Items of Interest

As has been the custom for several years past, the original Mother Church auditorium and vestry will be in readiness at the Annual Meeting of The Mother Church for those who wish to occupy seats there. The auditorium in the Extension has not, of late, accommodated all who attend, and some members prefer to hear the reports in the smaller auditoriums, in which the program is projected adequately by loud speakers.

For the Wednesday evening meeting following the Annual Meeting, the auditorium of the original Mother Church will be in use, and the Second Reader of The Mother Church is to preside there. All of the service will be heard through a loud speaker except the testimonies, which are to be given independently in each auditorium.

On Sunday morning preceeding the Annual Meeting the original Church auditorium and vestry are in use for Sunday school purposes. Therefore, on that morning as was done for the last two or three Meetings, a loud speaker will be placed in the foyer of the Extension so that those who do not obtain seats in the main auditorium may yet listen to the service.

Only members of The Mother Church are admitted to the Annual Meeting, and they must have obtained cards of admittance by applying, individually, in the Sunday school room in advance of the Meeting. Admission cards may be obtained there on June 3 from 8.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. and on June 5 from 8.30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

It was a fine day in May and an observer wondered at the scene of activity all about The Mother Church edifice. On the Huntington Avenue side the Church park was in process of grading, due to the removal of a block of houses which formerly occupied a corner. One of the walks from Huntington Avenue to Falmouth Street opposite the Extension was being relocated so that the approach will be directly toward the main entrance of the Church. The work of repointing the terra cotta of the outer dome of the Church Extension, something which needs to be done every few years, was going on. On the other side of the edifice on Norway Street the observer noted the raising and resetting of the curb stones preparatory to the laying of new sidewalks from the junction of Norway and Falmouth Streets at the original Church edifice past the Extension and the present Publishing House.

On the opposite side of the street workmen were busy filling in for the sidewalk adjacent to the new Publishing House. Also, employees of the City of Boston were engaged in leveling up Norway Street prepatory to laying a new surface. At this point it might be said that the City of Boston authorities, including its MAyor, have been very helpful and kind in facilitating the building of the new Publishing House and other work connected therewith.

The space adjacent to the new Publishing House on Norway Street, including the large court opposite the original Mother Church edifice, was being filled with loam. The observer saw preparation for a decorative circular pavement, around which green turf had already been laid. There was activity in the walled garden fronting Massachusetts Avenue which may be entered from the reception room of the new Publishing House through a narrow balcony. It was evident that soon the garden will be filled in and graded ready for planting. Workmen on the terrace near the roof of the tower were piling the tile for the penthouse roofing which is now being placed. All about the new building the stone work was receiving its final washing, as a result of which the limestone gleamed in the sunlight.

Adjacent to the main entrance on Norway Street, at either side, decorative bronze lamp bases are erected. Each base branches out like the letter "Y," and on either projection will be a bronze lantern. At the other entrances on Norway Street similar lanterns will be installed singly on either side of the doorways. Within the Publishing House there have already been delivered bronze bases for the flag poles and other exterior bronze fittings.

The odor of paint came from the open windows of "B" Section, and the observer found that inside there was also activity. In some rooms in Section "B" the sound-proofing ceilings and walls were receiving a priming coat preparatory to painting. In such rooms as the stencil cutting room and the bindery this material is used to deadan the noise and is also decorative. Each section of the material is about three quarters of an inch in thickness. It has a slightly beveled edge and is perforated regularly on the outer surface, the perforations reaching almost to the inner side. Since sound waves are like fluid waves, they pass into the small holes in the sound-proofing ceiling and are dispelled; in other words, they are absorbed by the fibrous and porous material.

It is an old saying that the last of a job is the hardest to accomplish, but with the willing activity of the workmen and the steady and enthusiastic support of the Field this task is going ahead with vigor.

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