We were the best of friends," +writes Bishop Burton, who is a Cincinnatian by birth, "and we often +disagreed but got on happily together because I think that +temperamentally we were somewhat alike--what might vulgarly be known as +whole-hoggers. In that way we understood each other and did not annoy +each other nearly so much as if we had had the idea that we could have +only as much affection for each other as we had agreement with one +another." The admiration and affection which Mr. Nelson elicited was +pointedly demonstrated at his funeral. Bishop Burton sat in the chancel +alongside the Reverend Jesse Halsey, the Presbyterian minister. Dr. +Halsey said: "Bishop Burton, perfect gentleman that he is, not once +crossed himself in deference to Frank's (to him, atrocious) low church +prejudices!" Frank Nelson was like that. Respect for him sometimes came +grudgingly, but it came because there was no personal animosity in the +man. He was honored because he was a moral and a spiritual force with +which to be reckoned. + +His election to the Commercial Club of Cincinnati in 1923 is another +indication of his democratic and appealing character. This club is one +of the city's most exclusive, its membership being comprised entirely of +business executives, captains of industry, and a small sprinkling of +professional men. The constitution of the club allows for three honorary +members, and at the time of Mr. Nelson's election, the only honorary +member was William Howard Taft. An extract from the Club's minutes +reads: + + Believing that it would be a merited recognition of one of our + most worthy citizens, won by his unselfish zeal for the cause of + humanity, and as a leader for higher ideals in our civic life, + your Executive Committee unanimously recommend the election of + Rev. Frank H. Nelson to be an honorary member of the Commercial + Club. + +Each year at the Club's Christmas dinner, Mr. Nelson invariably gave an +address on some contemporary significance of Christmas. His message was +deeply impressive to this inner circle of representative citizens, for +he was one with them in spirit, even as he was one with the humblest of +his parish. In turn, such associations gave him courage and reënforced +his will to persist in a difficult calling, as the following lines +penned to a club member reveal: + + I wonder if you and a few men who are like you in real + understanding and real goodness, realize what your confidence and + friendship do for a minister? It isn't easy for us to keep our + faith in what is right and just and true, when successful men + tell us we don't know what we are talking about--that our faith + is plain foolishness in the face of realities. + +He entered into the Club's frolics with huge enjoyment, and on one +occasion took part in a pageant, dressed in the vestments of a mediaeval +bishop. During an outing in the South, the Club attended a religious +service, and while in the church Mr. Walter Draper had his pocket +picked. After the service, in some excitement he freely expressed his +indignation, continuing at great length until Mr. Nelson gleefully +returned the filched article! + +Out of his warmth of human feeling there came a real capacity for +enjoying simple, ordinary things. If he was stirred by the tragedy and +the immemorial pain of humanity, he was also moved by the elemental ties +of family and friendship, and by all the simplicity that lends them zest +and joy. He loved anniversaries, and was deeply appreciative of the +innumerable remembrances he received on those occasions. Christmas +parties in his home were a particular delight to friends and to those +members of the staff fortunate enough to enjoy the hospitality of Mr. +and Mrs. Nelson. He was child-like at heart, and those close to him were +warmed by his gaiety and thoughtfulness. He had a feeling for music and +when he led the carol rehearsals in the parish house hall before +Christmas and Easter, the boys and girls responded whole-heartedly. He +took charge in a firm manner; in fact no bronco was ever more +competently restrained than his youngsters. The chorus of boys and girls +sang softly or loudly at his will, and enjoyed it, and when he left the +platform, they did not growl an adieu, they applauded! + +Mr. Nelson's interest in people, and the work he accomplished had for a +background the sort of home environment which enhanced his capacity. In +1907 he was married to Miss Mary Eaton, the daughter of William Oriel +Eaton, a Cincinnati artist of distinction. Their adopted daughter, Ruth, +was an unending delight to him, and he lived to officiate at her +marriage, and to become a happy grandfather. Mrs. Nelson's admirable +arrangements of the household left him free of the many details that +might hamper a man in public office. He did not have to worry about +bringing home unexpected guests, and when he was not at home Mrs. Nelson +carried on in a loyal manner expressive of his interest in people. At +one time before the Travelers' Aid Society was organized, a mother and +two children arrived at the railroad station in some sort of pressing +difficulty. Not knowing where to go, the mother inquired of the +telephone operator, who suggested "Rev. Nelson." The woman in her +distress went to the rector's home on Pike Street. Mr. Nelson was out of +the city, but in characteristic fashion, his wife took them in and kept +them overnight. Mrs. Nelson's interest and work in the parish, +particularly with the young candidates for the Girls' Friendly Society, +was of a notable quality, and her fine understanding of their problems +was not only an important factor in the effectiveness of that +organization, but also happily supplemented her husband's unceasing +labors. + +Frank Nelson was continually sensitive to his good fortune in possessing +adequate means, in contrast to the deprivation and financial +difficulties of many others. He was incapable of concealment and there +was a refreshing frankness to his acknowledgment one Sunday morning +when, speaking on the parish budget, he facetiously told his +congregation that his salary was too large but he did not have the moral +courage to refuse it! He was also fortunate in many other ways, such as +being free from illness the larger part of his life, and from personal +bereavements, for his parents lived to a ripe age. His gift of +imagination in dealing with many problems not experienced by him +personally was, therefore, the more unusual. "Genius is the power of +getting knowledge with the least possible experience, and one of the +greatest differences between men is in the amount of experience they +need of anything in order to understand it."[21] + +The even tenor of his lot in life did not produce in him +self-satisfaction and complacency, but often did make him uneasy. He had +inherited his father's sternness of conscience and moral fibre. At one +time when a parishioner sold a piece of property and asked Mr. Nelson to +use the money to buy his first car, he was sorely perplexed as to the +appropriateness of accepting such a gift and allowing himself the luxury +of an automobile. He wondered what some of the people in his parish +would think. When calling in the "Bottoms," he often wore an old, blue +serge suit. He was acutely aware that his salary came in part from many +who had little, and to the end of his days his conscience troubled him +about this, wanting as he did to share the life of the least of his +people. + +Frank Nelson was a singularly modest person. In the early years of his +ministry one did not hear much about what he was doing. Everywhere +people talked of Stein's distinguished preaching, and not much was said +about Mr. Nelson's talents. He belittled his own abilities, and imagined +that things which were difficult for him came easily to other people. He +not only deprecated his skill in preaching, but thought he had no +capacity for meeting intellectuals on their own ground. It cannot be +said that he had an inferiority complex for that implies weakness, and +in Frank Nelson power and gentleness were happily and usefully joined. +The honor and acclaim that came to him from church and city never +impressed him unduly; in fact, he was saddened by them because they +represented a seeming success which in comparison with the great ideals +of the Christian ministry approximates failure. "So likewise ye, when ye +shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are +unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do." + +His exceptional sense of reality and proportion, which is the very +essence of humility, made him a forceful leader and at the same time +congenial company. Because he was completely sincere and unaffected, his +friends felt no self-consciousness in the presence of "the cloth." They +in turn could be candid with him. This fact was once amusingly +demonstrated when the music at Christ Church was not at its customary +high standard, and Mr. Nelson, happening to meet a parishioner who had +not been in church for some time, asked her why, and enjoyed a good +chuckle over her reply: "Oh! I am tired of hearing the choir bawl and +you bawl!" There was always a lively give and take in his friendships. +On one occasion at the close of an inter-faith meeting, he was chided by +a Roman Catholic friend about his poor speech. Admitting that he had +come unprepared, Mr. Nelson without the slightest sign of resentment +offered to drive his friend home, and they had a good two hour talk in +front of the Roman Cathedral. + +The range of his friendships was extraordinary for he possessed the +capacity to kindle admiration and affection. Many a man found him a +refreshing tonic, and would say, "I felt better for contact with him." +He was a frequent participant at the Round Table discussions in the +University Club, and delighted in the exchange of thought that came from +all sorts. At the time of the death of his friend, Father Finn, the +Pastor of St. Xavier's Church, which is in the vicinity of Christ +Church, Mr. Nelson attended the Requiem Mass, and afterwards was +observed standing by the hearse, head uncovered and tears in his eyes, +for they had been the best of friends. A great personality is more than +what he says, and many times brushes aside the trammels of the popular +conception of the institution which he represents. Frank Nelson had a +well-nigh perfect concept of what it means to be a Christian; and, +therefore, in his wide range of friendship among all faiths and those of +no faith, he carried himself without the faintest hint of disloyalty to +the Episcopal Church. As he was never colorless, men knew where he +stood, and though sometimes disagreeing with him, friends and critics +alike recognized his genuine goodness and knew his motives to be without +guile. He would say, "Always believe a person right until proved +otherwise. Take people at face value. I am a fool, but that is the only +way to begin." Such were the tenets of his quiet pugnacity of faith in +human beings. It is no wonder that a working-man called him, "The +greatest Christian in shoe-leather I ever met; a Christian capitalist +worthy of anyone's emulation"; or that his faithful colored sexton, who +waited on him, shined his shoes, and served him devotedly to the end of +his days, should say, "We were pals. He was always tops with me." + +Mr. Nelson was often the one called upon when grace of speech, dignity +of manner and discriminating taste were required. At a community mass +meeting in Music Hall in 1927, he was chosen to introduce the speaker of +the evening, Miss Maude Royden, the noted English preacher. He +accompanied Miss Royden to the center of the platform with all the +courtliness of a true gentleman, and with that deference due a +gentlewoman and an eminent personage. His introduction was an instance +of his singular felicity of expression and his ability to state in +choice language the sentiments prompted by the event of the moment. Such +was Mr. Nelson's gift for being master of every occasion. Sitting in +the back row of the immense hall which was crowded to the doors, I felt +that the audience quickly sensed the fitness of the presence on the same +platform of two such estimable representatives of the Christian Church. + +To illustrate further his command of language and his absolute candor, +there is an incident which also neatly tested his tact and truthfulness. +One sultry evening in Holy Week, when a long-winded clergyman was +preaching, it appeared to me that the rector dozed. I wondered what he +could honestly say to the man. After the service when we were in the +sacristy, he put his arm around the preacher's shoulders, and said, "Old +man, you set me to thinking!" His tact was never failing, though often +its diplomatic flavor could be more than faintly sensed! + +Accompanying his humility of spirit there was in his nature and his +opinions an air of authority wholly unecclesiastical, purely personal, +but immensely impressive. It came in part from his particular type of +intellect. He had an assimilative mind, which enabled him, for example, +to acquire rapidly the gist of a book, and to state succinctly and +clearly a point which he was desirous of making. His was an intuitive +knowledge rather than a scientific. It was not the kind of knowledge of +which the dogmatists speak and in which they alone can believe. Mr. +Nelson's knowledge was the sort which sees into the life of things and +of men. His intellectual powers were richly developed by his parish work +and heavy responsibilities, and by his reflection upon all kinds of +experiences and his understanding insight into other people's problems. +A forty years' ministry combined with such a type of mind gave him, for +one thing, a rather fine grasp of medical science. He knew its +principles, and was able to simplify and help at times when technical +terms leave the layman baffled and vague. Because of this special kind +of mind and the sweep of his experience, his general effect on people +was sometimes overwhelming. To illustrate a minor angle, he was not +adept in leading discussions; he could not draw out a group because he +had pretty thoroughly covered the subject himself, and the impact of +his personality was a bit overpowering. + +But above all, the authority one felt most in his personality was that +which came as a result of his being Christ-fashioned. He of all men +possessed the kind of nature which cannot live without God. There was +within him a spontaneity that was entirely himself, impossible of +duplication, totally socialized. He was not a mystic and maintained that +he was puzzled by their writings. He admitted that the prayer-life was +difficult for him, that he could not meditate or think about God for +long periods. His was not the ascetic or contemplative nature; he did +not live in reflective calm. In the whirlpool of human relations he was +an explorer, a bold adventurer bringing people into the presence of God; +and what does it matter whether one prays in words or acts? He +exemplified in his life one definition among many, namely, "To labor is +to pray." The weight of people's needs pressed down upon him so +relentlessly that he was driven to do something about them. His was the +temperament which animates an ancient prayer, "Lord, I am so busy this +day, if I forget Thee, do not Thou forget me." We are disposed to have +our tight little crystallizations of what prayer should or should not +be. Frank Nelson was impatient of such, for he ventured upon a scale +more broad than that envisioned by the average parson or layman. There +are no theological concepts which fit him. + +Mr. Nelson had a natural talent for enjoying people, which implemented +all his work, but for a man in his position such a gift has its price: +either one wears himself out or neglects his major task and so spreads +himself thin. He chose the first course, and as we contemplate this +record of vast accomplishment who are we to say that he did not choose +wisely? He was a very busy man, and went about doing good, not just +doing. His description of Helen Trounstine's life of activity is +applicable to his own: + + It was not restlessness, the hurrying on from one thing to + another, just to be busy. It was the true energy of full-hearted + and full-minded interest in life, and all that it holds; the + passion to learn that she might teach; to enjoy that she might + give joy; to rest that she might have strength to do her work; to + serve because men need her service. It was energy of mind and + heart so full of the vision of the greatness of life and the + opportunity of living, that she could not waste time except as it + ministered to the part she was to play. + +Mr. Nelson did not scatter his interests indiscriminately but +concentrated his efforts in the fields where he was most competent: +social problems and the relation of the Church to the most concrete +activities of human life. All these fitted into his prime purpose. + +The vision which governed his days was strengthened every year in the +long vacations that he took at his summer home in Cranberry Isles, +Maine. There beside the sea he dreamed long dreams, and drank in the +salty air which brought indispensable relaxation, and mental and +spiritual refreshment. In his small cabin on a point of land overlooking +the limitless ocean, he could be very much alone. Something of that +setting and its influence is conveyed in a letter to the Reverend +Theodore Sedgwick, a life-long friend, which discloses Mr. Nelson in a +reflective mood: + + + Sept. 6, 1928 + + Dear Ted: + + Many, many thanks for your intensely interesting letter, and its + review of Julian Huxley's book. Such a view of life and religion + does make one stop and think--and hesitate. It is the terribly + earnest spiritual problem that we face today in the ministry. It + is the sort of thing I had in mind, in suggesting the subject of + "God" for the next Swansea Conference. For we have got to face + the issue with eyes open, minds familiar with the biologist's + point of view. The old affirmations of formal theology are not + adequate to meet the issue. And yet in those affirmations I am + sure lies the truth--that God lives, God our Father--conscious of + Himself and of us--a person in a very real sense--from Whom we + derive personality--from Whom we came--and to Whom we go. If + mankind loses that, "his arms _do_ clasp the air" and he drowns + in the infinity of time and space and his own nothingness. We + have from Christ the truth and somehow we must learn it with a + new understanding--or rather with _the_ new understanding that + modern science and modern reverent scientific thought have given + us. I am sitting at my desk in my cabin at sunset. The day has + been cool and grey--a heavy curtain of cloud over the sky--But + now--that curtain is thinning and through the break in the + west--the whole glory of the sun has colored sky and sea with a + golden light beyond description for exquisite beauty. The gulls + are winging their way across the sea to a distant island where + they rest and go back to each night. As I sit and look, my whole + spirit is moved by the beauty and the evening quiet. There is + infinity here--of space and imagination. Yet--the gulls--I think, + are unconscious of all that--but I am moved by it and keenly + conscious of it. It is not just biology--or I would be as the + gulls--and I am not. And men are not. They want God--behind the + glory--God clothed with the glory--adequate to the glory--that + their own imagination and hunger and aspiration may be + justified--That is what Christ has given us to preach and it is + the truth. Now the gold has turned to a flaming red--thrilling + almost to the point of pain. One must believe--and then face the + chill grey of the coming night with the memory of it to lighten + and interpret it. + + We go a week from tomorrow, back to work, to the men and women + who have so bravely gone on working through long, hot summer days + in the streets and factories and tenements of the city. And in + that bravery and drudgery, there is the same flaming glory of + God. It isn't just biology--it is the spirit of God, making the + physical the dwelling place of God and glorifying it with His + presence. + +Frank Nelson had an almost Elizabethan zest for thought and action, and +even at Cranberry he entered enthusiastically into the local life. He +preached at least once every summer in the Congregational Church, and in +that church today are numerous memorials to him: a silver alms bason, +the Service Book of the Congregational Church beautifully bound in red +morocco, a United States flag, and several pictures. Each year at Easter +there is a large cross of geraniums in the church, and after the service +the flowers are distributed among the families on the island with a +card saying, "Given in memory of Frank Howard Nelson with the Easter +message of Christ's Resurrection." When he left Cranberry the last time, +all the public school children were dismissed to wave their goodbyes. +His unaffected interest in the affairs of the community expressed itself +in practical ways, and his unassuming and simple manner gave little +inkling that he was a foremost citizen of Cincinnati. + +"There is nothing comparable," says Coventry Patmore, "for moral force +to the charm of truly noble manners." Frank Nelson's manner was not only +the result of a choice family inheritance, but also the rich fruitage of +a lifetime of faithful obedience to a consuming passion and vision. He +was a life-giving river flowing in a parched land. In him the ancient +prophet's words found a fresh fulfillment: "Everything shall live +whithersoever the river cometh." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[21] R. L. Nettleship _Lectures on the Republic of Plato_, p. 129, +published by Macmillan Co. Used with permission. + + + + + _Last + Years_ + + + _Then of those shadows, which one made descent + Beside me I knew not; but Life ere long + Came on me in the public ways, and bent + Eyes deeper than of old; Death met I too + And saw the dawn glow through._ + + --_Anon_ + + + 8 + + +Frank Nelson never became an old man. Toward the end of his life his +body could not fulfill the demands of his spirit, and he was not able to +undertake as much nor see as many people as he wished, but he never +neglected any responsibility. At times he could not keep going and had +to stop on the street to rest because too much exertion caused pain, but +he would not spare himself nor did he ever complain. He was a happy +soldier who smiled through his closing years. + +In 1931-1932 he suffered from a blocking off of the blood vessels that +drain the leg, a condition which has very serious possibilities. He +weighed these possibilities, says Dr. Richard S. Austin, but like most +patients he figured there was always the chance that he might not have +to pay the price. He was like the physician who when told to practice +what he preached replied, "Did you ever know a sign-post to walk down +the road?" He bore his illness with fortitude, concealing from his +family and friends the vexation that he felt as the activities which +were life itself to him were curtailed more and more. When entering the +church in procession with the choir, he would never use a cane though he +was often suffering acutely, but squaring himself, and throwing back his +shoulders, he would march resolutely on. As he crossed the chancel to +enter his pulpit, something of his old vigor was apparent, and as he +preached, his voice was strong and clear. If he was less animated, he +was no less intense, no less the tremendously invigorating preacher. One +day in the parish house Canon Symons met him carrying a heavy bag. He +was about to leave for one of his frequent periods in the hospital, and +Canon Symons remonstrated with him and tried to take his bag, but Mr. +Nelson refused, saying, "No, I won't. I would rather drop in my tracks +than to save myself and spend endless days in hospitals." + +At the Annual Meeting of the Parish on April 10, 1939, Mr. Nelson +presented his resignation, "not because I want to quit, but I am +concerned that this parish should not weaken. This church is facing, as +every church is facing, a new day; and it needs the leadership of +younger and stronger men." It was accepted with marked reluctance to +take effect when his successor should be chosen and had arrived. On May +21st the parish and many of his friends outside Christ Church celebrated +his forty years' ministry in the one church and city, and there was a +singular out-pouring of people. + +At the conclusion of the observance he wrote a friend: + + Though it was not so stated in the bond, it saved me from a + farewell celebration. I preached at all three services, and it + saved me the embarrassment of listening to eulogies, and saved + others from having to deliver them! But everyone was fine about + it. They decorated the Altar with gorgeous red roses, and me with + my red Seminary hood (He wore his Doctor's hood rarely and always + looked rather sheepish when asking his secretary to take it out + of the safe!), and we had the two choirs at eleven o'clock, and + lovely music at all the services. So the day went well, and we're + all glad it is well over. + +In a letter to another friend he said: + + It wasn't easy to speak and to face the services, and that they + meant the real end of my rectorship, my active ministry. There + were dear friends and very loyal parishioners there. And I think + you know my love for Christ Church and for Cincinnati, and my + inexpressible appreciation of all that this church and city have + given me. It is terribly hard to try to realize that after this + summer I shall no longer be rector of Christ Church--and all that + that has meant and means--and in very deep gratitude I saw the + many, and my mind and heart were very full. Indeed I hope I shall + not "retire" from the friendships, and from the life of the + people and city. Thank you more than I can say for what only you + could so write. I have had a very rare opportunity, and very + privileged forty years, and I hope the coming years--or weeks or + months, whatever God wills--will bring in their own way the same + high things and find me worthy of them, and chief of them, worthy + of your friendship and faith. + + + + +He had given the church and city a lifetime of service, loyalty, and +love, and the place he held in the affections of his people had been +abundantly made known to him. + +In July before the last Sunday he was scheduled to preach, he was +stricken by a heart attack, and so his ministry came to a close without +further sadness of farewell. He spent a few weeks in the hospital, and +improved sufficiently to journey to his beloved Cranberry Isles +accompanied by his wife and daughter. But a doctor, knowing what others +did not realize, broke down and wept when Mr. Nelson left the hospital. +His friends and he himself felt confident that a protracted rest would +do the work of healing. In August he sustained another and a more severe +attack, and as the chilling, autumn winds blew in from the Atlantic they +brought him to the Phillips House in Boston. He saw no one at first, but +then he grew restless, and the doctor permitted visitors. There were +many, and as he was making no progress, he was moved to the old family +home in North Marshfield, near Cape Cod. There as a boy he had roamed +the spacious, rambling house and the bright fields, and there his +parents had lived the last twenty-five years of their lives. The lovely, +old home with its atmosphere of peace brought back many tender memories. +In the absolute quiet of these surroundings which he loved, he lingered +some two weeks. With another attack he lapsed into unconsciousness, and +his boyhood friend, the late Dean Philemon F. Sturges of Boston, came +down to be with the family. On the morning of October 31st as the end +approached, Dean Sturges knelt beside him and in the dear familiar words +of the Prayer Book said, "Lift up your hearts," and the family bravely +responded, "We lift them up unto the Lord." The Dean continued, "It is +very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and +_in all places_, give thanks unto Thee, O Lord." It was meet and right +that Frank Nelson should depart this life on such a note of +thanksgiving. + +At the burial in Cincinnati, November Third, the parish, life-long +friends, and representatives of the city thronged Christ Church not to +say "Farewell," but "Hail!", for as Alfred Segal grandly put it, "He was +like one going away to gather in his victory." For a night and a day +preceding the service, his body lay in the beautiful chapel of his own +creation, and great numbers of men, women and children of all faiths +came to pay a final tribute. The burial service was the same as he +himself had always used, only read now by his successor, and the Bishop +of the Diocese. To his friends and beloved people it all seemed passing +strange if not unreal. Frail beings that we are, we had never sensed +more than a vague possibility that his ministry would one day terminate. +It was not past human knowing, of course, but it was beyond the grasp of +human imagining that the day would come when Frank Nelson would no +longer walk the city's streets, no longer hurry to the distant suburbs. +We felt this way because in an unusual sense men loved this servant of +the servants of God in Cincinnati who had dwelt among them for forty +years. Yet the great congregation rose above human grief and surmounted +the consciousness of personal loss in the tremendous note of triumph and +thankfulness that prevailed throughout the simple service from its +opening sentences, "I am the resurrection and the life," to the Bishop's +final words of commitment, "Unto God's gracious mercy and protection." +They sang only hymns of victory, hymns that he especially loved and +which were expressive of his faith and spirit: John Bunyan's "He who +would valiant be," and "There is a wideness in God's mercy." The +recessional moved to the church door to the triumphant words "For all +the saints who from their labors rest," set to the stirring tune of R. +Vaughan Williams. Thus in the simplicity and dignity of the things said +and done there that afternoon did the passing of this noble minister +symbolize the destiny of all mankind. + +They took him to beautiful Spring Grove Cemetery and laid him beneath a +majestic sycamore tree whose spreading branches seemed to represent the +out-reach of his life. Years ago at his behest Christ Church had been +given a plot of ground for the poor, the friendless, and the forgotten +of men, "God's Acre." There, by his express wishes, Frank Nelson lies +among the least of his flock, the faithful shepherd who called his own +by name. Then every man "went away again unto his own home." + + + + + _The + Afterglow_ + + + 9 + + +It is now more than five years since Mr. Nelson's death, and today the +old church in the hands of his successor, Nelson M. Burroughs, whose +first name singularly suggests a prolongation of the Nelson dynasty, and +whose spirit and abilities are a worthy continuation of an unusual +rectorship, is still animated by Frank Nelson's vision, his joy in +service. His ideals live today in the parish of Christ Church, which has +not failed him but carries out that which he committed unto them in his +farewell address: + + The Church is the important thing to all of us. We need the + Church, for faith, for courage, for guidance. The Diocese needs + this Parish--its loyalty--its support--its fellowship--as we need + the Diocese. The City needs this Church. You will never forget, + will you, the Vision, and the power that came with it, that Mr. + Stein gave us forty years ago, viz;--that the Church is the Body + of Christ, not a club, to minister, and not to be ministered to. + The people all about us, the whole city, are our concern, to + bring them the Gospel of Christ. So, I pray God you will go + forward into the new day with high faith and enthusiasm. You have + a mission from God. + +The mission goes on in the spirit of readiness to embark on great +ventures, and of youth not knowing defeat, for on Easter Day, 1941 the +authorities of Christ Church announced it as their purpose to erect a +glorious new building on the site of the present edifice as the only +adequate memorial to Frank Nelson. As in the dark days of 1917 the +parish audaciously built the Centennial Chapel, so the tragic repetition +of world war sees in the present rector and people no diminishing of +that daring and firmness of vision. This plan is, as Mr. Nelson would +have it, not for his own glory, but for the larger range of the Church +in the service of the city. He had said, "This is the work of those who +will come after me." + +Christ Church will one day be clothed in garments of new beauty because +Frank Nelson preached the Gospel that is the hope of a better democracy. +The grandeur of his accomplishment impels men to undertake this task; +and thus it is a living fact that his vision is still an influence in +the city, and is the choice heritage of an unnumbered host. + +If because of human frailty we think of heaven as rest, his spirit +corrects us. If in our partial understanding he seems to deserve release +from labor, yet for the very reason that he "wrought with tireless hand +through crowded days,"[22] we know in our moments of vision that for so +knightly a spirit the only possible reward is authority over ten cities. + +From that kingdom of the spirit, he speaks to us across the abyss of +time, and nowhere is his voice stronger, his thought clearer than in the +first chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians. Here, forever sealed in +the enduring words of Saint Paul, is the heart of Frank Nelson's +ministry, a ministry valiant and without blemish: + + I thank my God upon every remembrance of you ... for your + fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; being + confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good + work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[22] Inscription on a tablet in the chapel of Phillips Exeter Academy, +Exeter, N. H. + + + + + +-------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Research has shown that the copyright on | + | this book was not renewed. | + | | + | Typographical errors corrected in the text: | + | | + | Page ix incalcuable changed to incalculable | + | Page 9 incalcuable changed to incalculable | + | Page 9 interne changed to intern | + | Page 23 enternal changed to eternal | + | Page 25 Legionaires changed to Legionnaires | + | Page 35 unconsciouness changed to unconsciousness | + | Page 40 nothwithstanding changed to notwithstanding | + | Page 47 immeasureably changed to immeasurably | + | Page 49 Farrer changed to Farrar | + | Page 58 self-martydom changed to self-martyrdom | + | Page 58 internes changed to interns | + | Page 59 Gareld changed to Garfield | + +-------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati, by Warren C. Herrick + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRANK H. NELSON OF CINCINNATI *** + +***** This file should be named 26980-8.txt or 26980-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/9/8/26980/ + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Barbara Kosker and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |