Part 7 (1/2)

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 Requie 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 e of friendshi+p a 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,with hioodness and knew his uile He would say, ”Always believe a person right until proved otherwise Take people at face value I ain” Such were the tenets of his quiet pugnacity of faith in hu-reatest Christian in shoe-leather I ever met; a Christian capitalist worthy of anyone's emulation”; or that his faithful colored sexton, aited on him, shi+ned his shoes, and served him devotedly to the end of his days, should say, ”We were pals He was always tops with race of speech, dignity oftaste were required At a co 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 platforentleentlewoe His introduction was an instance of his singular felicity of expression and his ability to state in choice language the sentiments proift for beingin 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 coe 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 clergy, it appeared to me that the rector dozed I wondered what he could honestly say to the man After the service ere in the sacristy, he put his arm around the preacher's shoulders, and said, ”Old , though often its diplomatic flavor could behis 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 ist of a book, and to state succinctly and clearly a point which he was desirous of e 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 poere 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' ave hirasp of medical science He knew its principles, and was able to simplify and help at tiue Because of this special kind of eneral effect on people was sole, 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 i

But above all, the authority one felt most in his personality was that which ca Christ-fashi+oned He of all men possessed the kind of nature which cannot live without God There ithin him a spontaneity that was entirely himself, impossible of duplication, totally socialized He was not a s He admitted that the prayer-life was difficult for hi periods His was not the ascetic or contemplative nature; he did not live in reflective calm In the whirlpool of hu people into the presence of God; and what does it matter whether one prays in words or acts? He exe ht of people's needs pressed down upon hi about them His was the temperament which animates an ancient prayer, ”Lord, I aet ht little crystallizations of what prayer should or should not be Frank Nelson was impatient of such, for he ventured upon a scale e parson or layical concepts which fit hi people, which impleift has its price: either one wears hilects 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 busyHis description of Helen Trounstine's life of activity is applicable to his own:

It was not restlessness, the hurrying on froy of full-hearted and full-minded interest in life, and all that it holds; the passion to learn that she ive joy; to rest that she th to do her work; to serve because y of reatness 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 prioverned 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 dreaht indispensable relaxation, and mental and spiritual refresh the li 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,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 proble I had inthe subject of ”God” for the next Swansea Conference For we have got to face the issue with eyes open, ist's point of view The old affiry 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 Whoo If mankind loses that, ”his arms _do_ clasp the air” and he drowns in the infinity of tiness We have from Christ the truth and so--or rather with _the_ new understanding that iven us I a at rey--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,quiet There is infinity here--of space and iulls--I think, are unconscious of all that--but I am y--or I would be as the gulls--and I alory--God clothed with the glory--adequate to the glory--that their own ier and aspiration iven us to preach and it is the truth Now the gold has turned to a fla almost to the point of pain One ht with the o a week from tomorrow, back to work, to the , hot summer days in the streets and factories and teneery, there is the say--it is the spirit of God,it with His presence

Frank Nelson had an alht and action, and even at Cranberry he entered enthusiastically into the local life He preached at least once every suational Church, and in that church today are numerous memorials to hiational Church beautifully bound in red , 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 a, ”Given in e of Christ's Resurrection” When he left Cranberry the last time, all the public school children were disoodbyes

His unaffected interest in the affairs of the community expressed itself in practical ways, and his unassu that he was a fore 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 fae of a lifeti passion and vision He was a life-giving river flowing in a parched land In him the ancient prophet's words found a fresh fulfill shall live whithersoever the river cometh”

FOOTNOTES:

[21] R L Nettleshi+p _Lectures on the Republic of Plato_, p 129, published by Macmillan Co Used with permission

_Last Years_

_Then of those shadohich oneCame on me in the public ways, and bent Eyes deeper than of old; Death h_

--_Anon_