St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 54

1 I ST. MARK'S in the BOUWERIE'S LATEST ROW IS OVER THE "BODY AND SOUL CLINIC" The Famous Rev. Dr. Guthrie's Psychiatric Institution Ousted Instance in This Least, Rector the Vigorous ana, in 1 nts ft 9 i Capitulates-. in' X'f 4 V.

I fiK fir VWv (m i of the clinic who are if in''n' hattan ahd staked out a farm, or bouwerie," at about the present site of St. Mark's. This spot, then far out in the country, has long since becom a symbol of urban congestion. Here old Peter built a chapel for his family and servants and neighboring farmers. The present structure was begun in under the direction of the vestry of old Trinity Church, of which Alexander Hamilton was a vestryman, and completed in 1799.

The ancient Georgian edifice, standing demurely in the green lawns of Stuyvesant's old chare! yard, has acquired a'salmon pink color Bcheme since the advent of Dr. Guthrie, but otherwise has suffered little and is a thoroughly delightful liit of old masonry and greenery amid the wreckage of what a generation aeo was the wild and woolly Bowery (corruption, of course, of "bouwerie" t. To this parish, stripped of its parishioners by the diffusion of population and surrounded by a conglomeration of slum dwellers. Dr. Guthrie came 2" years ago, to gather about him a con gregation of "sensitive" persons from all over the city artists, writers, lawyers, architects and a sprinkling of business men and become the avowed apostle of "variety in religion." of theatricals in church services a B-lasco in reverse.

4.Vi'. .4 1. Dudley Field Malone, habitual defender of public causes, has openly accused Bishop Manning of trying to ease Dr. Guthrie out of his pastorate by attacking the clinic. Other patrons expected to be heard from are William' Gibbs McAdoo, Samuel Untermy-er, George Gordon Battle, and, among the socially prominent, Mrs.

Vincent Astor. Mrs. Leonard Wood, Mrs. J. Borden Harriman, Mrs.

Douglas Robinson, Mrs. Julian Rob-bins, Mrs. Morton Schwartz and Countess Zoppola. Dr. Guthrie, admittedly something of a sensationalist (he would call it "dramatizer of reminds those who will listen that the combination clinic has a precedent in the temples to Aesculapius in ancient Greece, where religious worship and healing were combined.

Their cures were attributed to the modern belief that many ills are imaginary, anyway, and if enough hocus-pocus is indulged in the patient will feel cured. At one time 200 of these shrlne9 flourished, and trips to them were popular. Aesculapius, mythology says, achieved his reputation as a healer in the rollowing somewhat roundabout and complicated way: Apollo loved Coronis, daughter of Phleygas. So far, simple enough. However, according to a story, Coronis spurned Apollo and married a Lapith (whatever that may be) named Ischys.

The pair lived happily together and Apollo would never have been the wiser (having many Jobs to attend to) had not a bird told him. This was the raven, which was turned from white to black for Its pains. Apollo slew Ischys and Artemis killed Coronis. Thereupon, Apollo, by a neat obstetrical trick, rescued Coronis' unborn child (Aesculapius) and put him under the care and tutelage of a smart centaur named Chiron. The centaur taught the youngster many handy things, among them the art of healing, at which he became so proficient could raise the dead to life.

This angered Zeus, Ihe story runs, who uncorked a thunderbolt and struck Aesculapius. UT the modern Aesculapian temple at St. Mark's-in-the-Bou-werte and its unusual clerical sponsor clearly have a fight on their hands. Dr. Cowles, who as a student observed the power of suggestion in the treatment of patients, is enthusiastic about the clinic.

"The majority of the vestry have undertaken arbitrarily, it seems, to break a relationship existing for 10 years and to destroy an institution which ministers to the needs of many thousands of sick and ireglected persons," says Dr. Cowles. behalf of these people, the patients who have passed through the clinic and those who are in need of Its services, I propose to make sure that no harm shall come to the clinic." It is an odd coincidence that one of the most rebellious ministers in the history of the Episcopal Church in New York should hold the pastorate, not of a modern church in an apartment building, but of one of the most historic structures In the city. The bones and wooden leg of old Peter Stuyvesant. first Governor of New Amsterdam, lie in a crypt beneath the floor where "eurythmic" dancers have trod.

Old Peter was not an Episcopalian, but his grandson became one, and that is how St. Mark's became Anglican property. The old Governor was of the Dutch Reformed faith. In 1660 he tired of living in lower Man- Bishop William T. Manning.

By a Special Correspondent of the Pott-Ditpatch Sunday Magazine NEW YORK. THE latest tempest at St. Mark's-in the Bouwerie there is just one thing that is strange. And that fact, if, indeed it is a fact, is that Bishop William T. Manning has been content to stay completely out of the scrap.

He has, if we are to believe the latest statements, resisted all temptation to come forth in this new-crisis and jump on his old foe, the Rev. Dr. William Norman Guthrie, pastor of St. Mark's. Otherwise, things down at St.

Mark's are pretty much as usual. Statements are being hurled back and forth with that fine, care-free ardor that has characterized all the battles waged on the St. Mark's front. This time it is the "Body and Soul Clinic'' that is at the bottom of the trouble. In the past it has been Dr.

Guthrie's introduction of "eurythmic" dancing into the services, and Indian corn ceremonies and Greek tragedies performed in the church that have touched off the fireworks. In his latest statement Dr. Guthrie capitulates. He yields to the inevitable pressure brought by "conservative, old families" in his parish and announces that the "Body and Soul Clinic" will have to move out of the church. He goes even further.

He takes the occasion of his capitulation to state that Bishop Manning, contrary to the general opinion, had no part in this quarrel, that responsibility must rest solely on the vestry for winding up this experiment in Amerca's most experimental church. The role of peacemaker is a new one for the vigorous Dr. Guthrie. "I am sorrier than I can tell you about the whole difficulty." Dr. Guthrie wrote to Dr.

Edward S. Cowles. psychiatric director of the clinic. "If you open up elsewhere, as I suppose you will, as soon as you have decided where, I shall certainly be prepared to appear at the first meeting and should want to. Those of us who know you have no doubt whatever of your genius and virtues, but genius pays for its greater gifts in one direction by limitation in others that you oifght to fe.

when your friends tell it to you, irrespective of their points of view. I'aqr Six, 1 fit rn "So there we are; apparently tined to be hurt by any strife between us, and, of course, you and the rector most. Individual members of the vestry may attacked for lack of vision or reactionary prejudice, but that doesn't interest the public and offers no comeback to you, even if you should wish to have resort to it." When the war over "eurythmic dancing" was at its height. Dr. Guthrie actually dared Bishop Manning, through the public prints, to bring him to trial.

Bishop Manning contented himself with denouncing the dance as "pagan" and discontinu ing his official visits to St. Mark's. He is required by canon law to make at least one visit in three years, but from 1924 to March of this year there was no visit. Then, after a series of friendly and conciliatory chats, the hatchet was buried and the Bishop called and confirmed a class. Spokesmen have arisen and contradicted each other in anonymous statements in the clinic row.

The vestry's public relations man denied that the body had been at all influenced by the Bishop. WHATEVER role the Bishop may have played and Dr. Guthrie's last statement must be accepted as official it is plain that the rector is having hard going. For a vestry spokesman vowed that not only must the clinic stop, but Dr. Guthrie's liturgical "experiments" must cease.

He referred with disdain to ceremonies featuring corn planting in Indian costumes, Greek tragedies and lyric dramas, "eurythmic dancing," theatrical lighting and other fancies of the pastor. "The new policy of St. Mark's," said the vestry spokesman flatly, "Is to re-establish and adhere to the simple Protestant Episcopal service under the rules and canons of the general church." The Body and Soul Clinic, its defenders in the church point out, has ministered to more than 400,000 persons, mostly of small means, in its decade of existence. Under the direction of Dr Edward S. Cowles, Park avenue psychiatrist and a graduate of Harvard, It has effected a multitude of cures in the congested east side of Manhattan by combining religious consolation with medical treatment.

Especially has it been effective. Its supporters declare, in lifting impoverished and sick persons out des- Mrs. Borden HarAman. of the despondency that precedes suicide and talking neurotic patients out of imaginary ills. The beneficiaries of the treatment themselves have drawn up a petition signed by hundreds asking that the clinic be given "the full and complete support in the cause of humanity it has had in the past." Sunday Magazine St.

Loul rite l-p fr-ii TOUNDED at the thought of so vl many New Yorkers beinu "un churched." Dr. Guthrie set about to attract them to relicion The only way, he reasoned, was appeal to their feelings for drama. So he decided to dramatize the gospel. "The craving for variety in reli gibus worship from Sunday to Sunday," he said, "is a normal one. Kur obviously all the wealth of religious tradition cannot be employed at one time and a standardized service from Sunday to Sunday, however exceilen'.

must result In a painful of perspective. A group of lit uracil experiments (he wrote most of them himself) is now at hand for our regular use, a repertory of devotion ihut never permits the clergy to b-. stale or the congregation to t-e to sure it knows what is going to happen." It is the newspapers, he asserts have made him appear in an unfavorable light, particularly in the case the "eurythmic" dance, which start, eight years ago. The i widespread that young ladies c.i about the moldy old church in abandon and gauzy garments. One writer, whom Dr.

Guthrie quote, gives this report: "It not dancing these young ladies di 'r was merely walking and assuming a'-tudes of prayer and devotion; tir robes were long and flowing; wore no shoes. Just as the saints Matured In modern books wear no shoes. They did uot walk sedately all time; In fact, they hurried now 3M( then, eveh ran with Joy. Once or they whirled around in a circl around a central figure and, if memory Is right, also on a pivot." This wag the dance condemned "pagan" by Bishop Manning. 1'" Guthrie's retort was that the Iiish.

must have got his idea of the serio-from the newspapers. With the Bishop declining to cti' at the church, the march toward lng religion "a dynamic force" pro ceeded. Dr. Guthrie wrote pantomimes which were presented In the old church. He directed the ritual dance of the Delia Robbia Annunciation.

He denounced the Hish-(Cbncludtd on nrrt page.) if'i-'TT A1'- ifV Pott Dispatch July '24..