Sunday in the Country
Dartmouth Seniors Do a Good Turn for Hanover Center by Leading Religious and Social Life in Rural Church
WHILE THE AVERAGE Dartmouth student rolls over, forces one sleepy eye to focus on the alarm clock and then blissfully relaxes, remembering the day is Sunday, Craig. Macbeth and Don Oakes, class of '44, are out in the chill misty air, cranking the '30 Chevy which makes the eight-mile trip to Hanover Center in about half an hour—if no flats are encountered.
With a weary cough the car stops in front of the white frame Congregational Church built in 1847. At the time the Church was erected Hanover Center was a bustling town whose shops and stores served the surrounding villages. But as the farming lands grew poorer and the call of the West grew stronger, whole families left the Center to seek their fortunes in the West. In those covered wagons went most of the population of Hanover Center and most of the congregation of this Church.
Although Don and Craig are just entering their twenties, they have been active ministers of the First Congregational Church of Hanover Center since the fall of 1941. And their activities have not been limited to preparing and preaching weekly services, for they run Church socials and parties, make weekly calls upon members of their congregation, lead the Friday night choir practice, carry out their responsibilities as local 4-H Club leaders, and help the farmers in their parish pitch hay when labor is scarce! All this in addition to being busy members of their class at Dartmouth. mouth. Don, who comes from West Englewood, N. J., was a member of Green Key and is manager of varsity basketball, while Craig, whose home is in South Orange, N. J., plays the French horn in the Band and is active in the Christian Union.
While the two students take pride in relating the history of their Church, they take even greater pride in talking about the people they work with—the descendants of the rugged farmers who decided to stick it out, to remain in Hanover Center. Their individualism and conservatism is retained in their theological beliefs.
"When we first started to preach," said Don Oakes, "we built our sermons around social themes. We soon found out that our people wanted strictly religious subjects built around a literal interpretation of the Bible. So we try to make our sermons conform to their wishes, making them not simple but fundamental."
"Working with these people has taught us a great deal more than we could ever hope to teach them," added Craig Macbeth. "When we first began to preach, neither of us intended to become ministers. Don expected to go into law, and saw the Church as a means of gaining public-speaking experience, while I was just continuing work I had done back in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, where I had been a Sunday School teacher in a Negro church and president of the local Y."
But these young men have made their work something bigger than personal experience. They have made it an integral part of the community. Not only has their congregation more than doubled in size—l 2 people were present at their first sermon, 50 at some summer services; the Sunday School which used to fluctuate between 8 and 10 children now numbers as many as 25—but even more important, their week-night socials and discussion groups have brought a new feeling of friendship and community spirit into the neighborhood. At a recent social, their own congregation was almost outnumbered by the Baptists, Presbyterians, Catholics and Seven-Day Adventists present. No matter what their faith, residents of the Center could still laugh at Craig and Don as they went through a humorous "Barnacle Bill" skit, for which Craig dressed in a sailor suit and Don masqueraded as a sailor's sweetheart. The summer outings, the picnics, the baseball games (Hanover Center's baseball team, managed by these two boys, beat the powerful Mount Etna team), the Miami-Dartmouth football game to which they brought 20 of the younger members of their Church—all these experiences have brought added happiness and a new feeling of companionship into these peoples' lives.
Don and Craig estimate that each week they spend approximately three nights plus Sunday—not to mention the 8 to 10 hours it takes them to prepare their sermon—on their Church work. But they feel their efforts are more than repaid, for while they gain a liberal education, honors, and life long friendships at Dartmouth, they are also broadening and enriching their college days with their work in Hanover Center. They have earned the respect and confidence of such people as bewhiskered Mr. Derby who has faithfully lighted the Church furnace, rung the bell, and cared for the graves for over twenty years; Dr. Mary Huff who, in her seventies, still runs her chicken farm and once confided to Don, "These people are putting out new books almost faster than I can read them"; the Brown boy who rides 10 miles on his bike to attend choir practice; Jim Spencer who invariably tells the boys on Sunday, "Yes sir, you gave us a good sermon today," and invariably means it sincerely; and Mrs.
Derby who wept softly with joy at being present at the "first Thanksgiving service in the Church for 47 years."
These are the friends that Don Oakes and Craig Macbeth will have to leave when they are called by the Army Enlisted Re. serve Corps at the end of the semester. Although they admit that it took them almost a year, they have gained their congregation's full confidence—a thing not easily gained, or forgotten. They have, as Don puts it, with a justifiable trace of pride ".. .. learned how to sit down in our people's kitchens, eat a doughnut, and talk about the things in which they are interested."
AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE COMMUNITY Since Don, left, and Craig started preaching in Hanover Center in 1941, their congregation has more than doubled in size, and their socials and discussion groups have broughta new feeling of friendship and community spirit to the neighborhood.
COUNTRY PARSONS Don Oakes and Craig Macbeth, active andpopular members of the class of 1944 atDartmouth, about to enter the First Congregational Church of Hanover Center,N. H., where they have won the wholehearted affection and admiration of thecommunity, through the Sunday churchservices and the social programs whichthey have sponsored.
