church in which the Rev. Mr. Lee was ordained priest,—St. Ann's, Lowell. He was called Jimmie, Jemmie, Jamie and James. He was baptized "James Abbott." It is said that he added, "McNeil" when he entered West Point fearful that the initials J.A.W. would have given his fun loving fellow-cadets far too many opportunities. Descriptions of him at about the time he left Springfield are pertinent.
         "James at this time was tall and slight, with a pensive, delicate face, shaded by soft brown curls, one lock of which, even then fell over his forehead. In later years he was very proud of this lock, which turned grey while he was yet young"
         "Whistler, as a boy, was exactly what those who knew him as a man would expect; gay and bright, absorbed in his work when that work was in any way related to art, brave and fearless, selfish, if selfishness is another name for ambition, considerate and kindly above all to his mother. The boy, like the man, was delightful to those who knew him, 'startling', 'alarming' to those who did not."
         A brother, "Dr. Whistler—Willie—often told his wife of the dread with which he and Jimmie, when very little, looked forward to Saturday afternoon, with its overhauling of clothes, emptying of pockets, washing of heads, putting away of toys, and general preparation for Sunday when the Bible was the only book they were allowed to read. Every line Whistler wrote was evidence of his familiar knowledge of the Bible."
         Quite apart from this incidental honor of the brief sojourn of a famous family here, the Great Western Railroad, fiercely contested at first by stage-coach lines and passenger carrying river-craft, contributed more than any other agent to the town's civic and religious growth and prosperity. As a matter of course Christ Church shared this growth and prosperity.
         On April 5, l847, the Trustees of the Episcopal Society of Springfield joyously announced that "they have been enabled to cancel the debt which has been so long against them, and the church is now free from any incumbrances." The Missionary

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