In the “Life of Lord Tennyson,” by his son, a story is told of
a New England clergyman who once wrote to Tennyson telling him
how, one Sabbath, he was strangely imprest to drop his sermon,
and recite “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” The congregation
were shocked and later dismissed the pastor. Subsequently, a
stranger called upon this clergyman, and told him how on that
particular Sunday he had wandered into his church and heard him
recite the famous poem; that he was in that charge; had fought
at Gettysburg; and felt he had done something, and ought to be a
man. Said the New England clergyman to the old England poet: “I
lost my pulpit, but I saved a soul.”
(2019)