For eighteen years he presided at its organ and led and trained the choir; through winter's cold and summer's heat, he unfailingly and regularly gave his time and strength to rehearsals and services, without money and without price.

This service was rendered with such cheerfulness, ability, and consecration, as to secure constant and utmost harmony in spirit among the singers, and a most acceptable and helpful contribution to this part of our public worship.

The Church endeavored from time to time and in various ways, by gifts and expressions of gratitude, to show its appreciation of the self-sacrifice and devotion of Mr. Fish, but it has always realized that it could never repay the debt it owed him.

Mr. Fish lived his life and did his work in the most quiet and unassuming spirit, -never shrinking from the performance of any duty nor failing to do it well.

He was church treasurer for twenty-five years, resigning the office in 1867, because of absence from the city.

In the Sunday school, he was a valued and beloved teacher; in the prayer-meeting, his occasional prayers are remembered as remarkable for their humility and spirit of reverence; and in the sick-room and the house of mourning, his lovely spirit and warm sympathies made him a welcome and consoling visitor; his presence was often requested and often voluntarily given.

He was a true lover of nature, and by his own taste and labor transformed an uncultivated waste into a fruitful orchard and a garden of flowers.

The beauty and refinement of his nature was reflected in his face and expression, and all who saw him and heard him speak were drawn to him by his attractive personality. Much of his charm came, doubtless, from the amiable and fine qualities which were his natural endowment; but none who knew him failed to recognize that the mainspring of his life and the source of his influence was his devotion to Christ, and that his almost ideal character was the fruit of that devotion.

His wife was the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Amery Glazier, who were among the charter members of our Church.

MRS. ELIZA ANN FISH, wife of Henry H. Fish, was a woman of great intelligence, refinement, and grace of manner; keenly appreciative of all beauty and nobility, not only in the material order, but in the realm of the spirit.

She was a genial hostess, well read, and one who delighted to put into verse form, narratives of special events happening in the church or missionary gatherings, anniversaries, celebrations, etc. The Beneficent Society meetings often gave opportunity for the use of this gift, and our "Historical Sketches" afford apt illustrations of this talent of Mrs. Fish.

Robert Knight Remington

COMING to our city as a young lad, with his older brother Hale, from Providence, R. I., Robert K. Remington, a bright boy, full of fun, full of kindness to all, soon identified himself with the Central Church and Sabbath school. In those days, the city was quite small in population, and each knew the other so well that there seemed to be but one great family, each taking an active part with the others, in all matters of common interest.

He became a christian in 1850, during one of the great revivals under Dr. Thurston, when so many of his friends and companions took their "stand for Jesus," and immediately he began his earnest, lifelong work in the cause of Christ.

He developed nobly, and was called to fill many different offices in the Church and Society. It is well remembered by some, of this same brother who in after life was so prominent in all kinds of christian work, such as church, Sabbath school, evangelistic, temperance and Young Men's Christian Association, how, with fear and trembling, he responded to the

call from our good Deacon Earl, to offer his first prayer in public in the small vestry of the old Central Church on Bedford Street. From that time, till the call came to "come up higher," he never faltered, but stood in his place, bearing testimony to the grace of God in his own case, and striving in all possible ways to bring others to " a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus." "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."

He became an honored man and a highly esteemed citizen, ready to take his own just part in all good work and works and with his whole being. "He grew as the flowers in the open field," strong, vigorous, helpful, active.

His special work in the church was with the young life, being superintendent of the Sabbath school for many years, an office he filled with great acceptance at two several times, and for a series of years at each period of service.

He was a born leader, full of life, ambition and action, strong, and with ever-widening influence and power.

In his later years, he was specially identified with the Young Men's Christian Association, both at home, in the city, and in this and neighboring states. Jealous lest his Master should not be fully honored, he became a foremost leader in all its phases of work. His motto in life was, "Owe no man anything." He saw the bright side of life even in the midst of

reverses.

He was one of the committee of four gentlemen chosen to prepare plans and build our present church edifice, — taking a particular interest and as his share of work and responsibility, the decorations of the interior, the audience room, parlors, etc. He gave the greater part of his time to the details of this work, and when he saw any design which he felt was not quite right, or lacking in proper effect, he insisted upon its reconstruction or improvement. He not only gave his time, but in other ways filled out the trust given him most

loyally and beneficently, his ambition being the making of a perfect building, a true and worthy "temple to the living God."

The fine "Jerusalem window" in the south parlor was the gift of Mr. Remington. He was broad spirited, and never tired in any undertaking, always finding a pleasant way out of unpleasant things. He was laid aside by a sudden and severe attack of pneumonia, which terminated fatally after only a week's illness. He entered into the Church Triumphant, November 25, 1886, in the sixty-first year of his age. "His beaming face, his joyous spirit, his mirthful moods, will long linger with us to brighten our faces in remembrance of him, though we are sad at heart over his loss."

He married Miss Harriet M. Hill of this city for his first wife, who died December 12, 1848. He married, the second time, Miss Elizabeth A. Thatcher, of Middleboro, Mass., who with five children survived him.

Mrs. Mary L. Whelpley Towle, of Napa, Cal., an old-time friend and former member of this Church, on hearing of Mr. Remington's death, gave expression to her thoughts in the following lines:

In Memoriam

CROWNED

A message borne across the land and sea,
And fraught with kindly, tender sympathy,
Came in the too-familiar, mournful way,

"The friend you knew and loved is dead to-day."

A touch of pain, a little fall of tears,
And then a joy transcended all my fears;
I thought of his abundant entrance where
He no more needs our poor, imperfect care.

Then I went back to days and years agone,
To his young manhood's bright, auspicious dawn;
When intuitions, born of love and truth,
Deepened his yearnings at the fount of youth.

A christian gentleman, of truest mold,

I well remember him in days of old.

A father of the fatherless was he,

A brother in a sense most brotherly.

How sweet the memory of the time, when we
Caught the responsive tones of melody
Breathed from his lips, and spirit all aflame
With recognition of the " Precious Name."

Didst toll a knell for such a man as this
Given an entrance into life and bliss?
Didst cover him with a funereal pall,

When heaven was his, and Christ his all in all?

We think the lilies were his winding-sheet,

No cross or crescent at his head or feet;
Only a crown and pillow for his rest,
The last and tenderest of love's behest.

DECEMBER 9, 1886.