In the first decade of his episcopate Bishop Cheshire laid the foundation for almost all of his future work. The remainder of his life was devoted to expansion and improvement. This program demanded all of his thought and energy and, as it progressed, became almost more than one man could administer. The Bishop never complained of being overworked, but when he realized he was no longer physically able to meet the demands of his office, he did not hesitate to ask for assistance.

A pleasant and interesting interlude in the routine of the Bishop's busy life was a trip to England in the summer of 1908. The object of the trip was to attend the Pan-Anglican Congress and the Lambeth Conference. The Bishop and Mrs. Cheshire sailed from New York and landed at Liverpool on May 28. Since the Pan-Anglican Congress was not to open for about two weeks, they spent the intervening time sightseeing and visiting friends. Among the many interesting places they visited was the old Abbey of Valle Crucis in Wales for which Bishop Ives had named his mission school in the mountains of North Carolina. The Bishop observed that here, however, there was no natural cruciform arrangement of valleys and streams which so distinguished his Valle Crucis mission.

The Pan-Anglican Congress was opened on June 15 by an impressive service held in Westminster Abbey. The Congress was composed of bishops, clergymen, laymen, and laywomen representing the Anglican communion from all parts of the world. There were six thousand delegates present, but they were divided into a number of sections for the discussion of every phase of church work. Bishop Cheshire attended the sessions of one of these sections every day, but he did not have time to enter in his journal much about the proceedings. On one occasion, when the topic for discussion was the church's work among the Negroes of North America, he was one of the speakers. He later remarked that he had scarcely warmed to his subject before his allotted time was gone.

On another occasion the Bishop was invited to a breakfast given by the Church Temperance Society. At the breakfast he was seated next to the Bishop of London, who was to preside over a meeting of the Society following the meal. In the course of conversation Bishop Cheshire remarked to the Bishop of London that "in America at least as far as concerned my part of it, drinking was unknown among women." The English prelate seemed to be greatly impressed by this statement. After the breakfast there were several scheduled speakers who talked on the problem of intemperance. They all agreed that the use of intoxicants in England as a whole had improved, but that the discouraging feature of the situation was the increased use of them by women. The Bishop of London announced that the meeting would like to hear from the United States, and he would, therefore, call upon Bishop Cheshire for a few words. As he rose to speak, the Bishop of London said to him, "Tell them what you have been telling me." After commenting on the work of the Church Temperance Society, he complied with the request and added: "I believe it to be true of all parts of the United States that among the descendants of the original English, Scotch, and Scotch-Irish settlers of America, intemperance or the use of intoxicating drinks among the women is unknown, or so extremely rare as to amount to nothing in looking at the situation in its general aspect."[54] His audience displayed a keen interest in his views.

The Pan-Anglican Congress closed on June 24 with a service in St. Paul's Cathedral. Bishop Cheshire thought that the Congress was "the most remarkable religious gathering of recent times." He was particularly impressed by the deep interest the British public and press took in the proceedings of the Congress. The capacity of the great Albert Hall was taxed to hold the average daily attendance of twelve thousand persons.

The Lambeth Conference, which opened on July 5, did not attract as much attention as usual, since it followed so closely upon the Pan-Anglican Congress. Its work, however, was none the less significant in the life of the church. Bishop Cheshire considered its proceedings more interesting than those of 1897. He noted that the younger bishops took a more active part than they had in the previous Conference. He served as a member of the Committee on Foreign Missions.

Bishop Cheshire returned to England in the summer of 1920 to attend his third and final Lambeth Conference. He was then seventy years old but in good health and still capable of doing a full day's work. He regularly attended the sessions of the Conference, and manifested as much interest as ever in its work.

The Bishop was made a member of the Committee on Christianity and International Relations, which was to deal in particular with the League of Nations. He found the work of the committee very interesting, but later remarked that the American bishops on the committee found themselves in an embarrassing position, since the League of Nations had been made a political issue in the presidential campaign of that year.[55] Bishop Cheshire felt that this Lambeth Conference surpassed the two previous ones in the importance of the work accomplished and in the probable results. The Conference took much "wider and freer views" of the questions discussed. The Bishop observed that some of the speeches which were received with decided approval were strongly opposed to all that had been the traditional policy of the church.

Upon the close of the Conference Bishop and Mrs. Cheshire, accompanied by their friends, Dr. and Mrs. A. B. Hunter, spent a few weeks traveling on the Continent. The Bishop particularly enjoyed his visit to Switzerland, whose mountain scenery greatly impressed him. He always thought, however, that his North Carolina mountains were more beautiful and appealing than the more spectacular Alps. On one Sunday which the Cheshires and Hunters spent at Gletsch, Switzerland, the Bishop took his little party out into the country. In the presence of the great Rhône glacier with his "congregation" sitting on rocks about him, he read the Morning Prayer, omitting not one part of it.

In addition to his three visits to Europe, Bishop Cheshire made one other trip beyond the borders of the United States. In 1910 the Archbishop of the West Indies invited a number of American bishops to Jamaica to assist in the consecration of the churches which had been rebuilt on the island after the disastrous earthquake of 1907. Bishop Cheshire accepted the invitation and, as it turned out, was the sole representative of the American Episcopal Church. The consecration ceremonies took place in January, 1911. During his stay of about two weeks the Bishop participated in the consecration of five or six churches. Describing the ecclesiastical procession at one of the ceremonies, the Daily News of Kingston, Jamaica, commented: "There was then the stern Prelate of North Carolina just south of Mason and Dixon's line; Prelate of a vast domain many, many times the size of this island, and with a problem something like ours." This exaggerated description amused the Bishop a great deal. He enjoyed his visit, particularly riding about the island observing the customs and manners of the natives. He always took a keen pleasure in learning about new places and their people.

Turning now to diocesan affairs, we find Bishop Cheshire preparing to begin a long campaign to free St. Mary's School from its burdensome debt and to raise an adequate endowment for the institution. When he addressed the convention of 1912 he reminded the members that on October 15, 1913, he would complete twenty years as bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina. In his opinion, the most important work accomplished in this period was the establishment of St. Mary's as a diocesan school. The Bishop declared that he would like to celebrate his twentieth anniversary by paying off the debt on St. Mary's and by raising one hundred thousand dollars towards a permanent endowment. He wished, therefore, to devote much of his time for the next eighteen months to this end, and asked for the convention's support. The convention indorsed his suggestion and promised its co-operation.

At the convention of 1913 a special committee on an endowment for St. Mary's was appointed to work with the Bishop. Notwithstanding the efforts of Bishop Cheshire and the committee, very little money was raised by the anniversary of his consecration. Thus, the matter stood until 1916, when Bishop Cheshire proposed an exceedingly ambitious program. The plan called for raising fifty thousand dollars to retire the school's funded debt and to meet certain necessary expenses, one hundred thousand dollars as an endowment, and another hundred thousand for additions and improvements. It was further suggested that the dioceses of East Carolina, South Carolina, and the Jurisdiction of Asheville should be asked to co-operate in this endeavor. The convention adopted the plan, and the quota for Bishop Cheshire's Diocese was set at seventy-five thousand dollars.

The Bishop was untiring in his efforts to interest his people in the needs and promising future of St. Mary's. The program for raising the endowment was progressing well when the war disrupted its work, but the campaign was by no means abandoned. By the end of 1921 more than one hundred and forty-six thousand dollars had been pledged. Two years later the Bishop reported that St. Mary's School was free of all debt. The generous gifts to the school by Mr. Lawrence Holt and Mr. William A. Erwin, which followed shortly afterwards, gave the Bishop much pleasure and made him feel that the work which he considered the most important of his episcopate was now permanently established.

When America entered the World War in 1917, Bishop Cheshire felt that President Wilson was fully justified in asking Congress for a declaration of war. Of the conflict he observed that, while America as a nation had committed errors and evils in the past, he believed that as far as the present war was concerned, "we know that we have no selfish purpose or desires." The Bishop was upholding a cause which was brought close home to him, for he had two sons who volunteered and later saw service in France. He had very definite ideas on duty to one's country, and little patience with those pacifists who held that a Christian could not go to war. In his opinion, such an argument was no more valid than it would be to say that one should not protect one's home and family against thieves and murderers. "We owe everything that we are—" declared the Bishop, "all that we have to our Country. We owe her ourselves."[56] In the course of the war he gave voice to these views in many of his sermons.

When the Bishop heard that a camp for training soldiers was to be established in Charlotte, he called together the Episcopal clergy of that city for a discussion of the problem of caring for the needs of thirty or forty thousand soldiers who were expected there. They devised plans for keeping open the parish houses of the several churches for the use of the soldiers, and the best means of caring for their religious life. The Bishop addressed a letter to the people of the Diocese asking them to give every possible assistance to their friends in Charlotte in this great responsibility.

As Bishop Cheshire was about to complete a quarter of a century as head of the Diocese of North Carolina, it was planned to celebrate the occasion with a special service in Calvary Church, Tarboro, on October 15, 1918. But when the time came for the celebration, it had to be postponed because of the influenza epidemic. It was finally held in Raleigh at the closing session of the convention of 1919. The Bishop delivered an address in which he traced the history of the Diocese during his episcopate. The convention then by a unanimous rising vote adopted the following resolution introduced by Dr. R. D. W. Connor:

"That gratefully acknowledging our obligations to Almighty God for the many evidences of His Divine guidance in the affairs of His Church throughout this period of its history, we are especially grateful to Him for the love and care with which He has preserved the physical strength, the mental vigor and power, and the spiritual grace and consecration of our beloved Bishop. Resolved further, that this Diocese is greatly indebted to Bishop Cheshire for the sympathetic spirit, the unflagging zeal and never-failing wisdom and the statesmanlike vision with which, under God, he has directed its affairs, shaped its policies, and guided its growth and development; that we hope and pray he may long be spared to lead us in full strength and vigor of body, mind, and spirit; and that we take this opportunity of pledging to him our unswerving loyalty and undivided support in the prosecution of his labors for the spread of the Kingdom of God on earth."[57]

Dr. A. Burtis Hunter, for the clergy, and Governor Thomas Bickett, for the laity, brought to the Bishop messages of loyalty and affection. Mr. William A. Erwin presented the Bishop with a purse of gold from the people of the Diocese as a token of their love and esteem. Bishop Cheshire was deeply moved by these expressions from his clergy and laity. It would be difficult to find in any diocese a more sympathetic relationship between bishop and people.

As Bishop Cheshire advanced in years, changes were taking place in the church as in almost every other institution. Some of these he advocated, while others he accepted with regret. When the diocesan convention of 1919 met, a plan was introduced placing the administration of the affairs of the Diocese in the hands of the bishop and an executive council. Of the proposed plan Bishop Cheshire said that he thought it had "some advantages," but he earnestly hoped that the administration of the diocesan missions by the archdeacons would not in any way be changed. The archdeacons were a great assistance to the bishop in carrying on missionary work, and were invaluable in overseeing vacant parishes and missions. He referred to them as "the eyes of the Bishop in all matters of practical work," and stated that he wished to take this occasion to express his appreciation for the relief they had afforded him. In his opinion, whatever shortcomings could be ascribed to the present system of convocations under archdeacons were largely due to the lack of co-operation by the laity.

After considering several proposals, the convention adopted a plan of diocesan organization which provided for an executive committee to be elected by the convention. It was to be composed of the bishop as ex-officio chairman, three clergymen, three laymen, and three laywomen. The executive committee was to act as a co-ordinating and co-operating agent in diocesan work. The convention also provided the bishop with a secretary who should likewise serve as secretary of the executive committee. The functions of the archdeacons were not at this time altered. Several years later, however, the personnel of the executive committee and the scope of its influence were enlarged. Also, a field secretary, who was to oversee missionary work, was employed. These innovations made the old system of convocations and archdeacons unnecessary, and it was accordingly abolished.

The Bishop observed with regret the abolition of the office of archdeacon but acquiesced in it, since the majority of the clergy and laity preferred the new system of administration. In his annual address of 1929 he paid a final tribute to his archdeacons. He asserted that the missionary work had never been so well looked after as under their supervision, and that he would not have been able to advance this phase of his work without their invaluable assistance.

When Bishop Cheshire was entering upon his seventieth year, he felt little impairment of his physical strength and had no desire to diminish his episcopal duties. He realized, however, that others might feel he was growing too old to carry on the work alone. Placing the affairs of the church above any personal considerations, he asked the convention of 1919 whether he should continue to administer the Diocese without assistance or adopt some other course. The Bishop then retired, and the convention sitting as a committee of the whole considered its reply. Dr. Richard H. Lewis introduced a resolution which was unanimously adopted. It declared that the affairs of the Diocese had in no way been neglected; that there was no evidence of failure of the Bishop's physical or mental faculties; and that the convention was confident that he would ask for assistance when he felt it was necessary. The confidence his people placed in him, as expressed in this resolution, gave Bishop Cheshire much pleasure and encouragement.

In the spring of 1922 the Bishop informed the Standing Committee of the Diocese that he had been urged by several physicians and laymen to curtail his work and to request the convention for assistance. The Standing Committee promptly advised him to propose the election of a bishop coadjutor. Accordingly, on April 21, he addressed a letter to the clergy in which he announced his intention to ask the approaching diocesan convention to consider the question of electing a bishop coadjutor. The Bishop felt the clergy and laity should be informed of his purpose in order that they might give this important subject thoughtful consideration before the meeting of the convention.

On May 16, at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Raleigh, the convention met and immediately took up the question of giving the Bishop assistance in his work. After consideration it resolved that a bishop coadjutor should be elected. Bishop Cheshire then gave his consent to the election, and assigned to whoever should hold the new office the episcopal oversight of the Convocation of Charlotte and the personal supervision of all postulants and candidates for Holy Orders of the Diocese.

The nominations for bishop coadjutor took place on the evening of the second day. After six ballots were taken, the Rev. Edwin Anderson Penick, Rector of St. Peter's Church, Charlotte, was elected. He received thirty-two clerical votes and twenty-four from the laity. The choice of the convention met with general satisfaction throughout the Diocese. Concerning the election, Bishop Cheshire declared: "We believe that the Spirit of God effectuates with His presence, His guidance, His blessing, the solemn functions of the Body of Christ. And never, I make bold to say, did we feel more sure of the Divine presence, guidance and blessing, than in the solemn hour of the choosing of our Bishop Coadjutor. Among the many happy and helpful experiences of my Episcopate, and of my life, I remember that as one of the best."[58]

On October 15, 1922, the twenty-ninth anniversary of Bishop Cheshire's consecration, Rev. Edwin A. Penick, D.D., was consecrated bishop coadjutor in St. Peter's Church, Charlotte. He entered upon the duties of his office almost immediately thereafter. From that time until the death of Bishop Cheshire the two men worked together in perfect harmony. Although they did not always agree on diocesan policy, they never allowed a difference of opinion to mar their affectionate relationship.

Bishop Cheshire gradually placed more responsibility on Bishop Penick as he became better acquainted with the work of the Diocese. A characteristic act of Bishop Cheshire's, and one which claimed the admiration of his people, was the turning over of the work at Chapel Hill to Bishop Penick's supervision. The Chapel of the Cross at Chapel Hill had been the Bishop's first parish and he had always retained for it a deep affection. Therefore, it was a personal sacrifice for him to relinquish it to another. He felt that, due to the peculiar nature of the work at Chapel Hill, it should be under the guidance of a younger man.

As Bishop Cheshire grew older he began to plan how best he could provide for his wife and daughter when they would no longer be able to live at Ravenscroft, the Bishop's house. He decided to build a small apartment house in Raleigh, which would produce an income as well as provide a home for them. When the house was completed he advertised the apartments for rent only to families with children. He thought the frequent practice of denying apartments to persons with children was most unfair and, therefore, determined to make his house an exception. This was typical of the Bishop, who loved children and large families.

In building his apartment house Bishop Cheshire had to borrow a part of the cost of its construction. Speaking of this to Bishop Penick, he remarked he hoped to live four years longer since by that time his loan would be retired. Recalling this observation Bishop Penick decided to raise a sum of money from among the people of the Diocese to relieve the Bishop of this care. The money was raised by the time the diocesan convention met in the spring of 1924 at Winston-Salem. It was a fitting time and place for the presentation of the gift, since it was at Winston-Salem thirty years before that Bishop Cheshire presided over his first convention. The gift, which amounted to $4,273, was presented to the Bishop from the people of the Diocese by Dr. Richard H. Lewis, who said in part: "My dear Bishop: By your strong and vigorous intellect, your wide and accurate learning, your public spirit, your unspotted character, and a personality of unaffected friendship, you have come to be—in the words of another—'one of the best known and best loved men in our State.'" Referring to this generous expression of affection, Bishop Cheshire remarked that he could never "cease to feel grateful to him whose generosity conceived the idea, and to the many kind friends who responded to his suggestion, and transmuted his thoughts into act."

At this convention the Bishop delivered an address in which he briefly reviewed the high points in the thirty years of his episcopate. He declared he wished to repeat a major point he had made in his first episcopal address in 1894, namely, the importance of realizing the "common bond of union in the Diocese by becoming interested in common Diocesan work." During the past three decades Bishop Cheshire had accomplished more than any of his predecessors in breaking down parochialism by arousing in his people a lively interest in diocesan enterprises. The Bishop concluded the review of his work by saying that the past thirty years had been happy ones, "years in which I have received much love, consideration, and kindness from all our people, clerical and lay."

The unusual and praiseworthy feature of the general esteem in which Bishop Cheshire was held in North Carolina was the demonstration of that esteem during his lifetime. The churchmen did not wait until his death to eulogize him and to erect memorials in his honor. On many occasions and in many different ways he was made to realize the high place which he held in the hearts of his people.

After completing thirty-five years as bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina, a longer period than any of his predecessors, Bishop Cheshire felt that he must give up the greater part of his work. He therefore informed the convention of 1929 that he was turning over to Bishop Penick the general administration of the entire Diocese. He thought that the ever-increasing and more complicated work of the church required a younger and more vigorous man, one, as he expressed it, "more adaptable and more in sympathy with changing conditions and methods." Of Bishop Penick he said: "We have one whom we all believe to be eminently fitted to carry on the Diocese with success and with the confidence, sympathy and affection of all." Bishop Cheshire did not intend, however, to relinquish all of his duties. He retained for himself the episcopal oversight of about one-third of the parishes and missions, the keeping of the diocesan register, and the requisite business before the Standing Committee. The parishes which he reserved for his own visitations were all located within a convenient distance from Raleigh.

Bishop Cheshire was not present at the convention of 1929 because of the serious illness of Mrs. Cheshire. Bishop Penick read his address. It was the first diocesan convention that he had failed to attend since 1876 when he had been present as a lay delegate. Mrs. Cheshire died before the convention adjourned. Accordingly, resolutions of sympathy for the Bishop were adopted, and a committee was appointed to represent the convention at Mrs. Cheshire's funeral. The death of his wife was a great loss to the Bishop; their life of thirty years together had been happy and congenial. Mrs. Cheshire had been a generous mother to his small children, and a helpful and devoted wife.

Although his strength was gradually failing, Bishop Cheshire displayed during the next three years a remarkable activity. For one of his years he preserved an unusually tolerant attitude towards the many religious, social, and political changes of the day. When, on his eightieth birthday, he was asked what he thought of the youth of today, the Bishop replied: "The world is a much better place than it was when I was a young man.... Young people today have more personal religion than they did then."[59] While he disapproved of much that was done by the youth of today, he thought that his parents must have had much of the same sort of disapproval of his own generation. "When people talk," said the Bishop, "of the degeneration of the morals and manners of the present, and praise the good old times and old time religion, as being so much superior to the present, they do not know what the old times were, and in my opinion, they are often speaking nonsense. That is my very serious opinion."[60] In making this observation he did not mean to depreciate the religion of his forefathers, for no one had a greater respect and veneration for the past.

During the last year of his life Bishop Cheshire filled almost all of his regular visitations in the eastern part of the Diocese. In addition, he spent ten days, in the month of July, visiting the country churches in the counties of Rowan, Mecklenburg, Davie, and Iredell. In the course of these visitations he called on forty families in the several parishes and missions. Such activity in midsummer would have taxed the strength of a far younger man, but it did not appear to trouble the Bishop. At the time, he wrote his son that although the heat was very severe, he noticed it no more than if he had been doing nothing. In June of 1932 the Bishop went to Hartford, Connecticut, to assist in the consecration of a new chapel at his alma mater, Trinity College. He enjoyed the trip thoroughly, renewing some of his old friendships and making new ones.

By the fall of 1932 Bishop Cheshire's health was greatly impaired, but he continued his visitations through December 11. On that day he performed his last service. He confirmed a class of fifteen persons in the Church of the Good Shepherd, Raleigh, but was not able to preach the sermon. A few days later he went to Charlotte for treatment by a specialist. Shortly after entering the hospital, however, he became gradually worse. On December 27, at six-thirty in the evening, the Diocese of North Carolina lost its beloved Bishop.

It was unusually difficult for the people of the Diocese to realize that Bishop Cheshire would no longer be with them. He had possessed such a lovable and dynamic personality, had so largely molded the character of the Diocese, and had been its Bishop for so long that his people found it hard to associate the idea of death with him. He had baptized, confirmed, or married many of them, had entered sympathetically into the pleasures and problems of their secular as well as their spiritual lives, and thus endeared himself to them to an extent far beyond the capacity of most men. In the words of the Presiding Bishop, James DeWolf Perry: "It is impossible to foresee a time when his influence will not be felt, his penetrating mind will not be esteemed or when his name will cease to be held in grateful and loving remembrance."

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