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Salesman & Builder. Bishop Freeman does not attempt to express Washington Cathedral's glory in figures. To raise money he has resorted to dramatic speeches and to committees (such as the Women's, chairmanned by Mrs. Herbert Hoover, which is giving the North Porch —TIME, May 25). There are many notable campaigners like General John Joseph Pershing and ex-Senator Pepper. But it is Bishop Freeman, chiefly, who gets the gifts. Biggest givers include: the late Rug Manufacturer Alexander Smith Cochran of Yonkers ($1,510,000 for the College of Preachers) ; the late Banker George Fisher Baker ($750,000 for the completion of the North Transept); the late Realtor & Mrs. Archibald D. Russell of New York ($500,000 for the apse); the late Minister to Austria-Hungary John A. Kasson of Washington ($554,300 for general maintenance); Mr. & Mrs. Frederick H. Prince of Boston ($215,000 for a chapel in memory of their son Norman, War ace). The small, lovely Children's Chapel was given by Roland L. Taylor of Philadelphia and his wife. Only Coventry (England) has a similar chapel reserved for children. The late Mrs. Phoebe Apperson Hearst, mother of Publisher William Randolph Hearst, gave $201,000 to establish the National Cathedral School for Girls. Givers of $100,000 or more include Andrew William Mellon, his brother Richard, the late Ambassador to France Henry White, Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis, the late Percy R. Pyne. Of $50,000 or more: Henry and Edsel Ford, the late Samuel Mather of Cleveland and his half-brother William, John Hays Hammond, Mrs. Gibson Fahnestock, the late William Amory Gardiner.
Dean. Spending this money, overseeing the whole Cathedral project is the work of Dean Bratenahl,* who has been connected with it from the beginning. Tall, mustached, shy, he would be 70 this week, day before the opening. Like Bishop Freeman, Dean Bratenahl was in business before entering the ministry. As chairman of the building committee and administrative head of the Cathedral Foundation, he has become an expert on cathedrals, stained glass, iconography.
Dean Bratenahl lives near the Cathedral, spends most of his time there. His wife is the Cathedral's landscape architect. On the slope of Mount Saint Alban to the south of the Cathedral is the Bishop's Garden, open to the public. Here are Gothic and Romanesque sculptures, collected with the aid of George Grey Barnard. Nearby are box bushes, ancient and costly, brought from Virginia. Mrs. Bratenahl plans the planting, often gets donations from ladies who are pleased with her suggestions: such as that a $5 gift be spent for moss at the base of an old cross. A sculpture from the time of Charlemagne is surrounded by plants listed in an old herbarium of the period. Most famed plant at Washington Cathedral is the Glastonbury Thorn, grown from a cutting from the British one which is supposed to have grown from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea. The British Thorn blooms occasionally on Christmas. The U. S. Thorn, planted 30 years ago, did not bloom until 1918. Said Dean Bratenahl: "Perhaps the blooms have waited for a true Christmas, when the hearts of men should be filled with goodwill." Last Christmas the Glastonbury blooms were the best in years.