This year, according to a parishioner who should know, this congregation of the lowly contributed $300 to the diocesan mission fund, and that, he asserted, was a better showing comparatively than St. Thomas's twelve or fifteen thousand dollar contribution. Certainly, as he said, the St. John's parishioners gave all they could afford, probably more; and since the teachings of the church hold that it is the spirit in giving rather than what is given that counts, St. John's has no need to be ashamed.
It has been suggested by the Rev. Dr. Manning, rector of Trinity, that St. Luke's Chapel can adequately attend to the needs of the parishioners of the older chapel. But, as a matter of fact, St. Luke's is a mile above, and is more a Sunday-school room than a church edifice at best. Those who attend service on Varick Street say that congregations average from two hundred and fifty to three hundred each Sunday morning. The breaking up of a company of worshippers of this size presents a problem in parish economics and ethics that the Trinity Corporation has probably seriously considered in contemplating abandonment of the chapel.
Many houses in the vicinity of the chapel, formerly the abodes of wealthy parishioners, now shelter four and five families. Huge warehouses adjoin each side of the parish property, but there is no impression of crowding. The churchyard is wide. On one side is a playground for children. There are many shade trees here, and bushes which in summer bear flowers, making of the place a beauty spot amid a grimy environment. Directly across the street is the great New York Central freight station, where dummy trains receive and deposit freight. The station site was formerly a private playground, as Gramercy Park is to-day, but those who lived in the houses which surrounded it had begun to move away before the depot was erected in 1868.
St. John's Park was laid out in order to attract persons to the chapel, which, when built, in 1807, had been spoken of as "too far uptown," small congregations for the first year or so justifying this contention. As a means of attracting dwellers to the vicinity, the park was planned, and took the name of the chapel. This design succeeded beyond all expectations. Alexander Hamilton and Gen. Schuyler were among the early migrants north of Great Jones Street, and the section soon received the stamp of fashionable approval.
Many of these old dwellings still stand. You may see them
