44 CENTENNIAL HISTORY
and then the matter was met with such promptness, determination and generosity as to prove the occasion of more honor than of disgrace. The brethren put their hands into their pockets at the annual meeting of the Ecclesiastical Society and wiped out the deficit on the spot. Then was instituted the plan of a weekly thank-offering in addition to regular pew rentals which proved a perennial solution of the problem of current church-expenses. The improvement of temporalities began very early in the shingling of the parsonage-barn, and was straightway continued in the same favor to the parsonage. Then followed the installation of the pipe organ which has contributed so much to enliven and enrich your services of divine worship. Messrs. Geo. T. Hine and Elbee J. Treat were the efficient committee. Next came the church-furnace, the great comfort of which all appreciated and which was not without its quite direct ministry to spiritual life and warmth. Mr. S. D. Woodruff was instrumental in this good work. The remodeling of the parsonage and the putting in of a furnace transformed it into a delightful home and church-parlors combined. The church-edifice was then painted and no longer proclaimed barrenness, however much it might have pertained to our spiritual life. Among lesser improvements distinctly recollected was the placing of a lamp on the outside of the Church in front, and the laying of new matting in the entrance-hall of the Church. It is truly remarkable how much comparatively little expenditures oftentimes contribute to comfort and respectability and how much of good cheer they bring, attesting, as they do, Christian thoughtfulness and a wholesome jealousy for the courts of the Lord. During the summer of 1890, the Cemetery was greatly improved, a work which has continued to the present time. In an anniversary discourse preached September 21st, 1890, the congregation was urged to improve the Village Green. This thought had already been in the minds of some of the people. The speaker recalls that Mr. E. L. Clark, Sen., first suggested the idea. Before many weeks elapsed public meetings were held to discuss the project, and plans were matured, and the follow-