SIB ANTHONY TREVITHICK.
"Well, if the ould train isn't batin' herself for bein' up to time!"
said Pat Sheehan, the porter at Lettergort Station. "She'll draw
up at this platform twenty-five minits before she's due be the
time-table, an' an hour an' twenty-five before her usual time."
"'Tis Timothy Dolan that's drivin' her," said the person addressed,
a little old woman like a robin, with a soft little voice hardly
bigger than a bird's twitter.
"The power of love is wonderful," she went on; "sure Tim's spakin'
to Mrs. Doyle's little Katty, an' he's raced the thrain so that he
can dart up an' see the little girl while the ould ingin' is pantin'
the sides out of her like a dog after a gallop."
"More than punctual!" commented a young gentleman, who was standing
in a first-class carriage, looking from the shining landscape to the
face of his chronometer.
He was a good-looking fellow, with honest brown eyes and a face that
told of constant living in the open air. He was lean as a hound,
and almost as long; presumably he would fill out, but even now his
long-legged youthfulness was not without its attractive side.
As the train drew up at the platform he pocketed his watch, and
began to gather his belongings leisurely. They seemed to be a good
many--gun-case, golf-sticks, fishing-tackle, hat-case, rugs and
umbrellas, and all the rest of it. While he was thus engaged a
good-natured face, belonging to the red-bearded and red-haired giant
who was guard of the train, looked in at the window.
"No hurry, sir, if you're not goin' on. If you are, there'll be time
to take a dander up the town an' get a bit of dinner."
"Indeed? I didn't know you made a long stop here," said the youth,
pausing in his occupation of locking a small portmanteau.
"No more we do. We're supposed to skelp along wid the letters
for Ballintaggart beyant the mountains there. But you see,
sir"--insinuatingly--"the driver's gone to see his sweetheart.
That's how we got in so early. Tim is the boy for not lettin' the
grass grow under the thrain when he has a mind. I remember when this
ould thrain was bet in a race wid a pig; but Tim's put another face
on her."
"Oh--indeed. And when will you start again?"
"Whenever your honour likes. I wouldn't be for hurryin' a gentleman
over his dinner, to say nothin' of Tim, that's a dacent boy, an'
deserves a good turn."
The traveller laughed with an enjoyment that lit up a face grave in
repose.
"You don't mind letting the people at Ballin--what's-its-name?--wait
for their letters?"
"Och, surely not. Maybe 'tis a week before some o' them 'ud hear be
chance there was a letter for 'em at the post-office, an' be that
time every wan in the place'll know what's in it. It'll be: 'There's
a letter below at the post-office for you, Judy, wid an order in it
for a pound from your Uncle Con in Philadelphy'; or, 'Miss Geraghty
below at the post-office was tellin' me there's grand news from the
daughter in New York--twins, no less, an' all doin' well.' Sure, the
people themselves is the last to hear, barrin' the polis."
"But why should the police be in the dark?" asked the young
gentleman, as he finally concluded putting his traps together.
"Here, help me out with these, please. I'm getting off here, or I'd
be delighted to fix the hour for going on."
Mat Connor, the guard, beckoned to Pat Sheehan.
"Here's a man 'ull run 'em anywhere you like in his ass-cart for
you, sir, an' welcome. As I was sayin', sir, the polis has nothin'
to do but pick up news, and there's an objection to doin' away wid
their ockypation--that's all. They're dacent men, the polis."
"I expected a carriage or something to meet me."
Mat Connor looked up and down the platform, where the little woman
stood alone, enjoying the excitement of the train's arrival. Then he
went to the door and looked out. As he came back he again carefully
scanned the platform, as though he might have overlooked such a
thing as a carriage.
"Not a sight of one I see at all, at all, sir. Where might you be
for, if I may make so bould as to ask?"
"I'm going to Mr. Graydon's, of Carrickmoyle. I daresay he'll be
here presently, as he knows the hour the train is due."
"Och, Mr. Graydon'll be here, never fear. He'll be rowlin' round
in his little car in less thin no time. The gentleman's for Mr.
Graydon's, Pat. Just get his things on the ass-cart an' run them
around before another train's due."
"It is not far, then?"
"If you turned to the right when you wint out, an' kep' your eyes
shut, only feelin' your way by the wall, you'd be turnin' in at the
gate of Carrickmoyle in, maybe, half an hour. But sure, here's Mr.
Graydon himself comin' to look for you. I suspected he wouldn't be
long."
The young gentleman turned round and saw coming towards him along
the platform a lively, fresh-coloured man, of fifty or thereabouts.
In spite of his old Norfolk jacket and knickerbockers of grey
homespun, yellowed and browned with hard wear, there was no
mistaking Mr. Graydon for anything but a gentleman. His face beamed
cordiality on the new arrival, and his blue eyes shone with pleasure.
"You are welcome, my dear Sir Anthony, very heartily welcome to
Carrickmoyle! Have you been waiting? I'm so sorry. I made certain to
be in time. Indeed, I had an errand to do a little further, but, of
course, I turned in as soon as I saw the train had arrived."
[Illustration: "You are welcome, my dear Sir Anthony."]
"The train was over-punctual, sir, and I have been very well
entertained while I waited."
"I daresay, I daresay. There are worse comrades than Mat. Many a
pleasant day's shooting I had with Mat for companion. Eh, Mat,
you don't forget the night in the Moyle river when our legs froze
waiting for wild duck, and we thought we'd have to stay there till
the hot weather set us free."
Mat grinned delightedly for response.
"The worst of Mat is he's a born poacher. Doesn't respect
Inverbarry's preserves or anybody else's, and isn't to be
frightened, though I tell him Inverbarry'll lock him up one of these
days."
"Not wid your honour on the bench. But 'tisn't me that poaches. 'Tis
the bit of a dog. You couldn't insinse respect for the law into that
little baste's head wance he's put up a hare or a partridge."
"Well, good-bye, Mat, good-bye. Tell the old mother I was asking for
her. How are you, Mrs. Kelly? What's the last news from Nora? The
best, that's a good hearing. Come along, Sir Anthony. Don't drop any
of the gentleman's things on your way, Pat."
Mr. Graydon bustled his new pupil out of the little station, and
into the very disreputable pony car, with a blissful oblivion of its
shortcomings.
"You won't mind coming to the village with me till I deliver my
message? I was very near forgetting it. Then I'll have you home in
less than no time. You'll be glad of a wash-up and a cup of tea."
Sir Anthony assented, but he was preoccupied, tucking his long legs
away under the seat of the little car. When he had time to look at
his host, he found him gravely regarding him.
"You are like your father, just such another as he was at your age."
"I am glad you think so, sir. I am proud to be like him."
"Ah, he was a fine fellow, my lad."
"He never forgot you, sir, and your old friendship, though, as he
said, you had chosen to bury yourself far away from your friends. He
used to say that no man had more friends, or deserved them better."
"Did he say that?" and for a second Mr. Graydon's eyes were misty.
"Ah, well! he showed he remembered me when he wished his boy to be
in my hands."
"You are good to have me, sir."
"Not at all, my lad. I shall be very glad of your companionship, and
shall feel sometimes as if it were Gerald Trevithick beside me as of
old instead of his boy. And your mother? I hope you left Lady Jane
well."
"Quite well, thank you, sir."
"And what did she think of her only son burying himself in the wilds
of Ireland?"
"She respected my father's wishes," said the young fellow, and Mr.
Graydon detected a note of coldness in the voice which had been so
tender when he spoke of his dead father.
"Ah, here we are," said Mr. Graydon, as they turned into a tiny
street of mud cabins and drew up in front of a general shop. "Just
take the reins for a minute while I give Mrs. Lennan my daughter's
orders. Oh, is it yourself, Mrs. Lennan? You shouldn't have troubled
to come out. You're looking bonny in spite of the hot weather."
"The same to you, Mr. Graydon," said the little rosy-cheeked woman,
curtseying. "What can I do for your honour to-day?"
"I've a list here as long as a woman's tongue, Mrs. Lennan, though
the tongue isn't yours or we'd wish it to be always wagging. Let me
see--here it is: soap, candles, matches--there, you'd better take it
inside and get Mike to read it for you. He's a fine scholar, I hear."
"Indeed, then, he is, sir, though his mother oughtn't to be talkin'
about it. Thank you, sir. I'll put the things together in less time
than you'd say them over."
While they waited in the village street, Mr. Graydon beguiled the
time by genial gossip with every man, woman, and child who came the
way.
"How well you get on with the people, sir," Sir Anthony could not
help saying.
"Do you think so?" said Mr. Graydon, with a little surprise. "You
see, we've known each other so long. Things and people change little
in these out-of-the-way places."
"I couldn't do it, if it was to save my life. Besides, the people
where I come from wouldn't understand it."
"Ah, I suppose not. We Irish are more of a large family--which is,
perhaps, the reason why we wrangle sometimes."
"I don't know how you recollect all their ailments, and the names
and conditions of their families, and all the rest of it."
"I am about through them so much. Your mother would understand. I
daresay she plays the Lady Bountiful a good deal."
The young man's lips parted over a range of beautifully white and
strong teeth.
"No," he said, a little grimly. "The mater isn't at all the
district-visiting sort, I assure you, sir."
With a feeling of having blundered, Mr. Graydon changed the subject.
"I was glad to see your gun-case," he said. "There's any amount
of game about here. The mountain yonder has no end of rabbits;
and there's plenty of teal, woodcock, grouse, and partridge. Good
fishing, too, in the Moyle--the sweetest salmon-trout that ever
grilled over a clear fire; and a mile or two away there are big
salmon for the taking."
"Unpreserved?" cried the youth, with sparkling eyes.
"Well, not very strictly preserved. That mountain yonder,
Carrickduff, is part of my singularly unprofitable property, and the
Moyle runs inside my walls."
"If you don't keep me too close to work, sir, I foresee that I shall
find Carrickmoyle a paradise."
"There are worse places than Carrickmoyle," said Mr. Graydon, with
a sparkle of pleasure in his eye. "Oh, I shan't overwork you. I
believe in out-of-doors for young fellows. When I am busy--I daresay
I shall be a little busy at times with a book which I have had in
hand some years--the children will look after you."
"You have children, then?"
"Yes, three little girls. The eldest is, I'm afraid, becoming
grown-up; but the others are quite children, and as wild as little
hares."
By this time they had passed the rickety gate and were approaching
the house, the double doors of which stood hospitably open.
Mr. Graydon drew up on the gravel-sweep opposite the door.
"I must take Frisky round," he said, "and, meanwhile, will you go
into the drawing-room? It is the first door on the left. I'll be
back with you in a minute, as soon as I've found little Tim to take
Frisky from me--likely as not he's playing marbles in the paddock."
Sir Anthony did as he was directed. The big hall, when he had
entered it, was full of sunlight, but otherwise bare as poverty. A
big fireplace, where the brasses tarnished and the steel rusted; a
great handsome box, intended for billets of wood, but now coldly
empty; some dusty antlers and shields on the high wall--these were
not cheerful.
What was, was the sound of young laughter proceeding from the door
to the left--exuberant laughter, full of enjoyment, accompanied with
an odd little sound of rushing hither and thither.
The young fellow's face lit up as he went forward.
"The children playing 'Puss in the Corner,'" he said to himself, and
went almost on tip-toe.
But as he reached the door he was met by a sudden silvery shriek.
Something feathery and very hard struck him between the eyes; then
the thing dodged him, but before he could discover what it was
another missile followed; at the same moment the silvery voice
cried, in accents of despair:--
"Very well, you wretch! go, if you will; but you have disgraced
Carrickmoyle, and left the baronet without any dinner."
But let Sir Anthony himself explain these extraordinary happenings,
and how he met his fate, and the strange shape in which love came to
him.
END OF CHAPTER THREE.
[Illustration: Our Roll of Heroic Deeds]
This series of pictures of heroic deeds is fittingly inaugurated
by the portrayal of the splendid heroism of the nursemaid Fanny
Best, of Tiverton, who, by her courage and presence of mind, was
instrumental in saving the lives of her charges when attacked by
an infuriated cow. As will be seen, she kept a firm hold of the
perambulator, and at the risk of her own life boldly resisted the
repeated thrusts of the animal until help arrived. The Editor
is always pleased to hear of such instances of self-sacrificing
bravery--either in men or women--with a view to the award of the
Medal of The Quiver Heroes Fund, such as was sent to Miss Best at
the time.
[Illustration: THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN]
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
By the Lord Bishop of Derry.
"Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."--St. Matthew
iii., 2.
This proclamation, made by the Baptist, is the best possible
beginning for a gospel, since men will never repent unless they feel
that better things are open to them.
Therefore, as the next chapter informs us, these same words were
the first utterance, the modest germ, of the profounder teaching of
our Lord Himself, and He started from the precise point to which
the forerunner had led his followers. The next step was to fill up
somewhat these slender outlines by saying, "The time is fulfilled,
and the kingdom of heaven is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the
gospel" (St. Matthew iv. 17; St. Mark i. 15).
This announcement is necessary still. How often have we excused our
misdeeds by the abject plea that we could not help ourselves! It is
abject, it is a confession of slavery; but, if true, it is a perfect
defence. None may blame us for doing what is inevitable, or failing
to do what is impossible. If a giant were to force a torch into my
hand and with it to explode a powder magazine, I should not be the
murderer of those who perished by my hand. I should feel outraged
and indignant, but not remorseful.
And whoever is really certain that he "cannot help" his
intemperance, or sloth, or anger, need not feel remorseful any more,
but he also ought to feel outraged and indignant. But against whom?
God? or Satan? or himself, the self of other days? For, after all,
an act which is quite uncontrollable now may have sprung from the
wilful acts of long ago, from compliances that forged habits which
have now become bands of steel.
At all events, the gospel does not deny man's debasement and
thraldom; it asserts, not that you are naturally free, but that
you are graciously emancipated; it is preoccupied, not with your
strength, but with the approach of reinforcements. "The kingdom of
heaven is at hand."
Now think how urgently a kingdom of heaven is required. We know
to our cost that there is an awful kingdom of hell--an organised
and systematic power of evil. Christ Himself said it. He declared
that Satan could not cast out Satan because evil in this world
is regulated, coherent, and organic--it is a house, a kingdom,
working consistently, and it would fall if it were divided against
itself. And we are beset by its forces, entangled, and made captive.
Whatever be our frailty, they seize upon it. Am I selfish? The
carelessness of others makes me dishonest. Am I uncharitable? Their
failings provoke my scorn. Am I light and trifling? Their example
beguiles me into excess. Am I irascible? Their injustice lashes
me into fury. Am I sensitive? Their neglect discourages, their
harshness ulcerates me. Am I affectionate? Their kindness disarms my
judgment and drugs my conscience to sleep.
And the evil which these nurse in me becomes in turn a snare to
other men.
And all these influences are wielded and swayed by malignant and
terrible intelligences, our foes, our tyrants.
Therefore we have need of a kingdom as real, a power of goodness as
systematic, to overcome in us this organised pressure from beneath.
And hence it was not mere goodness, but a kingdom of organised and
potent goodness, which Jesus from the first proclaimed.
What is the meaning of the phrase, "the kingdom of God"--"of
heaven"? Many excellent people believe it to be something still
future, the outcome in another dispensation of forces latent still,
the millennium, the personal reign of Christ. And we must not
deny that there are passages which indicate that such will be the
fulness and triumphant issue of His kingdom. But Christ did not say,
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at least nineteen centuries
away from you." And again, when tauntingly questioned as to when
this kingdom should come, He answered that it was come already, "not
with observation," yet among them.
And, indeed, He, being Himself the Anointed One, was always speaking
of the kingdom; so that, while the rest of the New Testament
mentions it thirty-three times, it is mentioned in the gospels one
hundred and twenty-five times.
For He spoke to men who understood the phrase, being steeped in Old
Testament promises of the Messianic time; and they, when their turn
came, had to preach where the mention of a new kingdom would be as
alarming as it was to Herod.
If, then, our Lord had even once employed a safer expression, this
would so much better suit His followers as inevitably to displace
among the Gentiles His own favourite phrase, "the kingdom." And
so it comes that the word "church," which He is only known to
have uttered on two occasions, is found elsewhere one hundred and
thirteen times.
This is, indeed, an evidence of the accuracy of the reports, for if
the discourses of our Lord were not genuine, how could they have
been marked by this distinctive peculiarity when the Church had
become used to employ a different word?
And surely it _is_ the Church, this kingdom which our Lord spoke of
as a field where tares were growing, as a little seed which became a
tree, as a net which embraced alike good fish and bad?
It is the organised coherent power of the world to come, confronting
evil with an influence and mastery superior to its own.
Repent, said Christ, because the empire of wickedness is
tottering--because the iron sceptre of the tyrant is about to
break--because the prince of this world is soon to be cast out.
What do we know of the constitution, and what of the spirit, of this
divine kingdom upon earth?
Jesus declared its constitution when He said that, while the kings
of this world put forth an imperious sway, and men obsequiously
reckon them benefactors who exercise lordship over them, with us
the conditions are reversed, and he is greatest who stoops, helps,
serves, and forgets the ambitions that usurp and trample.
What encouragement for the penitent! In the realm which he
now enters--where he fears to be reproached for his past
rebellion--every true leader has it for an ambition to help and
serve him; and he is made sharer in a vast and sublime citizenship,
where all, from the Prince of Life to the lowliest true servant, are
united in desiring his victory and joy.
Oh, if this is true, if the Conqueror of Death and Hell has received
gifts for us, and ever liveth to make intercession for us, and if,
in one grand and organised strain and stress of effort for the
right, angels and principalities and powers, and things present and
to come, and Paul and Cephas, all are ours, then, in the approach of
such a kingdom, in the voice that bids us rally to such a standard
of emancipation, what hope, what animation, what an opening of
prison doors!
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
With mutual help for its constitution, now what is its aim and
temper?
"The kingdom of God," said St. Paul, "is not self-indulgence, not
eating and drinking, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the
Holy Ghost."
It is not any _one_ of these isolated from the rest.
Righteousness, for instance, means conformity to rule; a sceptre of
righteousness is the same thing as a straight sceptre.
But can you not imagine a life of conformity to rule, a life
perfectly righteous, being hideous?
Think, for instance, of a slave in a plantation, rising early,
toiling until absolute exhaustion arrested his incessant labours,
perfectly temperate, sober, and obedient. But all this was because
the sound of the lash was in his ears, and the scars of it on his
flesh; and all the while his soul was either stupefied or frenzied.
Well, it is not practically possible, but it is conceivable in
theory--and Christ conceived it--that, even thus, in the fear which
has torment, one should thoroughly obey God, remembering the pangs
of remorse, and foreboding those of hell. And I repeat it: such a
righteousness, pressed on the reluctant soul by external forces,
would be hideous. It is the righteousness of the prodigal's brother:
"I never transgressed.... Thou never gavest me a kid."
But the kingdom of God is righteousness combined with peace; it is
obedience to an inner law--to a law written in the heart and mind.
"Righteousness, and peace, and joy." How little of real penetrating
joy comes into an average human life! "Happy," says Thackeray, who
knew men so well, "happy! who is happy?" And even the calm and
tranquil Wordsworth, most blameless of the children of his time,
complained that--
"We are pressed by heavy laws,
And often, glad no more,
We wear a face of mirth, because
We have been glad before."
Nor, to be frank, is the life of a Christian altogether and
perfectly joyful. "Even we ourselves do groan within ourselves,"
wrote Paul to the same church for which he prayed that the "God of
hope would fill them with all peace and joy."
But the reason he groans is because he has only the first fruits of
what is coming. He groans waiting for the redemption of the body,
and the old nature still has power to hinder and to thwart him.
What is new in him tends to happiness, the higher and holier part
of him is all for joy; that is true of him in some degree which
is observed of his Master (despite one apparent exception by the
grave of Lazarus), that He is often said to have His soul troubled,
but only once that He rejoiced in spirit. "The kingdom of God is
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."
This kingdom, Jesus said, was at hand. And when His disciples were
rejected, and shook off the dust of the city from their shoes, He
bade them say, "Nevertheless, of this be ye sure, that the kingdom
of God is come nigh unto you."
And it is nigh unto us to-day. It is felt in the inmost soul even of
those who would be ashamed to confess its presence.
Even when you are most miserably defeated in striving to be good,
most ashamed of failure, even when (to return to our starting-point)
you declare that you cannot do the thing that you would, even then
you do not entirely believe yourself; the conviction of lofty
possibilities will not quite begone; righteousness, and peace, and
joy, still haunt your imaginings and disturb your guilty pleasures;
you feel, you know, that these things are your heritage, and without
them you can never be content.
What does this strange, illogical, incessant experience mean?
There is a beautiful old legend of a Christian girl, betrayed to
martyrdom by her pagan lover in the bitterness of his rejection,
who promised as she went to die to send him, if it were allowed to
her, some proof of her religion. On that same wintry night, as he
sat and mourned, the legend says that a fair boy left at his door a
basket filled with flowers of such bloom and fragrance as never grew
in earthly gardens. Whereupon he arose and confessed Christ, and
passed through the same dusky gates of martyrdom to rejoin her in
the paradise of God.
Like those flowers of unearthly growth, proclaiming the reality of
the unseen, so do our unworldly longings, our immortal spiritual
aspirings, our feeling after a Divine Deliverer, if haply we may
find Him, prove that the kingdom of God is at hand.
Every thought of God comes from God, and is already the operation of
His Spirit.
Every desire for Christ is Christ's forerunner in the soul, and bids
us welcome Christ.
"Repent ye, and believe the gospel."
HOMES OF NOBLE POVERTY
=By the Author of "England's Youth at Worship."=
To be miserably poor throughout life is a burden sufficiently hard;
to sink from riches to poverty is a tragedy. Yet it is a tragedy
that we see constantly occurring around us. To struggle with
despairing pride to preserve that outward show which is falsely
termed respectability; to see fair-weather friends slink one by
one away; to surrender the little luxuries, innocent enough in
themselves, that have grown to become a part of life itself--that
is what it means to slip down the hill of fortune. "Give me neither
poverty nor riches," says the Book of Proverbs, the embodiment of
wisdom for all time.
[Illustration: (_Photo: J. G. Williams, East Molesey_.)
NOBLE POVERTY AT HAMPTON COURT.]
In poverty, as in all things else, there are degrees. What may be
wealth to one may be destitution to another. It depends upon what
the previous habits of life have been. Take, for instance, the
gentlemen and ladies, many of them bearing the noblest English
names, to whom the Queen grants apartments in the old Palace of
Hampton Court. They are not without small incomes themselves, and
the rates and taxes they have to pay amount to no inconsiderable
sum. Yet to live rent free is a boon that enables them to live
comfortably.
Shortly after the commencement of his reign George III. closed the
Palace as a royal residence, and from that time private families
commenced to occupy its innumerable rooms. These "royal squatters,"
as they have been called, at first behaved in doubtful fashion.
Many had been granted leave to stay for a few weeks, and quietly
proceeded to make it a permanent residence. Worse still, they seized
additional rooms when they thought they could do so in safety, and
sometimes let them out at a substantial rent to their friends. News
of these strange doings was carried to the king, who became very
angry, as an existing letter that he wrote shows to us. It was
proclaimed that no one would in future be allowed to occupy a suite
of apartments save under the Lord Chamberlain's warrant. Gradually
the thousand rooms of the great building were divided up into,
firstly, the State apartments, and, secondly, fifty-three private
suites, varying in size from ten to forty chambers. At the present
time these suites are granted, as a general rule, to the widows
of men who have distinguished themselves in the service of their
country. To no more worthy use could the Palace have been placed;
indeed, the tact and discrimination which have been exhibited by our
Queen and her advisers in the distribution of these benefits cannot
be too highly praised.
About the royal pensioners of Hampton Court many interesting and
amusing stories are told. When debt brought imprisonment as its
punishment, a certain gentleman retired to the rooms of a relation
in the Palace, and claimed the immunity of a royal residence. The
bailiffs knew that they could not arrest him there, and hung about
at the gates, while he took his daily exercise upon the roof. One
day he incautiously ventured out and was arrested; but he escaped
from his enemies, swam the river, and got back into safety again.
Red-tape rules supreme in the management of the royal buildings, as
the pensioners know to their cost. Certain windows, for instance,
are never properly cleaned, owing to the fact that the Woods and
Forests Department washes the outside of the panes and the Lord
Steward's Department the inside. As the two departments rarely
manage to do their cleaning on the same day, the windows are usually
in a state of semi-obscurity. To obtain the use of an old staircase
that led from her rooms to the gardens, a lady had to successively
petition the Lord Chamberlain of Her Majesty's Household, the Lord
Steward and Board of Green Cloth, the First Commissioner of Her
Majesty's Works, and, finally, the Woods and Forests!
[Illustration: _Photo Cassell and Co., Ltd_.)
HOUSES OF THE MILITARY KNIGHTS, WINDSOR CASTLE.]
While chronicling the movements of the Queen, reference is now and
again made in the daily press to the Military Knights of Windsor.
Nevertheless, but few who read about their doings know of what that
order consists. They are officers who have distinguished themselves
in some of our innumerable little wars, and yet in their old age
find themselves solely dependent on a very diminutive pension.
From the Queen they served so faithfully and well they receive an
annuity and a lodging in that vast palace, Windsor Castle. The order
is, indeed, a pendant to that better-known home for the veterans
of the rank and file, Chelsea Hospital. Its history is peculiarly
interesting. When that gallant warrior, King Edward III., founded
the Order of the Garter, he ordained that each of the twenty-six
companions should be allowed to present an "alms-knight" to the
provision made for them by the king. According to the original
grant, these veterans were to be "such as through adverse fortune
were brought to that extremity that they had not of their own
wherewith to sustain them nor to live so genteely as became a
military condition." That they might live "genteely" they were given
a lump sum of forty shillings a year, and twelve pence each day they
attended the royal chapel--a small pension, it seems to us, but it
must be remembered that money has vastly decreased in purchasing
power since those early days.
[Illustration: A MILITARY KNIGHT OF WINDSOR.]
But evil fortune awaited the alms-knights. They had been placed
under the supervision of the canons of St. George's Chapel, and
these priests seem to have bullied them unmercifully. Under Edward
IV. the quarrel had grown to such a pitch that the king interfered.
Monks carried long tales to the monarch of the insubordination shown
by the stout old warriors to the rules that had been made for their
government. The alms-knights replied, but in cunning they were no
match for their adversaries; "deeds not words" might have been their
motto. In the end they were shut off from the royal bounty, and, as
an old chronicler of the times remarks, "how they next subsisted
doth not fully appear." Bluff King Hal, however, took pity on the
poor old gentlemen that yet remained in the land of the living, and
set apart certain lands for their maintenance. Queen Bess added
to their lodgings, but issued a series of strict regulations as
to their behaviour, which well became the maiden Queen, however
distasteful they were to the alms-knights themselves. Their old
enemies, the canons of St. George's Chapel, were informed that they
were to consider themselves responsible for their behaviour, and
severe penalties awaited a "haunter of taverns" or a "keeper of
late hours." When the Queen visited Windsor they were to be ready
to salute her; lastly, it was ordained that no married man could be
admitted to the order, bachelors and widowers being alone eligible.
[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd_.)
A BROTHER OF ST. CROSS.
(_Of the Order of Noble Poverty_.)]
Until the reign of William IV. their uniform was more ornamental
than comfortable. Indeed, during hot weather it must have been
well-nigh intolerable, consisting as it did of a flowing red mantle,
decked with a "scutcheon of St. George" upon the shoulder. Since the
reform instituted by that king, however, it has consisted of a red
swallow-tail coat, dark blue trousers, cocked-hat with red and white
plume, crimson silk sash and a leather belt for a sword. Of course,
it is only on full-dress occasions that the veterans thus gaily
bedeck themselves. Remarkably well they then look, with their kind
old faces beaming above the rows of medals that proclaim their past
achievements. They still mourn the discontinuance of their famous
banquet on St. George's Day; but presents of game from the royal
preserves doubtless reconcile them to the loss of their annual feast.
[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd_.)
THE HOSPICE OF ST CROSS, WINCHESTER.]
From the old fortress of Windsor Castle, fit residence for veteran
soldiers, to the quiet Hampshire country in which the Hospice of St.
Cross lies is a change indeed. So cool and quiet does St. Cross seem
that it might be likened to some pleasant bower left by the side of
the great highway of life, along which we jostle in the heat and
dust of a summer's day. It lies little more than a mile from sleepy
Winchester, and the River Itchen wanders through its meadows. It
was in 1136 that Henry de Blois, the famous bishop and statesman,
founded St. Cross as a hospital for thirteen old men. So good a deed
stood out in strong relief against the cruelty and savagery of the
times. From north to south, from east to west, England was desolated
by all the horrors of civil war. As the Saxon Chronicle tells us in
its dying wail, "Men openly said that Christ and His saints slept."
Yet Bishop Henry, in the midst of his fighting and scheming, found
time to ensure comparative happiness to thirteen poor traders whom
the raiding barons had reduced from prosperity to poverty. Faults
the great churchman may have had in plenty; but that he had a kind
and generous heart he has left sufficient proof behind him. No finer
monument than St. Cross could man erect to keep his memory green.
On the death of its founder, St. Cross fell into evil times. It
passed under the protection of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem,
a military order then more powerful than scrupulous. The Jerusalem
Cross which is prominent in the church of the Hospice comes from
that source. After a long struggle the Bishops of Winchester
triumphed over the knights, but abuses still prevailed, and the
money that should have found its way into the pockets of the poor
brethren was quietly appropriated by fat ecclesiastics. At last,
under Henry VI., Cardinal Beaufort set to work to remedy these
evils. So noble were his efforts that he almost deserves to be
coupled with Bishop Henry as joint-founder of "The Hospital of Noble
Poverty," as he renamed the institution. From his time St. Cross has
never been in danger of destruction.
An avenue of shady trees leads to a fine gate-house, for which
St. Cross is indebted to Cardinal Beaufort. Above the arch kneels
the effigy of the great churchman himself. Once within the doors
we almost feel as if we had shaken off the nineteenth century
and dropped back into the days of the Tudors. "Wayfarers' dole,"
a little horn mug of beer and a slip of bread, is presented as
refreshment for the weary traveller. This may seem strange enough to
us, but there was a time when the custom was by no means uncommon
in hospitable England. Those were the days when wayfarers were
few, roads half-mud or half-dust, and inns far between. Passing
on, we next find ourselves in a spacious quadrangle, having for
centre a smooth lawn of that exquisite turf for which our country
is deservedly famous. Round it lie the chapel, hall, cloisters,
and brethren's houses. The chapel is a fine building in the Norman
style. Perhaps the most interesting features of its interior are the
designs that adorn the walls. During the "whitewash" period of past
generations they were covered up, but now they have been restored to
something like their original form and colour. In this more than one
of the brethren, where they were able to do so, lent a helping hand.
The little burial ground is to the south of the chapel. It would be
difficult to imagine a more peaceful spot for the last resting-place
of the veterans who have fought and lost in the great battle of life.
[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd_.)
A VIEW OF THE CHARTERHOUSE.]
"Have you many visitors from London itself?" I once inquired of
the gate porter of the Charterhouse. "No, sir," said he. "We get a
lot from the country, along with the Americans and foreigners; but
precious few Londoners ever come here." It is strange how absolutely
ignorant the average Londoner is concerning all that is quaint and
interesting in the old buildings of the great city in which he
lives. The case of the Charterhouse offers an excellent example.
About it the broad streams of traffic pour unceasingly day after
day; yet, though the little backwater wherein the grey old houses
lie is but a few dozen yards away, few of the busy crowds can either
spare the time or take the trouble to visit it.
The history of the Charterhouse is a strange one. In 1348 all London
was trembling in the grasp of the Black Death. The grave-diggers did
not know what to do with the bodies, and finally buried them in any
pit or ditch that seemed convenient. Famous Sir Walter Manny, the
favourite of all the fighting heroes of Froissart, was horrified
at this grave scandal. He, together with the Bishop of London,
procured certain lands, which were consecrated and handed over to
the city that the dead might at least receive decent burial. It is
said that fifty thousand bodies were there interred in a few years.
Some time later, the plague abating, the same two philanthropists
commenced to build a Carthusian monastery on part of the ground. For
three centuries the Charterhouse, under the rigour of that stern
order, pursued its quiet path. But with Henry VIII. came evil times
for the monks. There were searching examinations, and finality
executions. The monastery was dissolved and the building tossed from
hand to hand. Twice it was held by Dukes of Norfolk, and for a time
was known as Norfolk House. Two of its ducal owners passed from
it to the block on Tower Hill. Queen Elizabeth took refuge there
in the reign of Mary. There were revels there while James I. was
king, eighty gentlemen being knighted at one time after a banquet
which had been to the royal satisfaction. Finally it was bought
by a certain Thomas Sutton, and shortly afterwards we find him
petitioning Parliament for licence to endow it as a home for aged
men and a school for poor children.
Let us take a day in the life of one of the "old gentlemen," as the
attendants always call them. About eight o'clock a "nurse" comes
bustling into his sitting-room, lights his fire, and sees that his
breakfast is laid ready. At nine o'clock a bell goes for chapel.
Each of the brethren must attend one chapel a day on pain of a
shilling fine stopped out of his allowance; but he may choose the
morning or evening service as he likes. The morning service is the
more popular, and to chapel we will now bend our steps. It is a
venerable old building, and now that the schoolboys have left their
old home and retired to Godalming there is plenty of room. On the
right of the altar is a heavy carved pulpit; on the left the tomb
of the founder, good Thomas Sutton, with its elaborate carving and
gold-tipped railings.
[Illustration: ST. KATHARINE'S HOSPITAL, REGENT'S PARK.]
After chapel the old gentlemen are at liberty to do what they like
until dinner is served at three, an hour in itself the survival of
a custom long passed away. The hall, with its carved woodwork, is
a most interesting spot. Wearing their gowns, the brothers file in
and take their seats at the mahogany tables. Above the fireplace the
Sutton arms are blazoned, and from his frame on the wall the picture
of the good merchant himself smiles down upon the recipients of his
bounty.
After dinner, in the summer weather, the brothers usually chat or
doze in the pleasant shade of the buildings in the largest court.
There are few of them that have not something out of the common
about their faces, and none of them but have a hard story to tell,
if they chose. They are of all ranks, but mainly drawn from the
classes described in the old regulations as "poor gentlemen, old
soldiers, merchants decayed by piracy or shipwreck, and household
servants of the sovereign." "We get a lot of literary men here now,"
said an attendant, looking knowingly at me; but I did not pursue the
conversation.
Evening service is at six, and at eleven the gates are shut for the
night.
With the institution known as St. Katharine's Hospital the queens of
England have always been closely connected. It was founded as long
ago as 1148 by Matilda, wife of King Stephen; but to Queen Eleanor
the hospital owed its first charter. By it the English queens were
always to be considered perpetual patronesses, and the institution
was to be part of their dower. Eleanor added further revenues "for
the health of the soul of her late husband and of the souls of the
preceding and succeeding kings and queens."
[Illustration: WILLIAM THE FOURTH'S NAVAL ASYLUM, PENGE.
(_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd_.)]
Henry VIII. seems to have intended at one time to quietly
appropriate the revenues, but Anne Boleyn, the reigning favourite,
prevented this iniquitous deed. From the Stuarts to 1824 there is
little of importance to recount; the handful of royal pensioners
lived in comfort, and a school for poor children was also
maintained. Quiet garments were the rule, though the strict order
passed by the queen of Edward III. against "striped clothes" as
"tending to dissoluteness" had long been abolished. In 1824,
however, came the proposal to dig out a huge dock on the ground
whereon the hospital stood. After great debate Parliament granted
the necessary powers. St. Katharine's Docks were begun, and at the
same time the walls of a new St. Katharine's Hospital commenced to
rise in Regent's Park. The present buildings can scarcely be called
beautiful, the chapel being a poor imitation of the one at King's
College, Cambridge. The offices of master and brethren are now
practically sinecures of considerable value presented by the Crown;
a large number of non-resident "bedesmen and bedeswomen" are also
supported out of the funds. The Queen Victoria Jubilee Nurses' Fund
has of late years been connected with the Hospital.
In the year 1847 Adelaide, Queen Dowager of England, determined to
found and endow an asylum for widows and orphan daughters of the
officers of the Royal Navy. Penge was the spot selected, and there
twelve pretty little houses were built and called "King William the
Fourth's Naval Asylum." It was a graceful act of the queen, for far
too little had been previously done for the destitute relatives
of those to whom the country owed nine-tenths of its power and
security. From its foundation the governors and trustees have all
been in some way connected with the Navy, and can be relied upon
to appreciate the position and look after the interests of the
pensioners.
[Illustration: MORDEN'S COLLEGE, BLACKHEATH.]
Connected also with the sea is that old and famous institution,
Morden's College, Blackheath. In the middle of the seventeenth
century Sir John Morden was a member of the great Turkey Company,
trading in the Mediterranean. He had a "fair estate," numerous
ships, and all things that in his day made up the prosperous trader.
In the City of London his name stood high. But the tenure of riches
and prosperity was more precarious in those days than in our own.
The whole of his fleet perished on one voyage, either by pirates
or storm. But honest Sir John did not relax his energy because he
found fortune his foe. Steadily plodding on, he again commenced to
rise in the world, until at last, like the patriarch Job, he was
even greater and wealthier than before. Misfortune had taught him a
lesson in charity which he never forgot. When at the lowest depths
of his calamity he had vowed that if ever the Almighty again crowned
his efforts with success he would provide a shelter for merchants
who, like himself, had fallen upon hard times and lost their estates
"by accidents, dangers, and perils of the seas."
The College is a spacious red-brick building, with two wings that
form a central quadrangle, which is surrounded by piazzas. It was
built according to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren. At the
present day it houses within its hospitable walls forty pensioners,
while one hundred out-pensioners receive sums varying in amount up
to £80 per annum. The inmates, with £120 each, are very comfortably
off. In 1844 a fine dining-hall was added, in which hang the
portraits of the baronet and his lady, painted by Sir Peter Lely.
The new library was bequeathed by the will of a son of a former
inmate of the College. With the increasing value of property, the
income of Morden's College is now little short of £18,000 a year.
The generous action of the founder well merited the praise of an
old member of the institution, who wrote in his gratitude a poetic
effusion thus concluding:
"What need is there of monument or bust,
With gift so noble and a cause so just?
It seeks no aid from meretricious art,
It lives enshrined in every member's heart!"
[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd_.)
HUGGENS' COLLEGE, NORTHFLEET.]
John Huggens, who founded the College at Northfleet which bears
his name, was a fine type of the business man of the early part
of this century, a time when the commerce of England commenced to
advance by leaps and bounds. A letter which the Rev. M. M. Ffinch,
Chaplain of the College, has kindly lent me describes him as a tall,
well-made man in "nankeen breeches, blue dress coat, with large gilt
buttons, and a white beaver hat with the nap fully an inch long."
Like many other founders of charitable institutions, he had seen
that the hardest poverty of all is the poverty that will not beg
and cannot, through age, infirmity, or misfortune, make enough to
keep body and soul together. A hard worker all his life, he would
have been the last man in the world to encourage the sloth that
comes by indiscriminate charity. In 1847 he opened a small building
of sufficient size to house eight pensioners who had sunk from
comparative comfort into evil times through no fault of their own.
"Having run our little bark into the smooth and tranquil waters of
the summer evening of life," said the founder in his opening speech,
"may we sail on happily to the end of our voyage here below!"
Before and after his death fresh houses were added, and since the
foundation of the home two hundred and twenty-nine residents have
been received within its walls.
B. FLETCHER ROBINSON.
GREAT ANNIVERSARIES
_IN NOVEMBER._
By the Rev. A. R. Buckland, M.A., Morning Preacher at the Foundling
Hospital.
The British calendar never lacks interest. There is not a day which
does not recall for us some great name in our country's history,
some victory of peace or in war. Let us put ourselves in mind of
a few of these--not necessarily of the most familiar or the most
striking, but of some which more especially speak of movements and
workers in the religious and philanthropic life of the nation.
[Illustration: RICHARD BAXTER.
(_After a Contemporary Engraving by Robert White._)]
November is the month in which the Long Parliament met, and William
of Orange landed in England; it is the month of Clive's defence of
Arcot, of Hawke's battle in Quiberon Bay, and of the soldiers' fight
at Inkerman; it is the month that saw the birth of William III., of
Laurence Sterne and Jonathan Swift, of Sir Matthew Hale, of Richard
Baxter, of William Cowper, William Hogarth, Henry Havelock, John
Bright, and Frederick Temple; it is the month in which Adam Smith
published his "Wealth of Nations," and Charles Darwin his "Origin
of Species"; it is the month in which Cardinal Wolsey, John Milton,
and Admiral Benbow died; it is the month which saw the State pageant
many this year have called to mind, the funeral of the Duke of
Wellington.
[Illustration: THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.
(_After a Drawing by Count D'Orsay._)]
Sir Matthew Hale (born November 1st, 1609) is but one of the many
judges who have joined to eminence in the law the example of a
devout mind and a life of religious zeal. He administered justice
in the times both of the Commonwealth and of the Restoration.
Stillingfleet and Baxter were amongst his friends, and his life of
austerity witnessed to his consistent sympathy with Puritan ideals.
Before him there came John Bunyan, for the then heinous crime of
frequenting conventicles. He wrote with equal facility upon law,
morals, and theology, and his MSS. are still amongst the treasures
of Lincoln's Inn.
[Illustration: DEAN SWIFT.]
Richard Baxter (born November 12th, 1615) had a career of singular
variety. Sometimes thought of only as a pioneer of Nonconformity
and the author of the "Saint's Everlasting Rest," he shared in
the startling changes of his period. He had tried in early years
a courtier's life; he received holy orders from the Bishop of
Worcester; he was for a time a chaplain to the Parliamentary forces;
he was on Cromwell's Committee to "settle the fundamentals of
religion"; he was, a few years after, a chaplain-in-ordinary to King
Charles II.; he might have been Bishop of Hereford; and he lived to
be tried for sedition before Judge Jeffreys. He is known to many,
who are not familiar with his other works, by the hymn "Lord, it
belongs not to my care." Curiously enough, this hymn is said to have
been repeated, during his last illness, by the late distinguished
physicist, Professor James Clerk Maxwell, who also is a November
worthy, born on the 13th of this month.
[Illustration: WILLIAM COWPER.
(_From the Painting by G. Romney._)]
Dean Swift (born November 30th, 1667) had little of the divine about
him, though he obtained an Irish deanery and aspired to an English
bishopric. Politician and satirist, some of his books are still
eagerly read by those who have forgotten the circumstances which
produced them, as well as the defects which stained his character.
William Cowper (born November 15th, 1731) is a pleasanter memory.
The Christian Church is not likely soon to forget the "Olney Hymns"
and their authors, although Cowper's descriptive poetry and his
letters are less familiar than they might be. And "John Gilpin"--can
he ever be forgotten? With these authors we may reasonably join a
moralist who taught by another art. William Hogarth (born November
10th, 1697) reproached the vices of a licentious age with a power of
pictorial satire which has never been excelled. He was one of the
group of distinguished artists who associated themselves with the
early history of the Foundling Hospital.
[Illustration: THE LATE SIR H. HAVELOCK, K.C.B.
(_After the Portrait by F. Goodall, A.R.A._)]
Of Christian soldiers, who has appealed to us more strongly than
Henry Havelock (died November 24th, 1857)? "So long," it has been
truly said, "as the memory of great deeds, and high courage, and
spotless self-devotion is cherished among his countrymen, so long
will Havelock's lonely grave beneath the scorching Eastern sky, hard
by the vast city, the scene alike of his toil, his triumph, and his
death, be regarded as one of the most holy of the countless spots
where Britain's patriot soldiers lie." As with many another man,
his religious character owed much to the influence of his wife, a
daughter of that Marshman whose name will always be remembered in
the history of Indian missions. To Outram the dying man could say,
"I have for forty years so ruled my life that when death came I
might face it without fear." "Principles alone," wrote Havelock,
"are worth living for or striving for." The words might stand as
a motto for the life of John Bright (born November 16th, 1811),
Christian statesman and orator, one of the many members of the
Society of Friends who have left their names writ large in their
country's history. The men who remember the struggle for Free Trade
are passing away, but the part played by John Bright is not likely
soon to be forgotten.
November has not been a month fruitful in the foundation of
philanthropic and religious organisations. But to those who have
watched the progress of the temperance movement in England, who
remember the difficulties of its pioneers, and the obloquy which
often fell upon them, November has a claim as the birth-month of one
of the earliest and hardest of the temperance workers--Frederick
Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury. Born in the Ionian Isles on
November 30th, 1821, he has, all through his manhood been a vigorous
exponent of the total abstinence cause. From the first he recognised
no bounds of denomination in its support, and although he has been
a great power to the Church of England Temperance Society, he has
always lent his voice and influence to other agencies working in the
same great cause. He has an invaluable helper in his wife, in both
temperance and diocesan work.
[Illustration: ARCHBISHOP TEMPLE.
(_Photo: Russell and Sons, Baker Street, W._)]
[Illustration: HOW BARNFORD CHURCH WAS SAVED.]
HOW BARNFORD CHURCH WAS SAVED.
A COMPLETE STORY.
=By Scott Graham, Author of "Pemberton's Piece," "All Through
Prejudice," Etc.=
When Llewellyn Percival, the new Rector, first beheld the
dilapidated pile called by courtesy Barnford Church, his heart
sank. The late Rector, who had just died, aged ninety, had held the
living fifty years, and during his sway scarcely any repairs had
been done. The parish, a remote village in the East of England,
was an exceedingly poor one; and the very ancient and interesting
church had literally settled down--for one side was much out of the
perpendicular--to decay.
It smelt incredibly fusty, it was disfigured by hideous high pews,
daubed with yellow paint, locally termed "horse-boxes"; the fine
west window was blocked by a huge gallery containing the organ--an
instrument so much out of order that half the notes were mute, and
the pipes emitted the weirdest groans, absolutely terrifying to a
stranger. The old sexton assured Llewellyn that the roof was so
leaky that in wet weather the rain poured down on the congregation,
and though there was a stove, it was so ill-constructed that in
winter the cold was terrible. There was a fine old peal of bells,
but the tower at the west end had a huge crack running from top to
bottom, and seemed so unsafe that they did not dare to ring more
than one.
All this was sadly disheartening; especially as the church
was really a fine building, with a splendid Norman doorway, a
dilapidated but still beautiful carved screen, and many interesting
features.
"Is there really no rich family in the place who could help to
restore it?" Llewellyn asked the sexton. "What about the people at
the fine grey-stone Manor House, there among the trees?"
"Oh, them's the Lancasters--they're rich enough, but you'll not get
nothing out o' them, sir. Old Squire Lancaster and the old Rector
quarrelled years ago about the family pew, and ever since they've
gone to Thornton Church, in the next village. Miss never gives
nothing to this church now."
"Is she an elderly lady?"
"Bless you, no sir, she's quite young--twenty-four, maybe--and
handsome too. She's the only child, and since th' old Squire died
she's had it all her own way, for her ma's a great invaleed, and
never troubles about anything."
Llewellyn sighed. It did seem unfortunate that the only rich people
in the place should have quarrelled with the late incumbent. He
asked an old friend, an architect, to come and stay with him in the
comfortable Rectory, which was such a contrast to the tumbledown
church, and give his opinion about the restoration.
After due examination, Mr. Lane announced that, unless the
foundations were strengthened, the tower at least partially
rebuilt, the roof renewed, and the walls mended in weak places, the
church could not last much longer. This would cost at least two
thousand pounds, and if a new organ, new pews, and some much-needed
internal improvements were also effected, a thousand more would be
necessary. Poor Llewellyn--he was only thirty, and this was his
first church--groaned aloud, as well he might. He had only a hundred
a year of his own, besides his sorely depreciated living: and the
small farmers and labourers who populated the parish were powerless
to help. He might appeal to the Bishop, but the diocese was a very
large and poor one, and Barnford was only one among many churches
urgently needing repairs.
[Illustration: "Is there no rich family in the place who could help
to restore it?"--_p. 37._]
"If you can find the money, I'll undertake the work without fees,
for absolutely out-of-pocket expenses," said Lane generously. "I'd
do it economically too, and save you as much as possible."
Llewellyn thanked him most heartily, but, nevertheless, the thought
of that two thousand pounds weighed upon him like a nightmare. He
soon made the acquaintance of the formidable Miss Lancaster at a
neighbouring Vicarage. The family were descended from a wealthy
banker who had bought Barnford Manor for a country house, and as
sole heiress Laura had nearly five thousand a year and was a great
catch. She was a tall, dark, handsome girl, with a commanding air
due to the fact that from her childhood she had been flattered and
petted by everybody. But she was civil to Llewellyn and invited him
to call at the Manor; apologising for her mother as an invalid who
never went anywhere.
Mrs. Lancaster did not appear when Llewellyn went, but Laura, who
had been her own chaperon all her life, entertained him in the
handsome drawing-room with great composure. He had never seen a girl
with such an assured manner before.
Over his cup of tea he ventured, humbly and meekly, to hint at the
restoration of the church.
"It's such a picturesque old place that it would be a shame to pull
it to pieces and spoil it by injudicious restoration," returned
Laura decidedly.
"It isn't a question of my own particular fads, Miss Lancaster, but
the fabric is absolutely unsafe, owing to an extensive settlement.
The roof isn't watertight, and the windows are almost tumbling out
of the walls."
"And how much would be needed?"
"A friend of mine, an architect, has most kindly offered to give his
services without fees; but to make the place even decent would cost,
he says, two thousand pounds."
[Illustration: "You clergymen are all alike!" she cried.]
"You will never raise such a sum here!" was her brusque answer.
"I don't like to commence our acquaintance by begging, Miss
Lancaster; but if you could see your way to do anything for what is,
after all, your parish church----"
"Yes, but we always go to Thornton. Old Mr. Short was awfully rude
to father years ago, and we left the church. I play the organ at
Thornton and train the choir; and the Vicar and his wife are great
friends of ours. I couldn't leave them in the lurch by coming back
to this church now--especially as Thornton is a very poor parish
too."
"Even if you don't attend the services, I should be most thankful
for any offer of help towards the restoration," he patiently
answered, determined not to show annoyance at her abruptness.
"Something must be done, and very soon."
The heiress tapped her foot petulantly on the carpet.
"You clergymen are all alike!" she cried. "You undertake tasks too
great for you, and then come to the laity for help! A poor parish
like this could never raise two thousand pounds, unless we ourselves
gave the whole sum, which we certainly can't afford to do. There is
nobody else here to subscribe."
"Believe me, I never thought of asking you for such a large sum
as two thousand pounds, or even a quarter of it, Miss Lancaster.
But the smallest sum would be welcome, as the nucleus of a fund. I
intend to use my uttermost efforts to raise the money, if it takes
me the rest of my life!"
His fair, good-humoured, and thoroughly English face had assumed a
very dogged look as he uttered the last words: and Laura, who knew a
real man when she saw him, noted it approvingly. In her secret heart
she relished a little wholesome opposition; it was an agreeable
novelty when most people were so subservient.
"But how can you raise it?" she asked doubtingly.
"This is now October, and these country villages are so dull in the
winter evenings that any entertainment is welcome. If the Bishop
will consent, I propose to get a very good magic-lantern, with
several sets of slides, and exhibit it in the villages and small
towns round, with the consent of their clergy, and paying a certain
proportion of the proceeds to their own charities if they lend me a
hall. I shall charge very little for seats, from a shilling down to
twopence or threepence; and as I shall explain the views and work
the apparatus myself, the expenses will be nothing."
"Fancy the Rector of Barnford turning showman! What a come-down!"
said disdainful Laura. "I can't think you will make much! However,
if you succeed, and come to me in the spring with a statement of the
profits, I promise I will give you as much as they amount to."
It was more than he expected; and he thanked her warmly, despite her
evident conviction that the profits would be small.
"I'll give you a written promise, if you like, to that effect,"
added Miss Lancaster, who was a most businesslike young woman.
"No, thank you; a lady's word is quite enough," he answered
earnestly; and a genial smile stole over her handsome face as he
spoke, for she was secretly pleased by his chivalrous trust.
On the whole, he quitted the Manor fairly well satisfied; for
though Laura could not be described, by any stretch of courtesy, as
an amiable girl, he discerned fine traits of character behind her
somewhat repellent manner. "A girl who wants knowing," he decided.
"She has been flattered because of her riches, and pestered by
mercenary suitors, until she imagines all men are deceivers!"
II.
The Bishop, who was a liberal-minded man, and much interested in
the restoration of the church, entirely approved of the projected
lantern entertainment. In addition, a drawing-room meeting was held
at the Palace, which produced twenty-five pounds, and the Bishop
added another twenty. As Llewellyn had decided to set apart his own
hundred pounds annually until the restoration was completed, he felt
justified in immediately commencing the most necessary repairs at
once, trusting that the printed appeals which the Bishop caused to
be sent out would bring in a steady flow of subscriptions.
He inaugurated his magic-lantern entertainment at Barnford itself
with great success, for the Bishop came over with several friends,
and Mrs. Lancaster sent a sovereign for five tickets. But neither
she nor her daughter put in an appearance, their places being
filled by their servants. The principal farmer lent his biggest
barn gratis, so that Llewellyn cleared over five pounds that night.
And after that, though he encountered some good-natured ridicule,
the Rector and his lantern were in great request. His enterprise
was even commended in the London papers; and the villagers simply
crowded to the entertainment everywhere, glad of some amusement
in the long winter evenings. The richer farmers and tradespeople
gladly paid a shilling or eighteenpence for a seat, and the smaller
sums mounted up amazingly, so that, after all deductions, Llewellyn
seldom received less than between two and three pounds for one
evening. Although he never gave more than four exhibitions a week,
being resolute not to neglect his own parish, he made over forty
pounds a month.
Little could be done to the church before spring, as it proved
a very severe winter, and outdoor work was impeded by frost.
Tarpaulins were temporarily stretched over the cracked roof, but
at best it was a very shivery and dreary spot, so that Llewellyn
always returned with renewed eagerness to his magic-lantern journeys
after a Sunday spent in the desolate building, where the howls of
the ruined organ made the singing a mockery. In his private life
he exercised the strictest self-denial, for the scanty income
from his living left no margin for luxuries. He scarcely went
into any society, as his engagements left him no time; for, as
Miss Lancaster informed everybody, he was a perfect maniac on the
subject of restoring the church. He met her now and then in going
about the roads; and sometimes she passed him with a brief nod,
though occasionally she would stop to ask, with some mockery in her
tones, how the magic-lantern was getting on. She never appeared at
his church, though it was so much nearer than Thornton, and the
duty-calls he paid at the Manor were few and brief.
In February the long frost broke up, whereupon Mr. Lane arrived one
Saturday night at the Rectory with a view to commencing work in
earnest. After the Sunday morning service Llewellyn felt impelled to
rebuke the old sexton, who was supposed to clean the church. "When
did you dust the pews last, Reed? The very air seems choked with
it; the reading-desk and my books and the communion rails are in a
disgraceful state!"
The old man began the rigmarole he always employed when criticised.
"I served Mr. Short, man and boy, for fifty years, and never was
told the church was dirty afore! I cleaned it out reg'lar, on
Saturday, I did, and dusted everything, sir!"
The Rector shrugged his shoulders as he looked round at the dust
which he could see lying thick on every moulding and ledge, but
said no more to Reed. On reaching home, however, he mentioned the
matter to his friend Lane, who had not been at church, having caught
a bad cold on the journey. To his intense amazement, no sooner had
he mentioned the amount of dust in the church than Lane started
up, and, disregarding all remonstrances, flung on his overcoat and
hat, and started off through the churchyard at a tremendous pace to
examine the tower from outside. Although carefully shored up in the
autumn, the crack in it had widened perceptibly even to Llewellyn's
sight, and was extending across the wall of the south aisle.
[Illustration: She hastened to the churchyard.--_p. 42._]
"It's the frost," said the architect ruefully, after a thorough
examination both inside and out. "It has assisted in disintegrating
the masonry, and caused a further settlement that may bring the
old tower down with a run any minute. Being Sunday, we can't do
anything to prevent it, even if that were possible now. The dust
in the church is no fault of old Reed, but is simply caused by the
stones of the tower grinding together, because every moment they are
becoming more displaced. To-morrow, if it stands till then, I'll try
and get men to take it down."
Poor Llewellyn looked very dejected. "Oh, Lane, this is bad news! If
the tower falls, it will wreck half the church!"
"It's a pity, certainly, but it's nobody's fault. You mustn't have
service in it again, for it really isn't safe."
Fortunately, during the dark winter months Llewellyn, at the urgent
request of the inhabitants at the other end of his very large and
straggling parish, was accustomed to hold service on alternate
Sunday evenings in a large room at the outskirts of the village,
and was due there that night. He decided not to say anything about
the tower, for fear of alarming his parishioners; but he carefully
locked the churchyard gate so that no one could enter it, and,
returning home, he took the key of the church from the nail where
it usually hung, telling his old servant Dorcas that nobody must
go into the church on any pretext whatsoever, as he feared it was
unsafe.
That afternoon he called to soothe old Reed's wounded feelings by
saying in confidence what had caused the dust. He strictly enjoined
the sexton in case any strangers came to inspect the church, as
they did sometimes, not to admit them on any account. Reed promised
faithfully; but that Sunday was a sadly anxious time for Llewellyn,
who expected every moment to hear a mighty crash and see the tower
fall.
Early next day Lane set off to engage men and appliances; for
the old tower, to his great surprise, was still standing, though
perceptibly more out of the perpendicular. Llewellyn departed to the
school, and had not been gone long, when an imperative knock sounded
at the Rectory door. Dorcas opened it to behold Miss Lancaster and
another girl, Daisy Staples, an old schoolfellow, who was staying at
the Manor.
"I've come to borrow the key of the church, please. I want my friend
to see it, and I'll bring back the key when we've done with it."
Laura, it is needless to say, had heard no whisper of the precarious
state of the tower.
Dorcas, who, like all the villagers, stood considerably in awe
of Miss Lancaster, was much taken aback. "I'm very sorry, miss,"
stammered she, "but you mustn't go into the church--master says it's
not safe; and I wasn't to give the key to anybody."
"Not safe!" cried Laura incredulously. She had seen the old place
shored up with timber so long that the spectacle had lost all its
significance. "What nonsense! I'm sure it's just as safe as it ever
was, and I particularly want my friend to see it. So give me the
key, please, and we'll go."
"I haven't got it, miss, indeed. Master took it away, and left word
nobody was to go inside."
The spoilt heiress, unaccustomed to opposition, turned upon her
heel in high dudgeon. "Then I can only say your master is a most
arbitrary and disagreeable man!" she cried angrily. "Mr. Percival
is just like all the rest of the clergy, Daisy!" she grumbled to
her friend as they went away. "They love to show their power by
tyrannising over the laity! I don't believe the church is really
unsafe at all! Probably the Rector thinks that because I won't go
to his services on Sundays I don't deserve to enter the church on
weekdays, and so I am to be refused the key!"
Angry people are very seldom dignified; and Laura, knowing that
Daisy was keenly interested in architecture, was determined to try
and accomplish her project somehow. "After all, I'm a parishioner,
and I've a _right_ to enter the church!" she exclaimed. "The old
sexton has a key, and we'll go and get his, since that cross woman
refused the Rector's."
But the sexton was out. As no answer was returned to her knocks,
Laura, who was well acquainted with his habits, tried the door,
which was unfastened, and, looking in, saw the large church key
hanging on its accustomed nail in his little kitchen. She snatched
at it in triumph, and hastened to the churchyard; only to find her
progress once more barred.
"Mr. Percival has actually gone and locked the gate!" she exclaimed,
descending to slipshod English in her excitement. "Now, I should say
that must be distinctly illegal! At any rate, here goes!"
They vaulted over, with the agility of modern girls practised in
gymnastics, and very soon were inside the church. The dust was
thicker than ever, but in the excitement of displaying the various
points of interest Laura hardly noticed it; and they poked about
everywhere, little dreaming of the appalling risk they ran.
Llewellyn, on quitting the school, came round to speak to Reed; and
found the old man, who had just returned, standing staring stupidly
at the bare nail on the wall. "Did you come and fetch the church
key away, sir?" he began.
"I? I've never touched it--never seen it! And yet it's gone from the
nail! Surely it can't be that somebody has taken it to go inside the
church! Lane says the tower can't possibly last out the day."
For an instant they gazed at each other with scared faces; and then
Llewellyn rushed away, mad with fear, clearing first the churchyard
fence, and then the tombstones with incredible bounds. As he went a
curious, dull rumble was audible, and to his horror he distinctly
saw the massive tower first sway slightly, and then commence to
slip, slip with a horrible motion unlike anything he had ever seen
before. The church door was ajar--there must be somebody inside!
Pray Heaven he might be in time!
[Illustration: "I couldn't rest till I saw you," she faltered.--_p.
44._]
Meanwhile the girls, poring over an old floor-brass, were startled
by the rumbling; whilst the dust grew so much thicker that Laura
exclaimed, "Pah! What a stuffy old place! That rumble must be
thunder--there it is again!"
Still not suspecting their danger, they leisurely retraced their
steps to the south door, at the bottom of the church, very near
the fatal tower. Laura could distinctly remember turning past the
last pew; but after that nothing was clear. She only knew that some
man, unrecognisable in the cloud of dust and mortar which suddenly
obscured everything, threw himself, as a still louder rumble
occurred, with what then seemed absolutely brutal violence upon her
and Daisy. Seizing her with a force which for days left bruises
on her arms, he positively hurled her and her friend before him
through the open door. Then before he had himself quite crossed the
threshold the entire fabric of the tower fell with a terrific crash,
wrecking the whole of that end of the church.
III.
When Llewellyn Percival, after some time, recovered from the effects
of a serious wound on his head from a falling stone, and a broken
arm, it was to find himself a popular hero. To his own mind, he had
only done a most ordinary thing, such as any man would naturally
do; and he could not understand why all the papers should publish
glowing accounts of his bravery. The poor old sexton, who had
faithfully followed him on his errand of mercy, and had only been
deterred by his age and feebleness from arriving in time, deserved
quite as many thanks as he did, Llewellyn maintained. But the fickle
public did not think so, and subscriptions for Barnford Church
literally poured in.
It is a fine thing to be a popular idol, even for a day; and
Llewellyn received so much kindness during his illness that he had
never been happier in his life. An old aunt came to nurse him; and
on the first day he was allowed to come downstairs a humble message
was brought that Miss Lancaster would like to see him for a moment,
if it would not tire him too much. She and her mother had been
incessant in their inquiries, besides sending fruit, flowers, and
invalid delicacies daily.
"Show her in," said Llewellyn, unheeding his aunt's remonstrance;
and in a minute she was bending over the chair from which he feebly
strove to rise, her dark eyes full of tears. "I couldn't rest till
I saw you," she faltered. "But oh! if you had been killed, I should
have felt like a murderess! It was all my fault, for being so
obstinate and wicked! When Dorcas told me I couldn't have the key
of the church, I thought"--and she hung her head--"I said, indeed,
that it was a piece of spiteful tyranny on your part, just to assert
your arbitrary authority. Oh, how could I ever think it of you? Say
you forgive me--only say so!"
With the tears of genuine repentance and humility streaming down her
face, it was not possible for mortal man to refuse her anything.
"My dear Miss Lancaster, pray don't distress yourself! We are all
liable to errors of judgment, and, believe me, I forgive you from my
heart--if, indeed, I have anything to forgive."
"Besides that, I've always been horrid to you," she sighed
remorsefully. "I wouldn't help about the restoration, nor do
anything in the parish, and I sneered at your magic-lantern. Oh,
yes, I did--you can't deny it. But I hope now you won't worry any
more about raising funds. Daisy and I, as a thank-offering for the
great mercy vouchsafed to us, are going to finish the restoration,
if you'll only tell us what you'd like. No, not a word of thanks--at
least, not to _me_--I feel I really don't deserve it."
And the dignified, self-complacent Miss Lancaster fairly bolted
from the room; conscious that her face was quite unfit to be seen,
and that it was absolutely necessary to have her cry out somewhere.
Llewellyn leaned back in his chair, almost overwhelmed by the
knowledge that he was about to attain his heart's desire at last.
* * * * *
The restored Barnford Church was such a dream of beauty that
sometimes Llewellyn would ask himself whether it were a real
building or only a fairy vision. The light fell through beautiful
painted windows; an excellent organ replaced the old one; and oak
pews, exquisitely carved, filled the nave. A huge gilt cock strutted
proudly above the restored tower, and a brass tablet near the pulpit
declared the restoration to be the thank-offering of two grateful
hearts. People came from far and near to the services, eager to see
the beautiful church, but the largest crowd that ever assembled in
the building came on the occasion of the marriage of the Rector to
Laura Lancaster.
[Illustration: AS CHAPLAIN TO MR SPEAKER]
EX-SPEAKER PEEL. MR. SPEAKER GULLY.
(_Photo: Russell and Sons._) (_Photo: Bassano, Ltd._)
AS CHAPLAIN TO MR SPEAKER
Some Reminiscences of Parliament.
By F. W. Farrar, D.D., Dean of Canterbury.
I knew something about the Houses of Legislature, and had been
present at not a few debates, long before I had the high honour
of being a Chaplain to the Speaker. Many years ago, when I was a
master at Harrow, I had the privilege of knowing the late Lord
Charles Russell, whose son, Mr. G. W. E. Russell, was once in my
form, and who always treated me with conspicuous kindness. Lord
Charles was for a long time the highly popular Serjeant-at-Arms
of the House of Commons. There are only two persons who enjoy the
privilege of having "private galleries" at their disposal at the
end of the House--the Speaker and the Serjeant-at-Arms. Whenever
there was likely to be a very important debate, which excited keen
public interest, Lord Charles used to offer us two seats in his
gallery. I availed myself of this exceptional privilege as often
as I could, and in that way I have been present at some of those
deeply interesting political and oratorical displays which may
almost be said to have become things of the past. The speaking of
the most distinguished leaders in the House of Commons is still
manly, forcible, and lucid: but I do not think that I am only
speaking as a _laudator temporis acti, Me puero_, when I say that
never--or, at any rate, only on the rarest occasions--do we now
hear those flashing interchanges of wit, or those utterances of
sustained, impassioned, and lofty eloquence which were by no means
unfrequent thirty years ago. It may be that the pressure of affairs
is greater, owing to the immense and ever-extending interests of
the British Empire; or that there is not, at the present moment,
the intense political excitement which once prevailed; or that the
prevalent taste in such matters is different:--but, whatever be
the reason, it would, I think, be generally admitted that, in nine
cases out of ten, debates in these days are more unexciting and more
severely practical than once they were, so that speeches full of
"thoughts that breathe and words that burn" are now rarely delivered
before our assembled senators. For that reason the debates are far
less interesting and memorable than they were in former times.
There are still many speakers in the House to whom all must listen
with pleasure and admiration. Sir W. Harcourt, Sir Henry Fowler, Mr.
Morley, Mr. Goschen, Mr. Balfour, always set forth their arguments
with force and dignity; and it would, I think, be generally conceded
that few speakers could surpass Mr. Chamberlain in the skill and
fearless forthrightness with which he enunciates his views. There
are still a few debaters who might bear comparison with Sir Robert
Peel in the dignified enunciation of views full of sober wisdom;
or with Mr. Cobden in his "unadorned eloquence"; or with Lord
Palmerston in his unstudied and lively geniality:--but since first
Mr. Bright, and then Mr. Gladstone, stepped out of the political
arena, anyone who could be called "a great orator" has become very
uncommon in Parliamentary debates. No orator in the House has
acquired, or perhaps even aims at, the fame for eloquence obtained
in the political arena by men like O'Connell, Sheil, Lord Macaulay,
Sir Edward Bulwer, Mr. Disraeli, John Bright, Lord Sherbrooke when
he was at his best, or William Ewart Gladstone. We do not now have
speeches which, like that of Lord Brougham in the House of Lords on
the Reform Bill, occupied six hours in the delivery; or, like the
famous "_Civis Romanus sum_" speech of Lord Palmerston in the Don
Pacifico debate, are prolonged "from the dusk of a summer evening to
the dawn of a summer day."
[Illustration: (_Photo: Mendelssohn, Pembridge Cres._)
MR. H. D. ERSKINE.
(_The Present Serjeant-at-Arms._)]
[Illustration: (_From an Engraving by Joseph Brown._)
LORD CHARLES RUSSELL.
(_Late Serjeant-at-Arms._)]
[Illustration: PRAYERS IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
(_Conducted by Canon Wilberforce, the Present Chaplain._)]
This may partly be due to the fact that we have not, for many years,
passed through political crises in which the hearts of men have
been so powerfully stirred as they were in the times of the first
Reform Bill; or in the early struggles of the Irish party; or in the
debates on the abolition of the corn laws; or during the thrilling
incidents of the Crimean War. In these days speeches are shorter,
less formal, less ornate, less impassioned. But if the passions of
men should again be stirred as they were by those anxious issues,
doubtless the same stormy eloquence might once more be evoked. In
those days the hearts of millions beat like the heart of one man.
One or two historic incidents may serve to illustrate the intensity
of national feeling.
While the great issues at stake in the first Reform Bill were
filling the thoughts of all, only one Bishop, Dr. Philpotts of
Exeter, voted (I believe) in favour of the Bill. The consequence
was that the whole bench of Bishops was for a time overwhelmed with
national hatred. The late genial and kind-hearted Duke of Buccleuch
told me that he had been severely hurt in an attempt to protect the
Bishops from popular insult as they came out of the House of Lords.
The Bishops had to sign a common protest that they were no longer
able to carry out their legislative duties because they could not
attend the House of Lords with safety. Even in Canterbury, when the
kindly Archbishop Howley visited his metro-political city, he was
assaulted by the mob in the streets, pelted with mud and dead cats,
prevented from dining at the Guildhall, and was only saved by two or
three courageous gentlemen from being dragged out of his carriage
and brutally ill-treated. Lord Macaulay's celebrated description of
the scene which took place in the House of Commons when the Bill was
passed by a very small majority proves how much less inflammable is
the present state of the political atmosphere.
[Illustration: ARCHBISHOP HOWLEY ASSAULTED BY THE MOB.]
He tells us that not only did the members who attached supreme
importance to the passing of the Bill clasp each other by the hand
with tears, but that, with unprecedented disregard of the decorous
traditions of Parliament, they leapt upon the benches, and stood
there waving their hats, and cheering themselves hoarse.
Take again the scene which the House witnessed during a memorably
eloquent speech of Mr. Bright. He was addressing a House which in
those days all but unanimously rejected his opinions, though time
has since then shown how well deserving they were of consideration;
and yet he moved many to tears who were little accustomed to give
open signs of their emotion. He always spoke in a style of nervous
Saxon English, and his words on that occasion were a singular
mixture of unconventional homeliness and profound pathos.
[Illustration: JOHN BRIGHT SPEAKING IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.]
He mentioned that he had met Colonel Boyle, a well-known member
of the House--"at Mr. Westerton's, the bookseller's I think it
was, at the corner of Hyde Park"--and had asked him whether he was
going out to the Crimea. He answered that he was afraid he was.
"It was not fear for himself; he knew not that. 'But,' he said,
'to go out to the war is a serious thing for a man who has a wife
and five children.' The stormy Euxine is his grave; his wife is a
widow; his children are fatherless." And then, after alluding to
other well-known members who had perished in the Crimean War, he
added, "The Angel of Death has been among us; we may almost hear the
beating of his wings."
[Illustration: BRIGHT RECITING HIS SPEECH TO HIS FRIENDS.]
As he spoke many of the assembled gentlemen of England were seen
indignantly dashing away, or furtively wiping from their eyes,
the tears of which no one need have been for one moment ashamed.
When Lord Palmerston arose to answer the oration, and to repeat to
the House its own predominant convictions, the bursts of cheering
with which his entirely unoratorical speech was welcomed were heard
even in the House of Lords. But what the members cheered was not
Lord Palmerston's eloquence, for to eloquence he had scarcely the
smallest pretence, but the British pluck which would not succumb to
the intense feeling which the great orator had aroused by appeals
that had held his audience "hushed as an infant at the mother's
breast."
[Illustration: A CHARACTERISTIC ATTITUDE OF THE LATE MR. GLADSTONE.]
On the evening before this speech Mr. Bright and Mr. Cobden had been
the guests of a former kind friend of mine, Mr. W. S. Lindsay, M.P.,
in his beautiful house on the banks of the Thames. Mr. Lindsay had
been the warm ally of both these great leaders in the Free Trade
agitation, and he told me this curious anecdote. Mr. Bright, as is
well known, carefully studied his speeches and committed them to
memory word for word, delivering them in such measured, yet often
thrilling, tones as gave to each word its utmost force. Mr. Lindsay
said that the evening before--knowing the extreme importance of the
speech, and the fact that he would be trying to persuade a multitude
of hearers against their will--Mr. Bright had recited to these two
friends in the drawing-room the arguments which he intended to
enunciate. But he had not then brought in the allusion to the Angel
of Death. The three members were sitting side by side during the
debate; and it was perhaps as a relief to his own over-burdened
feelings that Mr. Cobden, when the tumult of applause which followed
the speech had subsided, said to Mr. Bright, "Where did you get
hold of that passage about the angel, John? You did not say it to
us last night." "No," answered the orator; "I only thought of it
while I was dressing this morning." "Now, if you had said 'the
_flapping_ of his wings,' instead of 'the _beating_ of his wings,'"
said Cobden, "everyone would have laughed." I have no doubt that in
this apparently trivial criticism Cobden was only seeking to lighten
the oppression of his own misgivings about the national policy of
that time; but, curiously enough, I several times heard Dean Stanley
allude to the great speech, both in conversation and in sermons, and
he _always_ quoted the passage, "We may almost hear the _flapping_
of his wings."
[Illustration: (_Photo: Elliott and Fry, Baker Street, W_.)
RICHARD COBDEN.]
Several of Mr. Bright's best points seem to have occurred to
him suddenly. In the days when there was the secession from the
Liberal party to which he gave the popular nickname of "the Cave
of Adullam," speaking of the fact that the members of the party
seemed to be all on an equality, and to have no acknowledged leader,
he convulsed the House with laughter by comparing them to one of
those shaggy lapdogs of which it was difficult to distinguish which
was the head and which was the tail. One leading member of this
party was the late Mr. Horsman--a very forcible debater, who used
sometimes to be spoken of as "the wild Horsman." I once heard a
little passage of arms between him and the late Lord Houghton. "Ah!"
said Mr. Horsman, "you can't boast of a Cave of Adullam in the House
of Lords!" "No," replied Lord Houghton, with the readiness of a
rapier thrust, "in the House of Lords we have nothing so _hollow_!"
It is extraordinary how much our judgment of oratory is affected
by our opinion as to the point at issue. I once heard Mr. Bright
deliver a speech of great force and beauty on the second Reform
Bill; and his speeches were always eloquent and admirable so that
he never seemed to sink below himself. Indeed, one secret of
his splendid success was the care and study which he devoted to
master every detail of what he intended to say; so that--to the
astonishment of Mr. Gladstone, who had the happy art of falling
to sleep as soon as he laid his head on the pillow--Mr. Bright's
speeches often caused him sleepless nights. The oration to which I
refer was delivered, if I remember rightly, in 1857. I was listening
with admiration in the Speaker's gallery, when suddenly an ardent
Conservative, who was sitting next to me, showed himself so entirely
impervious to the charm and power of the orator that he flung
himself back in his seat with the contemptuous remark, "I thought
the fellow could speak!"
This reminds me of one or two incidents in the great debate on
the Disestablishment of the Irish Church in the House of Lords.
The Earl of Tankerville, whose son was a boy in my house at
Harrow, had very kindly given me a seat in the gallery, and I
heard a great part of that very famous discussion. The learned and
lovable Archbishop Trench had to plead the cause of his Church;
but he was old and deeply depressed, and his speech was naturally
ineffective. At the very beginning he made an unfortunate slip,
which, trivial as it was--and it is by no means unfrequently the
case that a "trifle light as air" makes an impression, favourable
or unfavourable, far beyond what might seem to be its proper
importance--at once marred the effect of what he was about to urge.
For, at the beginning of his speech, he unluckily addressed the
assembled peers as "My brethren!"--or, as he pronounced it, "My
_brathren_"--instead of "My Lords"; and, hastily as he corrected
himself, the scarcely suppressed titter which ran through the House
was alike disconcerting to the speaker and injurious to the effect
of his words. A stranger was seated next to me, who was burning with
enthusiasm for the Irish Church, and expected a powerful defence
of its position from its eminent Archbishop. But the prelate's
somewhat lachrymose appeal seemed to him quite below the importance
of the occasion; and, with a sigh of deep disappointment, he leaned
back with the murmur, "Oh dear! he's as heavy as lead and as dull as
ditch-water!"
[Illustration: (_Photo: S. A. Walker, 230, Regent Street, W_.) LORD
DERBY (14th EARL). (_The "Rupert of Debate_.")]
The greatest speech on that occasion was that of the late Archbishop
Magee, who had then been recently appointed Bishop of Peterborough.
I had, shortly before, heard his powerful sermon in St. Patrick's
Cathedral, Dublin, at the Church Congress, while the fate of the
Irish Church was still trembling in the balance. He had chosen the
text, "And they beckoned to their partners, who were in the other
ship, to come over and help them." The text was so singularly
appropriate that Archdeacon Denison is said to have started up from
his seat and almost to have clapped his hands aloud! Great things
were expected of the speech, and the recently appointed Bishop
fully rose to the occasion. As we went out of the House, one of the
peers told me that the late Lord Ellenborough (the famous Viceroy
of India) had pronounced Dr. Magee's speech to be the most eloquent
he had ever heard, except one (I think) of Lord Erskine's. Yet I
could not help fancying at the time that political circumstances
had tended to the undue extolment of this speech--eloquent and
powerful as it undoubtedly was above its intrinsic merits. I
perfectly remember the scene and all the circumstances, and even
the manner and accent with which it was delivered; but neither then
nor afterwards was I at all impressed by the arguments, nor can
I now recall them. This is far from being the case with another
speech delivered in the same debate by Dr. Connop Thirlwall, the
very able and learned Bishop of St. Davids. He was dealing with the
charge of "sacrilege," which was freely brought against the Bill,
and he endeavoured to show that there were acts which some might
characterise by such a stigma which might, on the contrary, be deeds
actuated by the highest justice and mercy.
[Illustration: "MY BRATHREN."
(_Archbishop Trench addressing the House of Lords_.)]
I witnessed a humorous little incident in the House of Lords during
the debate on the Public Schools Bill. The late Earl of Clarendon
was in charge of it, and the Earl of Derby, "the Rupert of debate,"
was opposed to it. A number of head-masters, whose methods and
interests would be affected by the Bill, had been permitted to stand
by the throne in the part of the House where members of the House
of Commons are allowed to take their place when they want to hear a
debate. Lord Clarendon in his speech was gently complaining that
Lord Derby, in characterising the Bill, had said of it (as Lord
Clarendon misquoted it)--"Sunt bona; sunt quædam mediocria; _sunt
pl[)u]r[)a] m[=a]la_." This quotation, as the amused head-masters
instantly noticed with a smile, involved two very glaring false
quantities on the part of the statesman who was introducing the
Bill for the improvement of the education of the country. Instantly
Lord Derby started up with the words, "Will the noble Lord repeat
what he has just attributed to me?" Innocent of the little trap
which had been thus laid for him, Lord Clarendon repeated his
"_Sunt pl[)u]r[)a] m[=a]la_." "I never said anything of the kind!"
said Lord Derby with humorous indignation. "I am sure," said Lord
Clarendon, "that I shall be in the recollection of all when I
repeat that the noble Lord, though he must have forgotten the fact,
quoted the line which I have just repeated to the House." "Nothing
of the kind!" said Lord Derby, with great emphasis; "what _I_ said
was very different. It was" (and the quotation was emphasised by
pointed finger and slow enunciation), "'Sunt bona; sunt quædam
mediocria; _sunt m[)a]l[)a] pl[=u]ra_.'" Lord Clarendon laughed
good-humouredly, and apologised for the slip; but he was evidently a
little discomfited.
[Illustration: (_From the Bust by C. Moore._)
RICHARD LALOR SHEIL.]
To return for a few moments to the House of Commons, a friend of
mine once asked Mr. Gladstone who was the most eloquent speaker whom
he had ever heard in the House of Commons. He answered, as he has
replied to others, "that he thought he had never heard anyone more
eloquent than Richard Lalor Sheil." Anyone who will read Mr. Sheil's
published volume of speeches will not be surprised at this remark.
The one celebrated outburst which is best remembered, thrilled all
who heard it, and sounded like the sudden sweep of a tornado. Lord
Lyndhurst, in a recent speech, had unwisely and unfairly spoken of
the Irish as "_aliens_." Alluding to this, Mr. Sheil burst out with
the fine passage from which I will only quote a part: "_Aliens!_" he
exclaimed. "Was Arthur Duke of Wellington in the House of Lords, and
did he not start up and exclaim, 'Hold! I have seen the aliens do
their duty!'... On the field of Waterloo the blood of Englishmen and
Scotchmen and Irishmen flowed in the same stream, and drenched the
same field. When the chill morning dawned their dead lay cold and
stark together; in the same deep pit their bodies were deposited;
the green corn of spring is now breaking from their commingled
dust; the dew falls from heaven upon their union in the grave.
Partakers in every peril, in the glory shall they not be permitted
to participate? And shall we be told as a requital that we are
'_aliens_' from the noble country for whose salvation our lifeblood
was poured out?"
The effect of such a passage delivered as Richard Lalor Sheil
delivered it, can better be imagined than described. He was a man
of short figure and somewhat insignificant appearance; and his
voice was high and shrill, and never well-modulated like the voices
of such orators as Lord Chatham or Mr. Bright. But he spoke with
genuine feeling and enthusiasm. The impression produced by such
earnestness can never be resisted. The tones of passion are very
penetrating, and they vibrate in the memory. "But did not Mr. Sheil
_scream_ a good deal in his speeches, Mr. Gladstone?" asked his
friend. "Sir," was the answer, "he was _all scream_!" And yet few
Parliamentary debaters have ever produced a deeper impression!
THE INTERVENTION OF TODDLELUMS.
A Complete Story. By Helen Boddington.
Bang! bang! went the fist of Toddlelums on the window-pane, as the
little hand tried to capture a cunning fly which always managed
to escape his grasp. Toddlelums was curled up on the window-seat,
with such big, big thoughts coursing through his little brain. Not
unspoken thoughts. Oh, no! Toddlelums at six always did his thinking
out loud. "Ah! you silly, silly, little fly," he said in his cooing
voice; "I wonder what you are made of, and where you go to when you
die. Ah!" with another bang and a little chuckle. "I nearly caught
you that time."
"Toddlelums, what are you doing?" said his mother, from the other
end of the room.
Toddlelums rolled off the window-seat, picked himself up, put his
hands in the pockets of his knickers, and finally placed himself
with his back to the fire. "I was only trying to catch one little
fly, mammie."
"Ah! but, my pet, it is rather cruel to kill the poor flies."
"Oh! I wasn't going to kill it, only catch it and make a tiny
cage between my two hands"--putting the palms of his hands
together--"then I would let it fly away again, right away."
The mother sat there watching her boy and thinking how like his
father he was growing. Presently he edged up to her and leant
against her knee, and then she put her arm round him, and bent her
head so that her cheek touched his brown curls. "Mother's baby," she
said softly; "mother's little Toddlelums," and there was a quaver in
her voice.
Toddlelums did not notice it, though, for he turned to her with a
merry twinkle in his great brown eyes and twined his arms lovingly
round her neck. "Let's play, mammie; let's play bears," he cried,
trying to drag her out of her chair with fearless hands which were
certain of no repulse.
She stood up, laughing. How tall and graceful she was, and how
young! Soft golden hair, brown eyes like Toddlelums', only with a
sad, sad look in them even when she smiled. Toddlelums thought his
mother was beautiful, and Toddlelums was right. A romp was in full
swing when a man's step sounded in the hall. In a flash the boy with
his rosy face and rumpled hair made a bolt for the door, as a deep
voice called, "Toddlelums!"
"It's dad, it's dad!" he shouted, battling with the knob of the
door. Then two little feet scampered down the hall, and Toddlelums
was raised up high into the air and smothered with kisses. The
mother was cognisant of all this, yet she did not attempt to follow.
She merely gave little touches to the disordered hair, took up
her work, and seated herself once again. Where was the smile now?
Where had the tender look gone? Vanished at the sound of a man's
voice--and that man her husband!
"Mammie and me were just playing bears," said the son, as he came in
perched on his father's shoulder. "Wasn't it fun, mammie?" looking
at his mother with a joyous smile.
"Yes, dear," she answered, without looking up; and her husband,
glancing at her, noticed that she bit her under lip and a flush
suddenly dyed her cheeks.
They had been married seven years, and during that time never
one word of love had passed the lips of either. It had been a
_mariage de convenance_, his and her fathers' estates joined,
and, as she told him afterwards, she had seen nobody she liked
better. It had seemed easy enough at first even without love, but
gradually--neither knew exactly how--a coldness sprang up, they
drifted apart. There was no actual quarrel, only a few hard, bitter
words on both sides, but the barrier grew and grew until there
seemed little hope of its being broken down.
At the end of the first year Toddlelums came, and then, if anything,
matters became worse, for all the mother's thoughts were centred
in her baby, all her love was lavished on him--the father was left
to his own devices. As the child grew older, instinct told him to
divide his love between father and mother, and then cruel pangs of
jealousy visited the mother's breast.
So the years passed, Toddlelums with his sweet baby voice making
sunshine in the home where lurked so many shadows. Toddlelums never
saw the shadows, though, for mother and father vied with each other
in keeping them out of his path.
[Illustration: "Vanished at the sound of a man's voice."--_p. 53_]
During the last few months, almost unknown to herself, something
had been stirring in Grace Millroe's heart; some strange feeling
hitherto quite foreign to it. Perhaps it was the constant vision of
a man's grave, patient face with the sad look on it which seemed of
late to have grown sadder. That may or may not be; but, in any case,
before she was aware, love, which had lain dormant so long, was
awakened. Then at last, when it came upon her with its mighty full
force it brought her only sorrow, for, as she cried within herself,
"There is so little use in loving when there is no return." And so
this day, when her husband came in after her game with Toddlelums,
the flush on her cheeks, which he attributed to annoyance at his
approach, was in reality caused by the quickened beatings of her
heart.
Later, when Toddlelums was fast asleep in his tiny crib and the
house was silent, she sat alone in the drawing-room and he in his
study, as was invariably the case when there was no visitor before
whom to keep up appearances.
She wanted the second volume of the book she was reading, and
so presently she rose from her comfortable chair near the fire,
slowly crossed the large, old-fashioned hall, and softly opened the
study door. How cosy the room looked, with its crimson curtains
drawn closely before the great windows, the fire and shaded lamp
combined filling it with ruddy light! She stood with the knob of
the door in her hand and with her eyes riveted on the figure at the
writing-table.
His arms were folded on the table, his head was buried in them, and,
surely, that was a low, despairing moan which came to her across the
stillness!
"Ah!" she thought, "if he only loved me, I could make him happy."
Then she noticed for the first time that the black hair was streaked
with grey. Her lips quivered, she made a step forward; then she drew
back, passed out of the room, and softly closed the door after her.
In the impulse of the moment she had intended saying some comforting
word, and then she thought of his usual cold, passionless look, and
refrained.
How could she know that if she had made an advance the man would
have gladly, most gladly, responded? A few minutes after he lifted
his head, and, had she been there, she would have seen that the face
was full of passion, and on it were deeply drawn lines of pain.
In the meanwhile she bent over her little one's cot, and, kissing
the tiny face, which was flushed with sleep, she whispered, "Ah, my
little Toddlelums! if daddy only loved me as he loves his boy, I
would be content to die this minute, even if I had to leave you, my
baby, behind."
[Illustration: She stood with her eyes riveted on the figure at the
table.]
And yet, after all the passionate feeling of the night, when
morning came they met--outwardly, at least--with the usual cool
indifference in their bearing towards each other. At breakfast
Toddlelums was with them in his white pinafore, seated on a high
chair which was drawn up very close to the table.
"Mammie," he said, "may nurse take me down to the river to play with
Frankie Darrel this afternoon? We want to swim our boats."
"Yes, dear, but you must swim them in the shallow part."
"And don't get too near the edge, old chap. Remember, if you roll
in, daddy won't be there to fetch you out, and you'll be gobbled up
by the little fishes."
Toddlelums was looking at his father with great, round eyes.
"Gobbled up by the little fishes?" he echoed; but his father did not
hear, for he was saying in an undertone to his wife, "Tell nurse to
be careful; the river is swollen after the rain."
Afternoon came, and off went Toddlelums, carrying in his arms a boat
with big, white sails, while the young mother threw kisses to him as
she drove away in the carriage.
Ah, little Toddlelums, go your way, sail your small craft!
Unconsciously, you will guide it through the deep waters, but the
land will be reached at last!
* * * * *
It was evening, and Grace Millroe, entering the hall on her return
from her drive, found her husband standing at the foot of the stairs
apparently waiting for her, with a look on his face which she had
never seen there before. He made no movement, one hand clutched the
balustrade with a tight grip, and twice his drawn lips opened to
say words which refused to come. She rushed to his side--she clung
to his arm, while the fair face, working with some wild, fearful
emotion, looked imploringly into his. "Edgar, what is it? What is
the matter?"
[Illustration: "Daddy, you do love mammie, don't you?"]
"It is----"
"It is Toddlelums. Oh, Edgar! for mercy's sake, don't say it is
Toddlelums!" and her hold tightened on his arm.
He turned his head away, for he could not bear to see the agony on
her face.
"Yes, Grace, it is Toddlelums. He fell into the water, but--ah!
don't look like that--he may live yet, the doctors are doing their
best for him."
Together, mother and father ascended the stairs, she faltering on
every step, while hard, dry sobs shook her frame. Ah! what a wan,
white Toddlelums lay on his little bed, and, but for the faint
breathing, the mother must have known herself childless. The doctors
were doing their work, while the agonised parents stood watching
and waiting. She would have clasped him in her arms--she would have
pressed his little cold body to her breast--but first the doctors
had their part to do; the mother must wait.
"Edgar," and she turned to him with great, dry eyes, "will my baby
die? No, no, it cannot be!" she moaned plaintively. "It would kill
me to lose my little Toddlelums."
"Dear," he said, and somehow she felt comfort in knowing that his
arms were round her; "if I could, I would give my life for his."
"No, no," she said, and then she sprang to the bedside; for the
doctors had moved away, and Toddlelums was calling "Mammie."
"Mother's darling, mother's precious baby!" she cried, twining her
arms round him.
"And daddy's too," said the weak little voice, for Toddlelums was a
very shadowy Toddlelums still.
"Yes, and daddy's too," she said, as the man bent over his son and
held one tiny hand.
"Daddy, you do love mammie, don't you? He said, that horrid Frankie
said, that you hated each other"--looking at the two faces. "He said
he knew it was true because he heard his mother and father say so.
And I told him it was a big, big story, and I fighted him hard--very
hard--and then he gave me a push, and I went down, down into the
cold water. It isn't true, daddy, is it?" looking at his father with
great, earnest eyes; "you do love my mammie?" and he stroked her
face tenderly.
The man hesitated, looked across at the woman; then he said, "Yes,
darling, I love her more than my life."
A few seconds of silence, a sigh of content from Toddlelums. Then
the mother's voice saying, "And I love my little child, but I love
his father more."
Eyes meet eyes, hands clasp hands, and the two hearts severed so
long are united at last.
Blessed little Toddlelums, with your sweet baby face and your manly
little heart!--gallantly you fought your first battle, and the
victory is yours. The deep waters encompassed you, and the Valley
of the Shadow was very near; but the Captain of the Host has yet a
greater battle for you to fight, and that is the Battle of Life.
LOVE'S DEBT.
"From every portion, from every department, of Nature comes the
same voice. Everywhere we hear Thy name, O God; everywhere we
see Thy love. Creation in all its length and breadth, in all
its depth and height, is the manifestation of Thy Spirit; and
without Thee the world were dark and dead."
Through all the flowers, I love Thee,
Through all the joys around, above me--
Through tree and brook, and sea before me,
Through bird-songs--I adore Thee.
For these a debt I owe Thee:
Poor words are all I have to show Thee
How much Thy glorious work doth move me,
And how my soul doth love Thee.
LOUIS H. VICTORY.
THE COLOURED JEWS.
_Strange Survivals of the Scattered Tribes._
"Amazing race! deprived of land and laws,
A general language and a public cause;
With a religion none can now obey,
With a reproach that none can take away:
A people still whose common ties are gone;
Who, mixed with every race, are lost in none."
--CRABBE.
Where are they? Rather, where are they not? Dispersed
to the four corners of the earth, this nation of exiles, ever
loyal to the Government under which they live, still look for a
better country and fix their eyes on Palestine, their ancient home.
One of their learned men, Dr. Hertzl, has lately appealed to his
fellow-Jews to rise and re-people the land. But nothing can be done,
he tells them, without the enthusiasm of the whole nation: "The idea
must make its way into the most distant and miserable holes where
the people dwell."
[Illustration: A CHINESE ISRAELITE.]
It was just at a time when the Philistines said, "Behold the Hebrews
come forth out of their holes where they had hid themselves," that
Israel's captivity was turned to freedom. It may be that history
will repeat itself.
[Illustration: THE HEBREW LAW OF THE CHINESE JEWS.
(Facsimile of a page from Deuteronomy.)]
In many unexpected corners of India, China, Africa, and Persia
representatives of an indestructible people have been discovered.
They wear the dress of the natives and submit to their laws, but
century after century they have remained, proof against absorption.
Neither poverty, contempt, nor persecution shakes their belief--the
faith that is the heritage of their fathers--that they are the
remnant of a chosen people.
Jerusalem will see an amazing sight if it calls upon all the
remotest holes and corners to deliver up its children. Jews white,
black, and brown from India, dusky from Abyssinia, arrayed in the
costume and sporting the pigtail of China, as well as Jews rich
and poor, high and humble, from Europe and America--all will bring
with them the divers ways, tongues, and customs of their adopted
countries, and assemble as one nation.
[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Society for Promoting
Christianity amongst the Jews._)
JEWISH SCHOOL CHILDREN IN PERSIA.
(With Mr. Norollah and Native Teachers.)]
Amongst the most remote colonies are the Jews of China, who have
aroused interesting inquiry and been the theme of many French
writers. Early in the seventeenth century, and shortly after the
Italian missionaries had come to Pekin, one of them, Matthew Ricci,
received a morning call. His visitor wore the gorgeous Chinese
dress, including the queue; but the figure and face were not
Mongolian, and the smiling countenance was not in keeping with the
dignified solemnity of a Chinaman. This gentleman's name was Ngai,
and he had heard of the arrival of some foreigners who worshipped
one Lord of heaven and earth, and who yet were not Mohammedans; he
belonged to the same religion, he explained, and had called to make
their acquaintance.
[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Zenana Bible and Medical
Mission._)
A MISSION-SCHOOL GROUP OF INDIAN JEWS.]
Now Master Ngai made it clear that he was an Israelite, a native of
Kae-fung-foo, the capital of Honan. He had come to Pekin to pass an
examination for a mandarin degree, and had been led by curiosity and
brotherly feeling to call at the mission house. In his native city,
he said, there were ten or twelve families of Israelites, and a
synagogue which they had recently restored at the expense of 10,000
crowns, and they had a roll of the law four or five hundred years
old. The missionary's letters described this synagogue. It occupied
a space of between three and four hundred feet in length by about a
hundred and fifty in breadth, and was divided into four courts. It
had borrowed some decorative splendour from China. The inscription
in Hebrew, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord, blessed be
the name of the glory of His Kingdom for ever and ever," and the Ten
Commandments were emblazoned in gold. Silken curtains inclosed the
"Bethel" which enshrined the sacred books, and which only the Rabbi
might enter during the time of prayer.
Every detail of this place, with its incense, its furniture, and
all its types of good things yet to come, is interesting. There in
the last century the children of Israel at Kae-fung-foo worshipped
the God of their fathers with the rites that pointed to the Messiah
of whose advent, as far as it can be ascertained, they never heard
until the arrival of the Italian missionaries. Learned men have
entered into discussions as to whether these people were Jews or
Israelites, whether they came to China from the Assyrian captivity
or the Roman dispersion. They themselves say that their forefathers
came from the West; and it is probable that the settlers arrived
by way of Khorassan and Samerkand. They must have been numerous in
the ninth century, for two Mohammedan travellers of that period
describe a rebel, named Bae-choo, taking Canton by storm in A.D.
877 and slaughtering 120,000 Jews, Mohammedans, Christians, and
Parsees. More than one Jew of Kae-fung-foo is known to have gained
the right to wear the little round button on the top of his cap so
dear to the ambition of a Chinaman. The Tai-ping Rebellion dispersed
the settlement, and the remnant who remain faithful to the memory
of old traditions are chiefly poor and distressed. The Chinamen
distinguish them by the name of "T'iao chiao" (the sect which pulls
out the sinew), for these "children of Israel eat not of the sinew
which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this
day." They are said to often repeat the words of the dying Jacob,
"I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord." This is to them like the
cry of an infant in the night. They have waited so long that it is
little wonder if the words have lost their triumphant ring and their
ancient accompaniment of faith in future blessings.
[Illustration: READING THE LAW ON THE SABBATH DAY.
(_From an Original Drawing by a Persian Jew._)]
The Persian Jews, from whom the colony in China sprang, are
interspersed over the Shah's country. The missionaries of the London
Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews make long tours
to seek them out and shepherd them. A convert from amongst them, the
Rev. M. Norollah, found in 1890 that of his own people in Isfahan,
numbering 5,000, not more than ten could read or write the language
of the country. He started a school for the children in the very
heart of this Mohammedan city. This school and others besides have
flourished, and been the means of making friends with the parents.
Of all the colonies in Asia, none seems to have preserved their
traditions more carefully and lived up to them more worthily than
the Jews in India. According to the last census, they number, 17,180.
Privileged travellers in the south-west have been shown a charter
much older than the great English pledge of liberty. The first
glance is not imposing. It is a copper plate, scratched with letters
of such out-of-date character that they bear little resemblance to
any that are now in use. But this is a priceless treasure to the
Jews of Malabar. Some authorities believe it was granted about the
year A.D. 500; others say that the renowned Ceram Perumal was the
donor, and this prince appears to have been in the zenith of his
power in A.D. 750. All agree that the charter is at least a thousand
years old.
According to the native annals of Malabar and the Jews' own
traditions, 10,000 emigrants arrived on the coast about A.D. 70,
shortly after the destruction of the Second Temple and the final
desolation of Jerusalem. It is supposed that of these 7,000 at
once settled on a spot then called Mahodranpatna, but now known as
Cranganore.
Unhappily, this flourishing community fell out amongst themselves.
After Jewish emigrants from Spain and other countries joined them
a dispute arose, and they called an Indian king to settle it. The
fable of the quarrel for an oyster was illustrated. The mediator
took possession of the place; the fat oyster became his, and death
and captivity represented the shells which he divided amongst
the disputants. Some fugitives obtained an asylum from the Rajah
of Cochin, and built a little town on a piece of ground which he
granted to them, close to his palace.
In this lovely native state live their descendants--two classes of
Jews, one known as the Jerusalem or White Jews, the other as the
Black Jews. The White trace their descent from the first settlers;
throughout the centuries they have preserved the fair skin, fine
features, and broad, high foreheads that usually belong to Europe,
whilst amongst the men blonde or reddish curly beards prevail.
The Black Jews are too intensely black to be akin to the Hindoos;
they are said to have sprung from Jewish proselytes from amongst
the aboriginal races of the district. The Black and White Jews
inhabit the same quarter of the town of Cochin; they follow the same
customs, join in the same forms of prayer, but never intermarry.
The Jews of Cochin seem to excel all others scattered over India
in strict religious observances, but they are apparently quite
distinct from the Jews or the Beni Israel of the north and west.
Some ladies of the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society were
welcomed into the houses of Jewesses in Calcutta. They recognised
the noticeably Jewish features, in spite of the clear brunette
complexion which belonged to neither the White nor Black Jews of
the south. This community availed themselves of day schools and
Sunday schools started for the children, which have now become part
of the organisation of the Old Church Hebrew Mission, and responded
to friendly overtures. One Jewish lady spoke to her visitors of the
return of her people to Jerusalem, and she said, "We will go in your
arms." "You will probably go in our railway trains," answered the
Englishwoman, and this idea satisfied both.
The Beni Israel, or Sons of Israel, of the north and west say that
their first ancestors in India were persecuted refugees from Persia,
seven men and seven women who escaped from a shipwreck near Chaul,
about thirty miles south-east of Bombay, and managed to save a
Hebrew copy of the Pentateuch. Some assert that this happened eight
hundred, others one thousand six hundred years ago. Their number
is now reckoned as upwards of 5,000. They are said to resemble the
Arabian Jews in features. They keep strictly the Mosaic fasts and
feasts, yet in many houses visited by the ladies of the Zenana Bible
and Medical Mission, the New as well as the Old Testament is studied.
For nearly half a century a principal man of the community has been
in the service of the Free Church of Scotland at Alibag, about
twenty-four miles to the south of the city of Bombay. For in this
place, at one time famous as the centre of a small pirate kingdom,
handsome, intelligent children, with marked Semitic features, and
names familiar in the Book of Genesis, delight in attending school.
In Karachi the Beni Israel are also numerous. One of the
missionaries of the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society, who
work amongst them, was invited to a wedding in the synagogue. She
noticed that, as a part of the ceremony, the bride received a cup,
and after raising it to her lips threw it down and broke it. This,
some of the guests explained, was a sign that even in the midst of
their mirth they remembered Jerusalem with sorrow.
To many, such words and symbols are very real. During the present
year a rich Jew of Karachi has left his adopted home to build a
synagogue in Jerusalem, where the Sultan has shown the Jews great
toleration.
[Illustration: (_Photo supplied by the Zenana Bible Mission._)
INDIAN JEWISH CONVERTS AT BOMBAY.]
But though the Turkish Empire has been a refuge for them, none
can exceed the Mohammedans in cruelty and intolerance when they
are roused to fanatical zeal for their Prophet. This has been
specially manifest in Africa. Abyssinia, perhaps, has the oldest
colony of Jews. They go by the name of Falashas, which means exiles
or emigrants, and claim an ambitious origin. King Solomon, they
believe, added the Queen of Sheba to his many wives, and their son
Menelek was educated in Jerusalem. On his growing to manhood, the
Jewish nobles foresaw political disturbances, and begged the king
to send him to his mother. King Solomon consented on condition that
each Jew should send his first-born son with Menelek to Abyssinia.
There he became king of Abyssinia, and his Israelite companions
married native women, so a new nation sprang into existence.
Traditions of noble descent are of less value than nobility of
character in the descendants. The church amongst the Falashas has
been sown in the blood of martyrs. When the followers of the Mahdi
became masters of Western Abyssinia, they massacred or made captives
all the inhabitants who had not secured safety by flight. Jews and
Christians, whether men or women, had to choose between Mohammed
and death. A Falasha family, converts of the London Society for
Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, were overtaken by the
Mahdists. They were told to say the Mohammedan creed, "_Allah ilahu
ill Allah wa Mohammed e rasah Allah_." These few words would save
their lives, but these words would deny their Master.
"Never will we deny Him Who died for us on the cross," they
answered. "We are born Falashas, but have been converted to Christ.
He is our Saviour, and not Mohammed."
[Illustration: ARABIAN JEWS.]
The parents were strong to endure, but could they bear to see their
five children put to a cruel death? They not only lived through
this ordeal, but the father encouraged the younger martyrs. "It is
only a short suffering," he cried, "and you will gain the crown of
everlasting life." Then came the mother's turn. Only let her deny
Christ and she might live. Her heart and her voice were broken, but
she managed to answer clearly, "I love Him, I do not fear death."
Her husband saw her butchered. His courage rose higher when his
tormentors offered him not only life but riches--anything that he
chose to ask--if he would become a Mohammedan. "You may torture me,
you may cut me in pieces, I will not deny Him Who died for me." He
too joined the white-robed army of martyrs--a spectacle to other
captives, one of whom afterwards escaped and described the scene.
Six years ago the Falashas themselves became persecutors. They
brought a prisoner in chains before the Governor of the province.
They could find no charge against this ex-Falasha priest except that
he had become a Christian; and therefore they declared that it would
be a God-pleasing work to kill him. The Governor warned the Falashas
that they would be punished if they attempted to take his life. Then
he asked his prisoner if he would again become a Falasha, or if he
chose to risk being robbed or beheaded. "I go to my Lord and to my
Father," answered the dignified old man. "I would rather die than
continue in life as an apostate."
[Illustration: AN EGYPTIAN JEW.]
The situation was suddenly reversed. Instead of passing sentence,
the Governor said, "Honoured father, give me your blessing." Faith
and meekness had gained the victory over violence.
[Illustration: THE CAPTIVE MAID.
By M. L. Gow, R.I.]
In North Africa the Jews have adopted many Mohammedan customs. Child
marriage, for instance, has become a curse amongst them. Sometimes
men of forty wed little wives of eight or ten. At the same time,
in Morocco, an independent Moslem empire, the purity of their lives
is in noticeable contrast to their neighbours. Algeria, where the
Jews number 50,000, as well as Tunisia, is under French protection.
It is little wonder if the anti-Jewish feeling of the French in
Algiers should rouse an anti-Christian feeling in the Jews, and that
here their opposition should be added to the many difficulties that
meet Christian missions in Moslem lands. But many Jews rise superior
to prejudices, and missionaries of the North Africa Mission find
refreshment in studying the Scriptures with Hebrew scholars and
Hebrew seekers after more light. In 1897, on the fast of Gedaliah, a
missionary attended the synagogue. His friend, the Rabbi, mentioned
his presence, and the worshippers, all of them pure Arabs and
dressed accordingly, pronounced a benediction on him and commended
him to God's grace.
[Illustration: (_Photo: Bonfils_)
JEWISH VILLAGE GIRLS OF PALESTINE.]
[Illustration: AN ALGERIAN JEWISH GIRL.