This small gem of a window is one of the ten clerestory windows located just below the chancel ceiling. It is on the east wall of the nave near the transept. In 1911 the vestry approved their design by Heaton, Butler & Bayne of London. At a cost $320 each, the windows were donated and installed over the next 20 years. These two were given in memory of Clara Babbitt Hyde Montgomery who died in 1919 just a few weeks shy of her 28th birthday. Sadly, she was the only child of Clarence and Lillia Hyde and had married distinguished West Point graduate Colonel George Montgomery in April of that year. Her father is memorialized in The Resurrection window.

Samuel is an important figure in Biblical history and there are two Samuel books in the Old Testament. He lived in the 11th century B.B. and was a great leader and hero. He served as the judge of Israel. Two incidents in his early life are portrayed here. 

Hanna was one of Elkanah’s wives and had been unable to bear a child. She prayed for a son and pledged to given . . . unto the Lord all the days of his life …. Samuel was born and his mother presented him to Eli, the judge and high priest at Shiloh. In the left lancet we see young Samuel in a small homemade robe. They both kneel and Eli places his hands on their heads. The three figures xxx. Eli’s robes of rich reds and purples are in contrast with the paler shades of Hannah and Samuel’s clothing. Hannah’s beautiful arm bracelet glitters and perhaps indicates that her husband is wealthy. Gold highlights attract our eye to other objects in this window
Samuel is bringing wood to Eli in the window on the right. Perhaps it is cedar, which is very fragrant. Eli is Samuel’s guide and teacher or in today’s world, his mentor. Both have grown older. Samuel has a full head of hair and wears the new robe Hannah had sewn for him. Eli’s face is leaner and lined, his beard less bushy and longer. In his right hand he carries a censer or what we might call a thurifer. Its coals are lit making fragrant smoke. There is a scroll in the crook of his right elbow.

Karen Royce