, 1818, and the first
service held at sunrise on Christmas Day that same year, the rector
being the Reverend Ruel Keith, who was Professor of Theology at the
College of William and Mary, and later, in 1823, with Dr. Wilmer,
founder of the Theological Seminary, near Alexandria.

Among the founders of Christ Church were Thomas Corcoran, William
Morton, Clement Smith, Francis Scott Key, John Stoddert Haw, John Myers,
Ulysses Ward, James A. Magruder, Thomas Henderson, and John Pickrell.
The present building of Christ Church was erected about 1885. The
windows which were made especially for it in Munich, Germany, are very
beautiful. The big one in the north end was put there by W. W. Corcoran
in memory of his father, Thomas Corcoran.

I have heard from the daughter of one of the belles of the fifties,
whose family were Christ Church people, that in those days the beaux
might join a lady after church and escort her home, but under no
circumstances did they entertain callers on Sunday. All of the food for
Sunday use was prepared on Saturday.

It was during the fifties that Dr. William Norwood was the rector of
Christ Church. He was a Virginian and very outspoken in the expression
of his political views in that day of heated opinions. So violent was
the feeling that, although he had a brilliant mind and a saintly
character, he was obliged to resign. He returned to his native State and
was for many years the revered rector of St. Paul's, Richmond. I
remember hearing that as a young man he had a classmate at college,
Clement Moore, who one night came into his room, saying, "Norwood, I'd
like to read you something I've written to see what you think of it." He
sat down and read to him "The Night Before Christmas," that beloved old
poem without which Christmas hardly seems like Christmas to me, even
now.

Dr. Norwood was followed several years later by Reverend Albert Rhett
Stuart, under whose leadership the present church was built. I remember
the big basket which was carried around by a fine-looking, tall colored
woman with articles for sale for the benefit of the Ladies' Aid Society
of Christ Church.

The interesting white house over on the northeast corner was at one time
the home of the Godeys, then of the Curtis family. When they lived
there, "music filled the air," for a son and a chum of his used to sit
out on the long, side gallery and play for hours on the violin and
'cello. It was for several years the home of Justi