Alfred W. Arundel to Charles W. Chesnutt, 21 August 1922
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[1]
EMMANUEL PARISH HOUSE1
6614 EUCLID AVENUE
CLEVELAND
Monday, Aug 21 1922
My dear Mr Chesnutt
Your good letter of the 17th inst has reached me and I should have answered on Saturday, except that I was unusually busy.2 I sympathise with both the difficulties which you confronted in the endeavor to do me the kindness which I had solicited. The relaxation of "vacation-time" does make effort of any kind rather disconcerting &, more or less, of a nuisance. Moreover, I had
[2]
EMMANUEL PARISH HOUSE
6614 EUCLID AVENUE
CLEVELAND
also thought of the difficulty you mention of framing a short article suitable for publication in our Church newspapers.3 As you say, there is no outstanding distinction of any kind about me which might furnish a text to write from; and it is just possible the editors may refuse anything that is more personal than general.
But, my dear Mr Chesnutt what you have written is most tactful & well expressed. I appreciate it. The thought in my own mind was that I had so many friends in the country who would be
[3]
EMMANUEL PARISH HOUSE
6614 EUCLID AVENUE
CLEVELAND
glad to know that I was not yet "a back number."
I have taken the liberty you so kindly give me of making one or two minor changes, but in the main they are very good letters, except, perhaps, that you over estimate me.
The morning congregations at Emmanuel have been increasingly good and genuine expressions of appreciation more frequent. I have felt that there is more mental capacity & more spiritual apprehension among the women than I find among the men.
[4]
EMMANUEL PARISH HOUSE
6614 EUCLID AVENUE
CLEVELAND
I sincerely trust your rest will bring you real and permanent benefit.4 Please give my kindest regards to Mrs Chesnutt5 and your daughters6 and express to them my keen appreciation of kindnesses and courtesies shown me.
My permanent New York address is 145 West 12th St; tel, Chelsea, 5774. Should any of you come to New York I know you will look me up.
By the way, the cost of publishing that sermon seems to be prohibitive. $55.00 was the lowest bid: The
[5]
EMMANUEL PARISH HOUSE
6614 EUCLID AVENUE
CLEVELAND
senior Miss Kimball is making a type-written copy.7
This letter is rather longer than I had intended, but you won't mind.
With every good wish for yourself & congratulating myself for the privilege of meeting you, I am
Yours most sincerely Alfred W. ArundelPS. Perhaps you will have the enclosed type-written & sent—kindly make any change you may deem best. You have been most kind. Have omitted reference to retiring & coming Rectors. It is generally known
[1]
Aug 27/22
Editor
"Church Life"8
Cleveland Ohio
Dear Sir
Those who have attended Emmanuel Church during the past four months have been impressed by the exceedingly able manner in which the Rev. Dr. Alfred W Arundel has fulfilled the duties of his Office. His conduct of the various Services of the Church has been most impressive and his Sermons have been models of clearness & force & have dealt with the problems growing out of the great complexity of modern life. At the same time these Sermons have been permeated with
[2]
a deep spirutuality which was very uplifting & which carried home to the hearts of the hearers the lessons they were designed to impart.
This four months Ministry has left a lasting impression on me and there could have been no better preparation for us, as we look forward to the coming of the newly elected Rector.
Dr. Arundel has always reminded us of the great expectations which should animate us & has urged deep preparation of mind & heart for the coming of the[?]our new leader.
The parish will miss Dr. Arundel not alone for
[3]
distinguished ability but, as well, for his genial & lovable personality.
We wish him "God speed" and a still larger field of usefulness; but, wherever he goes, none will have a truer appreciation of his talents than we of Emmanuel Church.
Sincerely Chas W Chesnutt a long time Communicant of Emmanuel Parish.9
[1]
Editor "The Churchman"10
No 2 West 47th St.
New York City
Dear Sir:
There are many of your readers who know the Rev Dr Alfred. W. Arundel and of his many years in Trinity Parish, Pittsburgh. They will be interested to know that, for the last four months, he has served Emmanuel Church, Cleveland wi[?] with great acceptability and with lasting benefit to the Parishioners. Dr. Arundel still retains strength of body & mind and is second to few in the effectiveness of his ministrations. His rendition of the Services of the Church has been the subject of universal
[2]
commendation. His sermons have been distinguished by earnestness and power & have left a lasting impression. He has dealt in a large & liberal way with those questions growing out of the complexity of modern life & never failed to carry home to the hearts of his hearers the immediate need of consecration & obedience.
His many friends will be glad to know, through your columns, of the success which attends his ministry, wherever he goes and we, of Emmanuel Parish, will long remember him with gratitude.
Sincerely Chas W. Chesnutt, a long-time Communicant of Emmanuel Parish, Cleveland Ohio.11 Aug 27 1922
[1]
Cleveland, Ohio
Aug 27 1922
Editor
"The Southern Churchman"12
Richmond Va
Dear Sir
The readers of your paper may be interested to know that the Rev Dr Alfred W Arundel, who is now a member of your Diocese & has served in S. Carolina, has, for the past four months, been in charge of Emmanuel Parish, Cleveland.
Dr. Arundel's conduct of the Services during this period has been distinguished by a rare devotional earnestness, such as all good Church people love. His
[2]
Sermons have been characterised by great clearness, and force and an unusual literary charm.
The Parishioners of Emmanuel Church have also learned to love him for his genial & lovable personality & we consider ourselves fortunate in having had the benefit of his four months' Ministry.
Sincerely Chas W Chesnutt a long time Communicant of Emmanuel Parish, Cleveland, Ohio.13
Correspondent: Alfred William Arundel (1855–1936) was a White Episcopal clergyman who was originally from the United Kingdom. He emigrated to Ohio in the 1870s and served in Akron, Ohio, before becoming rector of the Trinity Cathedral in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the early 1890s, a post from which he resigned in 1911 when he became a public advocate of Christian Socialism. Most of his church appointments after 1911 (in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and elsewhere) seem to have been of short duration. In the summer of 1922, he was interim rector at Chesnutt's church in Cleveland, Emmanuel Episcopal, before returning to New York City; in the fall of 1923, he served at St. Paul's Church in Canton, Ohio. Eventually, he returned to his native Yorkshire, England.
1. The Chesnutt family worshipped at Emmanuel Episcopal Church on Euclid Ave and E. 86th St. in Cleveland beginning in 1889. They maintained social connections through this integrated, but predominantly White church. Susan was a member of the church's Women's Guild, Chesnutt occasionally gave readings, and donated to its fundraisers. The involvement of Emmanuel Parish in social work likely contributed to the family's interest in the Settlement House movement. [back]
2. Chesnutt's mentioned letter from August 17, 1922 and the draft of the letters he wrote as tributes to Alfred W. Arundel's service at Emmanuel Church have not been located. However, included here as enclosures are the three letters as rewritten by Arundel (in his handwriting), which served as the basis for Chesnutt's typed letters to three Episcopalian periodicals.--> [back]
3. The newspapers in question were Church Life (Cleveland, Ohio), The Churchman (New York, New York), and The Southern Churchman (Richmond, Virginia). See Chesnutt's letters, following Arundel's revisions to his own draft, written to all three papers on August 27, 1922. [back]
4. August 1922 was the first summer month that Chesnutt's family spent at Idlewild, Michigan, although Chesnutt's wife, Susan, and son, Edwin, had summered at the Black resort in 1921 while Helen and her father took an extended road trip. See Helen Chesnutt, Charles Waddell Chesnutt: Pioneer of the Color Line (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1952), 289. [back]
5. Susan Perry Chesnutt (1861–1940) was from a well-established Black family in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and worked as a teacher at Fayetteville's Howard School before marrying Chesnutt. They were married from 1878 until his death in 1932 and had four children: Ethel, Helen, Edwin, and Dorothy. Susan led an active life in Cleveland. [back]
6. In 1922, two of Chesnutt's daughters, Helen and Dorothy, were living with their parents while pursuing their careers. After finishing college in 1904, Helen had returned to Cleveland to work as a secondary-school teacher, and she continued to live at the house until her mother's death in 1940. Dorothy lived with her parents as a student, probation officer, and eventually junior-high teacher, until her husband completed his medical degree in 1931. [back]
7. Alfred W. Arundel's sermon has not been further identified. The "senior Miss Kimball" is likely Maude Laura Kimball (1869–1953), the older of two single daughters of a family who had been Emmanuel Episcopal parishioners since the 1890s. [back]
8. Church Life was a periodical published by the Episcopalian Diocese of Ohio. Founded by local Episcopalians in Cleveland in 1887, the paper appeared somewhat irregularly and under varying titles in the early 20th century, but was issued monthly in the 1920s. The September 1922 issue has not been located thus far, but likely included a notice about Arundel's temporary rectorship in Cleveland.--> [back]
9. See Chesnutt's letter to the editor of Church Life of August 27, 1922. [back]
10. The Churchman was a nationally distributed American Episcopalian weekly periodical that appeared from 1831 until 1861 and from 1867 until the 1990s; it was published out of New York City from 1880 to 1959. The Churchman did not publish Chesnutt's letter, but printed a short notice about Arundel's return to his New York City address; see "Here and There in the Church," The Churchman (September 9, 1922): 4. [back]
11. See Chesnutt's letter to the editor of The Churchman of August 27, 1922. [back]
12. The Southern Churchman was the weekly newsletter of the Southern Episcopalian churches, founded in Richmond, Virginia in 1835 and published until 1952. A version of Chesnutt's letter about Alfred W. Arundel with further revisions, signed "C. W. C.," was printed in the "Church News" section: "The Rev. Dr. Alfred W. Arundel, now of Virginia and who has also served in South Carolina, has for the past four months been in charge of Emmanuel Parish, Cleveland. Dr. Arundel's conduct of the services during this period has been distinguished by a rare devotional earnestness and his sermons have been characterized by great clearness and force and an unusual literary charm. The parishioners of Emmanuel Church have also learned to love him for his genial and lovable personality and consider themselves fortunate in having had the benefit of his four months' ministry" (The Southern Churchman 87, no. 36 [1922]: 23). [back]
13. See Chesnutt's letter to the editor of The Southern Churchman of August 27, 1922. [back]
