I.--The Milk of Human Kindness, Mother's Milk, and the Milk of the Word.
The early days of his residence at the Home of the Sisters of Misery,
in Winkle Street, was the Eden of Ginx's Baby's existence. Themselves
innocent of a mother's experiences, the sisters were free to give
play to their affections in a novel direction, and to assume a sort of
spiritual maternity that was lucky for the changeling. He was nestled
in kind serge-covered arms: kisses rained upon him from chaste lips. A
slight scandal thrilled the convent upon the discovery of his sex, which
had of course been a pure matter of conjecture to Sister Pudicitia
when she rescued him; but enthusiasm can overcome anything. The awkward
questions foreshadowed in the discovery were left to be considered when
their growing importance should demand upon them the judgment of the
archbishop. Visions of an unusual sanctity to be fostered in the pure
regions of the convent, and to be sent on a mission into the world
to attest the power of their spiritual discipline, began to haunt the
brains of the sequestered nuns. Might not this infant be an embryo
saint, destined for a great work in the heretical wilderness out of
which he had come? How little healthy food the brains must have had
wherein these insane dreams were excited by our innocent baby! Hardly
did the sacred spinsters forecast what was in store for them when he
should be teething.
But Ginx's Baby was in a religious atmosphere, and that is always
surcharged with electricity. His lot must have been above that of any
other human being if he could long have remained in such a climate
unvisited by thunder. The mother had been permitted to attend at the
Home with the same regularity as the milkman, to discharge her maternal
duties. Then with the rise of the visionary projects just mentioned the
gravest doubts began to agitate the fertile and casuistic mind of the
Lady Superior. The holier her ideal St. Ginx of the future, the more to
be deplored was any heretical taint in the present. Holy mother! Was
it not perhaps eminently perilous to his spiritual purity that an
unbeliever like Mrs. Ginx should bring unconsecrated milk into the
convent to be administered to this suckling of the Church! In her
uneasiness she appealed to Father Certificatus, the conventual
confessor. He gave his opinion in the following letter:--
“DEAR SISTER SUSPICIOSA,
“The very grave question you have put to me has given me
much anxiety. It could not but do so since it occupied, I knew, so
fully your own holy reflections. I pondered it during the night while
I repeated one hundred Aves on my knees, and I think the Blessed Virgin
has vouchsafed her assistance.
“I understood you to say you thought that the physical health of the
infant, so singularly and miraculously thrown upon your care,
required the offices of his heretic mother, and yet that you felt how
inconsistent it was with the noble future we contemplate for him, that
he should receive unorthodox lacteal sustentation. In this you are but
following the usage of the Church in all ages, for She has ever enjoined
the advantage of infusing Her doctrines into Her children with the
mother's milk.
“Three courses only appear to me to be open to us. First, we may try to
work upon the mother's feelings, and on behalf of her child induce her
to avail herself of the inestimable privileges of the Church in which
he is fostered. Secondly, should she repel us--and these lower class
heretics are even brutally refractory--we might at least allure her to
allow us to make with holy water the sign of the Cross upon the natural
reservoirs of infant nourishment each time before she approaches the
infant. This, besides overcoming the immediate difficulty and securing
for the child a supply of sanctified food, might open the way for the
entrance into her own bosom of the milk of the word. Thirdly, should she
reject these proposals, I see nothing for it but to forbid her to
have access to her infant, and, commending him to the care of the Holy
Mother, to feed him with pap or other suitable nourishment, previously
consecrated by me in its crude state, and prepared by the most holy
hands of your community. Thus we may hope to shield the young soul in
its present freshness from contact with carnal elements.
“Your loving Father in, &c.,
“CERTIFICATUS.”
On receiving this letter the Superioress conferred not with flesh and
blood, but sent for Mrs. Ginx. That worthy woman was not enchanted with
her child's position. I have hinted that her faith was simple, but in
proportion to its simplicity it was strongly-rooted in her nature. 'Tis
not infrequent to find it so. Lengthy creeds and confessions of faith
are apt to extend the strength and fervor of belief over too wide a
surface. In the close frame of some single article will be concentrated
the whole energy of the soul. The first formula, “Repent and believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ,” was maintained with a heat that became less
intense, though more distributed, in the insertion of an Athanasian
creed. Mrs. Ginx's creed was succinct.
Mrs. GINX'S PRIMARY CREED.
I believe in God, giver of bread, meat, money, and health.
This she maintained, with indifferent ritual and devotional observances.
But there was to Mrs. Ginx's faith a corollary or secondary creed, only
needed to meet special emergencies.
Mrs. GINX'S SECONDARY CREED.
1. I believe in the Church of England.
2. I believe in Heaven and Hell.
3. (A negative article) I hate Popery, priests, and the Devil.
When her husband made his fatal gift to the nun, this third article of
his wife's belief, or unbelief, stirred up and waxed aggressive.
Said the Lady Superior, “My good woman, your child thrives under the
care of Holy Mother Church.”
“Yes'm, he thrives well,” replies Mrs. Ginx, repeating no more of Sister
Suspiciosa's sentence, “an' I've 'ad more milk than ever for the darlin'
this time, thank God.”
“And the Holy Virgin.”
“I dunno about her,” cries Mrs. Ginx emphatically, perhaps not seeing
congruity between a virgin and the subject of thankfulness.
“And the Holy Virgin,” repeated the nun, “who interests herself in all
mothers. She has thus blessed you that your child may be made strong for
the work of the Church. Do you not see a miracle is worked within you to
prove Her goodness? This, no doubt, is an evidence to you of Her wish to
bless you and take you for Her own. I beseech you listen to Her voice,
and come and enter Her fold.”
“If you mean the Virgin Mary, mum, I ain't a idolater, beggin' yer
parding,” says Mrs. Ginx; “an' tho' I wouldn't for the world offend
them as has been so kind to my child, an' saved it from that deer little
creetur bein' thrown over Wauxhall Bridge--an' Ginx ought to be ashamed
of hisself, so he ought--I ain't Papish, mum, and I ain't dispoged, with
twelve on 'em there at home all Protestant to the back bone, to turn
Papish now, an' so I 'ope an' pray, mum,” says Mrs. Ginx, roaring and
crying, “you ain't agoin' to make Papish of my flesh an' blood. O dear!
O dear!”
The Lady Superior shut her ears; she had raised a familiar spirit and
could not lay it. She temporized.
“You know your husband has given the child to us. It will be called the
infant Ambrosius.”
“Dear, dear!” sighed Mrs. Ginx, “what a name!”
“We wish him to be kept from any worldly taint, and by-and-by his
saintliness may gain you forgiveness in spite of your heretical
perversity. I cannot permit you to give him unconsecrated milk, and as
we wish to treat you kindly, the holy Father Certificatus has allowed me
to make an arrangement with you, to which you can have no objection--I
mean, that you should let me make the sign of the cross upon your
breasts morning and evening before you suckle your infant. You will
permit me to do that, won't you?”
Conceive of Mrs. Ginx's reply, clothed in choice Westminster English:
it asserted her readiness to cut off her right hand, her feet, to be
hanged, drowned, burned, torn to pieces, in fact to withstand all the
torments ascribed by vulgar tradition to Roman Catholic ingenuity,
and to see her baby “a dead corpse” into the bargain, before she would
submit her Protestant bosom to such an indignity.
“No, mum!” she said; “I couldn't sleep with that on my breast;” and
cried hysterically.
This lower class heretic WAS “brutally refractory.” So thought the
Superioress, and so gave Mrs. Ginx notice to come no more. She went home
rather jubilant--she was a martyr.
II.--The Protestant Detectoral Association.
Ginx's baby was now fed on consecrated pap. But his mother was not a
woman to be silent under her wrongs. From her husband she hid them,
because the subject was forbidden. She poured out her complaint to Mrs.
Spittal and other Protestant matrons. Thus it came to pass that one
day, in Ginx's absence, the good woman was surprised by a visit from a
“gentleman.” He was small, sharp, rapid, dressed in black. He opened his
business at once.
“Mrs. Ginx? Ah! I am the agent of the Protestant Detectoral
Association.”
Mrs. Ginx wiped her best chair and set it for him.
“By great good fortune the secretary received only half an hour ago
intelligence of the shocking instance of Papal aggression of which you
have been the victim.”
To hear her case put so grandly was honey to Mrs. Ginx.
“Well now,” continued the little man, “we are ready to render you every
assistance to save your child from the claws of the Great Dragon. I wish
to know the exact circumstances--let me see--(opening a large pocket
book) I have this memorandum: the child was carried off from his
mother's bedside in broad daylight by a nun accompanied by two priests
and a large body of Irish: is that a correct version?”
“Law, no, sir, it warn't quite like that,” said Mrs. Ginx. “We've 'ad
so many on 'em that Ginx was for drownin' the thirteenth”----The little
man opened his eyes----
“An' he went and gave it away, sir,” said she crying, “to a nun,
sir--ah! ah! ah!--they won't let me see the darlin' now, sir--ah! ah!
ah! because I won't let Missis Spishyosir mark me with the cross, sir,
an' me with as fine a breast o' milk as ever was for 'im, sir--ah! ah!
ah!”
“Hem!” said the little man, “that's different from what I understood.”
He was quite honest, but who does not know how disappointing it is to
find a wrong you wish to redress is not so bad as you had hoped?
However, it looked bad enough, and might be made worse. It was the very
case for the Protestant Detectoral Association.
“Would Mr. Ginx not join in an effort to recover his child?”
“No, sir; I should think not: he went an' gave it away.”
“I know; but he is a Protestant?”
“I don't think he be much o' anything, sir. I know he hate priests like
pison, but he don't care about these things as I do.”
“Oh! I see.” Writes in his memorandum book--husband indifferent.
“But don't you think he would help you to get the child back again?”
“No, sir. I wouldn't speak of it to him for the world. He'd knock any
one down if they was to mention the child to him.”
The little man mentally determined not to see Ginx.
“Well; would you like to have your child back?”
“You see, I couldn't bring it 'ere, sir. Ginx won't 'ave it; but I'd
like to see it took away from them nunnerys.”
“Ha! very well then. We can perhaps manage it for you. You would be
content to hand it over to some Protestant Home, where it would be taken
care of and you could see it when you liked?”
“O yes, sir,” cries Mrs. Ginx, brightening.
“Then we'll have an affidavit and apply for a Habeas Corpus.”
It was impossible not to be satisfied with such words as these, whatever
they meant and Mrs. Ginx was cheered, while the little man went on his
way.
III.--The Sacrament of Baptism.
Mother, or “Mrs.” Suspiciosa, fed Ginx's Baby with holy pap. It seemed
proper now that he should be christened and formally received into
the Church. No small stir was made by this ceremony, for which all the
resources of the convent were called into action. The day selected was
that sacred to St. Ambrosius. The chapel was decorated with flowers.
Mass was celebrated, candles flamed upon the altar surrounding a figure
of the Infant Jesus, incense was burning around the baby, sisters and
novices knelt in serried rows of virginity
“like doves
Sunning their milky bosoms on the thatch.”
Mother Suspiciosa carried the infant, clothed in a pure white robe,
with a red cross embroidered on its front. In the absence of the natural
parent a wax figure of St. Ambrosius did duty for him, and another wax
figure stood godfather: but I dare not enter into details of matters
that may be looked at as awfully profane, or awfully solemn, by
different spectators. These things are a mystery.
I have no hesitation about describing the impious behavior of little
Ginx. Whatever swaddled infant could do in the way of opposition, with
hands, and legs, and voice, was done by that embryo saint. The incense
made him cough and sputter; the lights and singing raised the very devil
within him. His cries drowned the prayers. He frightened his conductress
by the redness of his face. He ruined the red cross with ejected matter.
You would have taken him for an infant demoniac. Mother Suspiciosa,
though annoyed, was encouraged. She looked upon this as an evident
testimony to little Ginx's value. The devil and St. Michael were
contending for his body. At length he was baptized, and carried out.
Credat Judaeus. He instantly sank into a deep sleep. It was a miracle:
Satan had yielded to the sign of the cross!
IV.--Law on Behalf of Gospel.
In the moment of Sister Suspiciosa's triumph, the enemy was laying his
train against her. The little man made his report to the secretary of
the Protestant Detectoral Association. This gentleman was well-born
and well-bred; moved to work in this “cause” by an honest hatred of
superstition, priestcraft, and lies; now giving all his energies to the
ambitious design of pulling down the strongholds of Satan. In any other
matter he could act coolly, and with deliberation; in this he was an
enthusiast. He had a keen Roman nose. He could scent a priest
anywhere in the United Kingdom. He could smell Jesuitry in the Queen's
drawing-room, a cabinet council or convocation, though he had never
been at either. His eye was beyond a falcon's; he saw things that
were invisible. It penetrated through all disguises. He knew a secret
emissary of the Pope by the cock of his hat, or the color of his
stockings. At least, he thought so, and thousands of persons acted on
his estimate of himself.
“This case,” said he to the little man, when he had concluded his
report, “though not in its first incidents so grave as we were led to
expect, is, in another point of view, very serious. Here is a man, as
you have expressed it, 'indifferent' to his child's life--animal and
spiritual. The mother, with a true Protestant heart, and a fine breast
of milk, is longing to nurture her child, and to deliver it from the
toils of the Papacy. But the husband, what's his name?.... Ginx--Ginx? a
very bad name for a case, by the way--GINX'S CASE!--this Ginx has given
up his child to the Sisters of Misery. How are we to get it away again,
without his cooperation?.... Well, we must try.”
The solicitor of the Association was forthwith summoned. When the matter
had been laid before him, he expressed doubts, offered and withdrew
courses of action, and ended by suggesting that he should take the
opinion of counsel.
“Mr. Stigma, I suppose?” said he to the secretary.
“Oh, yes, Sir Adolphus Stigma is one of our principal supporters, and
his son's heart is thoroughly with us.”
Messrs. Roundhead, Roundhead and Lollard, drew up a case to be submitted
to Mr. Stigma. I will only transcribe the latter paragraphs:--
Mr. Ginx being indifferent, and Mrs. Ginx being ready to assist in
regaining the custody of her child, to be conveyed to a Protestant Home,
“YOU ARE REQUESTED TO ADVISE:
“1. Whether a summons should be taken out before a magistrate against
the Lady Superior of the convent, for enticing away or detaining the
infant, under the 56th sect. of 24 and 25 Vict., c. 100 Or,
“2. Whether the proper remedy is by a writ of Habeas Corpus? and, if
so, whether it is necessary that the father should be joined in the
proceedings or his leave obtained to prosecute them? Or, failing these,
“3. Whether counsel is of opinion that this is a case within Talfourd's
Act, and an application might not be made to the Lord Chancellor, or
the Master of the Rolls, on the mother's behalf for the custody of her
child? And,
“4. To advise generally on behalf of the infant.”
Mr. Adolphus Stigma took ten days to consider. Meanwhile, the infant
Ambrosius continued to thrive on conventual pap. Then Mr. Stigma wrote
his opinion. It was a model for a barrister. You took the advice at your
own peril--not his. Therefore I transcribe it.
“OPINION.
“I have given to this case my most careful attention; and it is one of
great difficulty. Having regard to the questions put to me, I think--
“1. Section 56 of the Act of 24 and 25 Vict., c. 100, appears at first
sight to be directed against the stealing and abduction of children for
marriage, or other improper purposes. It provides that 'Whosoever shall
UNLAWFULLY, either by force or fraud, lead or take away, or decoy,
or entice away, or detain any child, &c., with intent to deprive ANY
parent, &c., of the possession of such child'--shall be guilty of
felony. It is perfectly clear, that in the case before me, the infant
was not, 'by force or fraud, led or taken away, or decoyed, or enticed
away.' The statute, however, uses the word 'detain;' and this, it
appears to me, has much the same force and intention as the previous
words. It is to be noted, however, that it is separated from them by
the disjunctive 'or;' and, therefore, it might be argued with some
plausibility that any act of forceful or fraudulent detention, after
notice, by persons who have originally acquired a child's custody in
a lawful way, came within the section. The point is new, and of great
importance; and if the Protestant Detectoral Association feel disposed
to try it, they would do so under favorable circumstances in the present
case. Should they decide to do so, a written demand should be served
upon the authorities of the convent, by the mother, or some one acting
on her behalf, to give up the infant.
“2. The second question is also involved in difficulty. Were the father
to be joined in the proceedings, the writ of Habeas Corpus would be
the correct remedy. But his probable refusal necessitates the inquiry
whether the mother can alone apply for the writ. The general rule of law
is, that the father is entitled to the custody and disposition of his
children. In Cartlidge and Cartlidge, 31, L. J., P. M. & D. 85, it was
held that this rule would not be generally departed from by the Divorce
Court; but in Barnes v. Barnes, L. R. I, P. & D. 463, the court made
an order, giving the custody of two infant children to the mother,
respondent in a suit for a dissolution of marriage, on the ground that
the mother's health was suffering from being deprived of their society,
and that they were living with a stranger, and not with the father.
These cases were, however, in the Divorce Court, and do not apply. But,
as there seems to be much ground in the peculiar circumstances here,
for arguing that the mother should have the custody of the child, or,
at least, that it should not be left to that of persons of a different
religion from both parents, an application might be made to the Queen's
Bench to try the question.
“3. Should the common law remedies fail, resort may perhaps be had to
the powers in Chancery under Talfourd's Act, but on this point I should
like to confer with an equity counsel before giving a decided opinion.
It has been decided under this Act that the court has power to give the
custody of children under seven to the mother. (Shillito v. Collett, 8,
W. R. 683-696.) As this infant is but six weeks old it comes within that
case.
“4. I have no general advice to give on behalf of the infant.
“ADOLPHUS STIGMA,
“9, Plumtree Court.”
If none of the courses suggested by Mr. Stigma was very decided, Messrs.
Roundhead, Roundhead and Lollard were not sorry to have three strings to
their bow. The Detectoral Association were good clients; most of their
funds went into their lawyers' pockets. It was part of their policy
to be litigious. Thereby the world was kept alive to the existence of
Papacy within its bosom. Who shall say the Association were wrong?
Some healthy daylight was occasionally let in upon the mysteries of
Jesuitism, and there are people who think that worth while at the risk
of a chance injustice. Though the Devil should not get his due, few
would give him any sympathy.
The solicitor at once instructed Mr. Dignam Bailey, Q.C., to apply with
Mr. Stigma to a magistrate for a summons. Mr. Bailey, Q.C., was not
chosen for his partialities. In religious matters he was a perfect
Gallio; but he was like St. Paul in one particular, he could be all
things to all men.
V.--Magistrate's Law.
The personnel of the magistrate to whom Mr. Dignam Bailey, Q. C., (with
him Mr. Adolphus Stigma), applied in the case of re an infant,
exparte Ginx, is not material to this history. He was like his fellow
stipendiaries--mild as to humor, vigilant in his duties, opinionated
in his views, resenting the troublesome intrusion into his court of
a barrister, apt to treat him with about one-eighth of the courtesy
extended to the humblest junior by the Queen's Bench, and curiously
unequal both with himself and his brother magistrates in adjusting
punishment. It will be most convenient to insert the report of the Daily
Electric Meteor:--
“WESTMINSTER.
“Mr. Dignam Bailey, Q.C., (with whom was Mr. Adolphus Stigma), applied
for a summons against Mary Dens, commonly called Sister Suspiciosa, of
the convent of the Sisters of Misery, in Winkle Street, for abducting
and detaining a male child of John Ginx and Mary his wife.
“Mr. D'ACERBITY. On whose behalf do you apply?
“The learned counsel stated that he was instructed by the Protestant
Detectoral Association to apply on behalf of the mother. The case
was also watched by the solicitors of the Society for Preventing the
Suppression of Women and Children.
“Mr. D'ACERBITY. Does the father join in the application?
“Mr. BAILEY. No, sir.
“Mr. D'ACERBITY. Why? He ought to be joined if living.
“Mr. BAILEY. Perhaps you will allow me, sir, to state the case. The
circumstances are peculiar. The fact is----
“Mr. D'ACERBITY. I cannot understand why the father should not be
represented if the child has been abducted. Where was it taken from?
“Mr. Bailey proceeded to state that the child had been taken by a nun
from No. 5, Rosemary Street, without the mother's consent, and was now
imprisoned in the convent. The father appeared to be indifferent, or
to have given a sort of general acquiescence. This was Mrs. Ginx's
thirteenth child, around whom gathered the concentrated affections
“Mr. D'ACERBITY (interrupting the learned gentleman). We have no time
for sentiment here, Mr. Bailey. If the father consented, can you call it
abduction? It looks like reduction. (Laughter.)
“Mr. Bailey called attention to the consolidated statutes of criminal
law, and said he was going for illegal detention rather than abduction,
and argued at great length from section 56. At the conclusion of the
argument, after refusing to hear Mr. Stigma,
“Mr. D'Acerbity said that the case clearly did not come within the
section, and he was afraid the learned counsel knew it. The father had
been a consenting party, on the counsel's own statement, to the child's
removal, and no suggestion had been made that he had withdrawn his
consent. He should refuse a summons.
“Mr. Bailey endeavored to address the magistrate but was stopped.
“Mr. D'ACERBITY. I have no more to say. You can apply to the Queen's
Bench. I have no sympathy with you whatever.”
Mr. D'Acerbity's law was good, but--what has justice to do with
“sympathies?” Surely the day after this report appeared the magistrate
must have had a letter from the Home Secretary?
VI-Popery and Protestantism in the Queen's Bench.
The application to the magistrate was far from satisfactory. There had
not even been an exposure, and the Windmill Bulletin gayly bantered the
Detectoral Association. Meanwhile had happened the grand christening,
of which a circumstantial account was in the hands of the council of the
Detectoral Association shortly after the ceremony had been performed.
Here was a monstrous indignity to a Protestant child! The account was at
once printed, together with a verbatim report of the application to the
magistrate as well as one of “a conversation held with the mother by
an agent of the Association.” Board-men paraded the great thoroughfares
carrying this appeal:--
PROTESTANT DETECTORAL ASSOCIATION.
NO POPERY!
Abduction Of an Infant!
Assault on the Liberty of the Subject!
Mysterious and Awful Proceedings!
Baptism of a Protestant Child in a Convent!
OUTRAGE
Upon the Nation by Foreign Mercenaries!
Every Father and Mother is Invited to Co-operate in
Maintaining the
PROTESTANT RELIGION,
The Sanctity of Home, and the Inviolability of
BRITISH FREEDOM!
NO SURRENDER!
If there was no coherency in this production, it should be noted how
little that is of the essence of popular appeal. The metropolis was in
an uproar. Meetings were held, subscriptions poured in, dangerous crowds
collected in Winkle Street. When Mr. Dignam Bailey, Q. C., went down to
Westminster, to move the Court of Queen's Bench, multitudes besieged it.
Protestant champions and Papal ecclesiastics vied in their efforts to
get seats. The writ had gone from judge's chambers returnable to
the full court. Sister Suspiciosa, bearing the infant Ambrosius, and
supported by two novices and Father Certificatus, had been smuggled into
court through mysterious passages in its rear. Mrs. Ginx also, brought
from Rosemary Street by the little man who provided her with a bonnet
trimmed with orange-colored ribbons, sat staring with red eyes at her
child, now enveloped in a robe that was embroidered with little crosses.
Why need I tell you, how dead silence fell upon the Court after the stir
caused by the entrance of the judges; how everybody knew what was coming
when a master beneath the bench rose, and called out, “Re Ginx,
an infant, Exparte Mary Ginx!” How the Chief Justice, fresh and
rosy-looking, then blew his nose in a delicate mauve-colored silk
handkerchief: how he tried and discarded half-a-dozen pens, amid
breathless silence; how in his blandest manner he said: “Who appears
for the Respondent?” and Mr. Dignam Bailey, Q. C., and Mr. Octavius
Ernestus, Q. C., rose together to say that Mr. Ernestus did!
Mr. Ernestus was a Catholic. He was assisted by half-a-dozen counsel.
He riddled the affidavits on the other side, and read voluminous ones on
his own; bitterly animadverted upon the absence of an affidavit by the
father; held up to the scorn of a civilized world the course pursued
towards his meek and gentle clients by the “fanatical zealots of the
Protestant Detectoral Association;” in moving tones referred to the
shrinking of “quiet recluses, from the gaze of a rude, unsympathizing
world;” cited cases from the time of Magna Charta, down; called upon the
Court to vindicate Protestant justice, ending his peroration with the
aphorism of Lord Mansfield, Fiat justitia ruat caelum.
One cannot do Justice to Mr. Dignam Bailey's argument, when after lunch
he rose to reply. He was logical and passionate, vindictive and pathetic
by turns. He inveighed against the Lady Superior, against her attorneys,
against Father Certificatus, against Ginx,--“craven to his heaven-born
rights of political and religious freedom,”--against the Roman Catholic
religion, the Pope, the Archbishop of Westminster, the Virgin Mary. The
Court knew, and every one else knew, that this was pure pyrotechny,
and Mr. Bailey knew that best of all; but, though the Bench is swift to
speak, slow to hear, it felt obliged, in a case of this public interest,
to sit by, and be witnesses of the exhibition. Mr. Bailey concluded by a
play on the aphorism cited by his learned friend. “He would say that if
such justice were to be done, as his friend had urged, the Kingdom of
Heaven in England would rush to its fall.”
The Court at once decided that, as the father had confided the custody
of the infant to the Sisters of Misery, and did not appear to desire
that it should be withdrawn, they, disregarding the religious clouds in
which the subject had been too carefully involved on both sides, gave
judgment for the defendant, with costs.
As they passed out of Court, Mr. Stigma said to his clients, “Quite as I
anticipated; you remember I told you so in my Opinion.”
VII.--A Protestor, but not a Protestant.
The infant Ambrosius and his conductors could scarcely reach the convent
in safety. The building showed few windows to the street, but they were
all broken. What might have happened in a few days, but that Ginx's Baby
took the matter into his own hands, none can say.
The treatment to which the little saint was subjected soured his temper.
His kind nurses had choked him twice a day with incense, and now he had
inhaled for seven hours the air of the Queen's Bench. On his return to
the convent he was hastily fed, and carried to the chapel to give thanks
for the victory of the day. Wrapped in a handsome chasuble, they laid
him on the steps of the altar. In the most solemn part of the service
he coughed, and grew sick. The chasuble was bespattered. When the
officiating priest, to save that garment, took the child in his arms, he
nefariously polluted the sacerdotal vestments and the altar steps. Then
he kicked toward the altar itself, roared lustily, and finally went
into convulsions in Sister Suspiciosa's arms. Like most women, the Lady
Superior required her enthusiasm to be fed with success. She began
to think that she had been cozened: Ginx's Baby was too evidently a
spiritual miscarriage. He must, like the rest of his family, be, indeed,
“Protestant to the backbone.” Father Certificatus agreed with her. His
robes and best chasuble were befouled.
“Let us not risk a repetition of this conduct,” said he; “let the child
be given up. He is baptized, and cannot be severed from the Church. He
will return after many days.”
Next morning the solicitors of the Protestant Detectoral Association
received a letter from their opponents. In this they said
that--presuming Messrs. Roundhead, Roundhead, and Lollard, intended to
apply to the Master of the Rolls, the authorities of the convent had
decided, after having vindicated themselves in the Queen's Bench, to
give up the child, which would be, for twenty-four hours, at the order
and disposal of the Association, and afterwards of his parents. “We are
instructed by our clients,” they added, “to ask you to bear in mind that
the child has been admitted, and is a member of the Catholic Church,
owing allegiance to the Holy Father at Rome, a bond from which only the
Papal excommunication can absolve him.”
VIII.--“See how these Christians love one another.”
A mass-meeting of Protestants had been summoned for three o'clock on the
day designated in the letter of the Papist attorneys, to be held in the
Philopragmon Hall. That was the favorite centre of countless movements,
both well-meant and well-executed, and of others as futile as they were
foolish. Yet one could not say that a larger proportion of the latter
were connected with the Hall than existed in as many other human
enterprises of any sort. The concession of the Romanists at first dashed
the managers of the demonstration. Their grievance was gone. Still there
remained topics for a meeting: they would rejoice over victory, and
consult about the future of the Protestant Baby.
The Secretary was an old hand at these meetings. He planned to import
into this one a sensation. Ginx's Baby, brought from the convent,
stripped of his papal swathings and enveloped in a handsome outfit
presented by an amiable Protestant Duchess, was placed in a cradle with
his head resting on a Bible. I am afraid he was quite as uncomfortable
as he had ever been at the convent. When, at the conclusion of the
chairman's speech, in which he informed the audience of their triumph,
this exhibition was deftly introduced upon the platform, the huzzas, and
clappings, and waving of handkerchiefs were such as even that place had
never seen. The child was astounded into quietness.
Mr. Trumpeter took the chair--believed by many to be, next to the Queen,
the most powerful defender of the faith in the three kingdoms. I never
could understand why the newspapers reported his speeches--I cannot.
When he had done, Lord Evergood, “a popular, practical peer, of sound
Protestant principles,” as the Daily Banner alliteratively termed him
next morning, rose to move the first resolution, already cut and dried
by the committee--
“That the infant so happily rescued from the incubus of a delusive
superstition, should be remitted to the care of the Church Widows' and
Orphans' Augmentation Society, and should be supported by voluntary
contributions.”
Before Lord Evergood could say a word murmurs arose in every part of
the hall. He was a mild, gentlemanly Christian, without guile, and the
opposition both surprised and frightened him. He uttered a few sentences
in approval of his proposition and sat down.
An individual in the gallery shouted--“Sir! I rise to move an
amendment!”
Cheers, and cries of “Order! order! Sit down!” &c.
The Chairman, with great blandness, said: “The gentleman is out of
order; the resolution has not yet been seconded. I call upon the Rev.
Mr. Valpy to second the resolution.”
Mr. Valpy, incumbent of St. Swithin's-within, insisted on speaking, but
what he said was known only to himself. When he had finished there was
an extraordinary commotion. On the platform many ministers and laymen
jumped to their feet; in the hall at least a hundred aspirants for a
hearing raised themselves on benches or the convenient backs of friends.
The Chairman shouted, “Order! ORDER, gentlemen! This is a great
occasion; let us show unanimity!”
There seemed to be an unanimous desire to speak. Amid cheers, cries
for order, and Kentish fire, you could hear the Rev. Mark Slowboy,
Independent, the Rev. Hugh Quickly, Wesleyan, the Rev. Bereciah Calvin,
Presbyterian, the Rev. Ezekiel Cutwater, Baptist, calling to the chair.
A lull ensued, of which advantage was taken by Mr. Stentor, a well-known
Hyde Park orator, who bellowed from a friend's shoulders in the pit,
“Mr. Chairman, hear ME!” an appeal that was followed by roars of
laughter.
What was the matter? Why the proposal to hand over the baby to an
Anglican refuge stirred up the blood of every Dissenter present. It was
lifting the infant out of the frying-pan and dexterously dropping him
into the fire. But the chairman was accustomed to these scenes.
He stayed the tumult by proposing that a representative from each
denomination should give his opinion to the audience. “Whom would they
have first?”
The loudest cries were for Mr. Cutwater, who stood forth--a weak,
stooping, half-halting, little man, with a limp necktie, and trousers
puffy at the knees--but with honest use of them, let me say. It is quite
credible that if Dr. Watts's assertion be true that--
“Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees,”
that arch-enemy was unusually perturbed when Ezekiel Cutwater was upon
his. On these he had borne manly contests with evil. Two things--yea,
three--were rigid in Ezekiel's creed; fire would never have burned
them out of him: hatred of Popery, contempt of Anglican priestcraft and
apostolic succession, and adhesion to the dogma of adult baptism and
total immersion. Whoso should not join with him in these let him be
Anathema Maranatha.
His eye kindled as he looked at the seething audience. “Sir,” said he,
“I beg to move an amendment to the motion of the noble lord. (Cheers.)
That motion proposes to transfer to the care of the Established Church
this tender and unconscious infant (bending over Ginx's baby), just
snatched from the toils of a kindred superstition. (Oh, oh, hisses and
cheers.) I withdraw the expression; I did not mean to be offensive.
(Hear.) This is a grand representative meeting--not of the English
Church, not of the Baptist Church, not of the Wesleyan Church--but of
Protestantism. (Cheers and Kentish fire.) In such an assembly is it
right to propose any singular disposition of a representative infant?
This is now the adopted child, not of one, but of all denominations.
(Cheers.) Around his, or her--I am not sure which--cherubic head
circle the white-winged angels of various Churches, and on her or him,
whichever it may be----”
The Chairman said that he might as well say that he had authentic
information that it was HIM.
“Him then--concentrate the sympathies of every Protestant heart. Let us
not despoil the occasion of its greatness by exhibiting a narrow bigotry
in one direction! Let us bring into this infantile focus the rays of
Catholic unity. (Loud cheering and Kentish fire.) To me, for one, it
would be eminently painful to think--what doubtless would occur if the
motion is adopted--that within a week of his entrance into the asylum of
the society named in it, this diminutive and unknowing sinner should
go through the farce of a supposititious admission into the Church of
Christ. (Oh!) Yes! I say a farce, whether you regard the age of the
acolyte or the indifferent proportion of water with which it would be
performed. (Uproar, oh, oh! and some cheering from the Baptist section.)
But I will not now further enter into these things,” said Mr. Cutwater,
who knew his cue perfectly well, “I can hold these opinions and still
love my brethren of other denominations. I move, as an amendment, that a
committee, consisting of one minister and one layman to be selected
from each of the Churches, be appointed to take charge of the physical
well-being and mental and spiritual training of the infant.”
By this proposition, which was received with enthusiasm, Ginx's Baby was
to be incontinently pitched into an arena of polemical warfare.
Every one was willing that a committee should fight out the question
vicariously; and, therefore, when Mr. Slowboy seconded the amendment, it
was carried with loud acclamations.
But they were not yet out of the wood. On proceeding to nominate members
of the committee, the Unitarians and Quakers claimed to be represented.
The platform and the meeting were by the ears again. It was fiercely
contended that only Evangelical Christians could have a place in such
a work, and many of the nominees declared that they would not sit on a
committee with--well, some curious epithets were used. The Unitarians
and Quakers took their stand on the Catholic principles embodied in the
amendment, and on the fact that Ginx's Baby had now “become national
Protestant property.” Mr. Cutwater and a few others, moved by the
scandal of the dispute, interfered, and the committee was at length
constituted to the satisfaction of all parties. It was to be called “The
Branch Committee of the Protestant Detectoral Union for promoting the
Physical and Spiritual Well-being of Ginx's Baby.”
A fourth resolution was adopted, “That the subject should be treated in
the Metropolitan pulpits on the next Sabbath, and a collection taken up
in the various churches for the benefit of the infant.” This promised
well for Master Ginx's future.
The meeting had lasted five hours, and while they were discussing him
the child grew hungry. In the tumult every one had forgotten the subject
of it, and now it was over, they dispersed without thought of him.
But he would not allow those near him at all events to overlook his
presence.
Some, foreseeing that awkwardness was impending, slipped away; while
three or four stayed to ask what was to be done with him.
“Hand him over to the custody of the Chairman,” said a Mr. Dove.
“I should be most happy,” said he, smoothly, “but Mrs. Trumpeter is out
of town. Could your dear wife take him, Mr. Dove?”
Mr. Dove's wife was otherwise engaged.
The Secretary was unmarried--chambers at Nincome's Inn.
In the midst of their distress a woman who had been hanging about the
hall near the platform, came forward and offered to take charge of him,
“for the sake of the cause.” Every one was relieved. After her name and
address had been hastily noted, the Protestant baby was placed in her
arms. My Lord Evergood, the Chairman, the clergy, the Secretary, and the
mob went home rejoicing. Some hours after, Ginx's Baby, stripped of the
duchess's beautiful robes, was found by a policeman, lying on a
doorstep in one of the narrow streets, not a hundred yards behind the
Philopragmon. By an ironical chance he was wrapped in a copy of the
largest daily paper in the world.
IX.--Good Samaritans, and Good-Samaritan Twopences.
At every breakfast-table in town next morning the report of the great
Protestant meeting was read, and a further report, in leaded type,
of the discovery of Ginx's Baby at a later period of the evening by a
policeman. A pretty comment on the proceedings! The Good Samaritan put
his patient on his ass and carried him to an inn; while the priest and
the Levite, though the latter looked at him, at least let him alone. To
have called a public meeting to discuss his fate before deserting him,
would have been a refinement of inhumanity. The committee were rather
ashamed when they met. Instant measures were taken to recover the child
and place him in good hands. The duchess again provided baby-clothes.
The next Sunday sermons were preached on his behalf in a score of
chapels. The collections amounted to L 800, a sum increased by donations
and subscriptions to the handsome total of L 1360 10s. 3 1/2d.
It will be seen hereafter what the committee did with the baby, but I
happen to have an account of what became of the funds. They were
spent as follows, according to a balance sheet never submitted to the
subscribers:--
Pounds s. d.
Committee-rooms............. 45 0 0
2 Secretaries employed by the
Committee................ 120 0 0
Agents, canvassing, &c.......... 88 6 2
Printing Notices, Placards,
Pamphlets, a “Daily Bulletin of
Health,” “Life of Ginx's Baby,”
“Protestant Babyhood, a Tale,”
“The Cradle of an Infant Martyr,”
“A Snatched Brand,” and other
Works issued by the Committee...... 596 13 5
Advertisements of Meetings,
Sermons, &c............... 261 1 1
Legal Expenses............... 77 6 8
Stationery................ 35 10 0
Postage, Firing, and Sundries....... 27 19 2
----------------
Total Pounds 1251 16 6
This left L 108 13s. 9 1/2d. for the baby's keep. No child could have
been more thoroughly discussed, preached and written about, advertised,
or advised by counsel; but his resources dwindled in proportion to these
advantages. Benevolent subscribers too seldom examine the financial
items of a report: had any who contributed to this fund seen the balance
sheet they might have grudged that so little of their bounty went to
make flesh, bone, and comfort for the object of it. A cynic would tell
them that to look sharply after the disposal of their guerdon was half
the gift. Their indifference was akin to that satirized by the poet--
“Prodigus et stultus dedit quae spernit et odit.”
In an age of luxury we are grown so luxurious as to be content to pay
agents to do our good deeds for us; but they charge us three hundred per
cent. for the privilege.
X.--The Force--and a Specimen of its Weakness.
Ginx's baby had been discovered by a policeman swaddled in a penny
paper, distressingly familiar to metropolitan travellers by rail.
To omit the details of his treatment at the hands of that great
institution, “The Force,” would be invidious. The member thereof who
fell in with him was walking a back street, sighting doors with his
bull's-eye. He was provided with massive boots, so that a thief
could hear him coming a hundred yards off; he was personally tall and
unwieldy, and a dexterous commissioner had invented a dress designed to
enhance these qualities--a heavy coat, a cart-horse belt, and a round
cape. He had been carefully drilled not to walk more than three miles an
hour. He was not a little startled when the rays of his lamp fell upon
a struggling newspaper, out of which, as from a shell, came mysterious
cries. He took up a corner of the paper and peeped in upon the face
of Ginx's Baby; then he occupied a quarter of an hour in embarrassing
reflections. A nearly naked child crying in the cold ought to be housed
as soon as possible, but X 99 was ON HIS BEAT, and those magic words
chained him to certain limits. This, of course, was the rule under a
former commissioner, and every one knows that such absurd strategy
has been abolished in the existing regime. At that time, however, each
watchman had his beat, to leave which was neglect of duty, except with
a prisoner, and then it was neglect of all the householders within the
magic compass. Had X 99 heard the baby crying across the street, which
was part of the beat of X 101, he would have passed on with a cheery
heart, for the case would have been beyond his jurisdiction. Unhappily
the baby was on his beat, and he was delivered from the temptation of
transferring it to the other by the appearance of X 101's bull's-eye not
far off. What was he to do? The station was a mile away--the inspector
would not arrive for an hour--and it would be awkward, if not
undignified, to carry on his rounds a shouting baby wrapped in the
largest daily paper. If he left it where it was, and it perished, he
might be charged with murder. He was at his wits' end--but having got
there, he resolved on the simplest process, namely to carry it to
the station. No provision was made by the regulations of the force to
protect a beat casually deserted even for a proper purpose. Hence, while
X 99 was absent on his errand of mercy, the valuable shop of Messrs.
Trinkett and Blouse, ecclesiastical tailors, was broken into, and
several stoles, chasubles, altar-cloths and other decorative tapestries
were appropriated to profane uses.
At the station the baby was disposed of according to rule. Due entry
was first made in the night-book by the superintendent of all the
particulars of his discovery. Some cold milk was then procured and
poured down the child's throat. Afterwards, wrapped in a constable's
cape, he was placed in a cell where, when the door was locked, he could
not disturb the guardians of the peace.
The same night, in the next cell, an innocent gentleman, seized with
an apoplexy in the street but entered in the charge-sheet as drunk and
incapable, died like a dog.
XI.--The Unity of the Spirit and the Bond of Peace.
When the committee met, every one discovered his incongruity with the
rest. Each was disposed to treat Ginx's Baby in a different way--in
other words, each wished to reflect the views of his particular sect
on the object of their charity. They were a new “Evangelical Alliance,”
agreed only in hatred to Popery.
Finding at their first meeting that the discussion needed to be brought
into a focus, the committee appointed three of their number to draw up
a minute of the matters to be argued. This committee reported that there
arose, respecting the child, the following questions:--
“I. As touching the body:
a. Wherewithal he should be fed and clothed?
b. In what manner and fashion that should be done?
II. As touching the mind and spirit:
a. Whether he should be educated? If so,
b. What were to be the subjects of instruction?
c. What creed, if any, should be primarily taught?
d. Should he be further baptized? If so,
1. Into what communion?
2. By what ceremonial?”
This programme, it appeared to its concoctors, embraced everything that
concerned Ginx's Baby except his death by the act of God or the Queen's
enemies. No sooner was the report made than adopted. Then a member,
eager for the fray, moved the postponement of the first division of
questions until the others had been determined. Why should apostles of
truth trouble themselves to serve tables? These were very subordinate
questions to them--though, I think, of first importance to Ginx's Baby.
It was decided to discuss little Ginx's future before considering his
present.
The ball was opened by the Venerable Archdeacon Hotten, who, amid much
excitement, contended that from the earliest buddings of thought in
an infant mind religion should be engrafted upon it; there could be no
education worth the name that was not religious. That with the A should
be taught the origin, and with the Z the final destiny and destruction,
of evil. To separate education from religion was to clip the wings of
the heavenly dove. He asserted that the committee ought at once to have
the child baptized in Westminster Abbey, though he was rather of opinion
that the previous baptism was canonically valid; that he should be
taught the truths of our most holy faith, and since there could be
no faith without a creed, and the only national creed was that of the
Church of England, the baby should be handed over to the care of a
clergyman, and then be sent to a proper religious school. He need not
say that he excluded Rugby under its then profane management.
The Church was, however, divided against itself, for the Dean of Triston
said he would give more latitude than his very reverend brother. You
ought not to define in an infant mind a rigid outline of creed. In fact,
he did not acknowledge any creed, he was not obliged to by law and was
disinclined to by his reason. He would rather allow the inner seeds of
natural light--the glorious all-pervading efflorescence of the Deity
in all men's hearts, to grow within the young spirit. The Dean was
assuredly vague and far less earnest than his brother cleric.
The “Rev.” Mr. Bumpus, Unitarian, met the suggestions of the
Archdeacon with the scorn they merited. It was impossible to apply to
a representative child of an enlightened age theories so long exploded.
The Dean had certainly come nearer the truth with that broad sympathy
for which he was noted. He himself proposed that the child should be
made a model nursling of the liberalism of a new era. Old things were
passing away;--all things had become new. Creeds were the discarded
banners of a mediaeval past, fit only to be hung up in the churches, and
looked at as historic monuments; never more to be flaunted in the front
of battle! The education of the day was that which taught a man the
introspection whereby he recognized the Divine within himself--under
any aspect, under any tuition, whether of Brahma, Confucius, or Christ.
Truth was kaleidoscopic, and varied with the media through which it
was viewed. As for the child, every aspect of truth and error should be
allowed to play upon his mind. Let him acquire ordinary school learning
for fifteen years, and then send him to the London University.
Here the Chairman, and half-a-dozen members of the committee, protested
that the said University was a school of the devil, and several
interchanges of discourtesy took place.
Mr. Shortt, M. P., begged to suggest, as a matter of business, that for
the present the child was not capable of receiving any ideas whatever,
and might die, or prove to be dumb, or an idiot, and so require no
education. Ought they not to postpone this discussion until the subject
was old enough to be worth consideration?
It was Mr. Shortt's habit to show his practical vein by business-like
obstructions of this kind. He had been able a score of times to
demonstrate to the House of Commons how silly it was to consider
probabilities. In fact, he was opposed heart and soul to prophetic
legislation; he would live, legislatively, from hand to mouth.
But the committee would not allow Mr. Shortt to run away with the bone
of contention.
The Rev. Dr. M'Gregor Lucas, of the National Caledonian Believers, had
been silent too long to contain himself further. This man needs some
particular description whenever his name is made public. Nay, for this
he lives, and by it, some think. At all events, he appears to be
equally eager for rebuke and applause; they both involve notoriety, and
notoriety is sure to pay. Few absurdities had been overlooked by his
shallow ingenuity. Simply to have invested his limited mental endowments
in trying to make the world believe him a genius, would have been only
so like what many thousands are doing as to have absolved him from too
harsh a judgment; but he traded in perilous stuff. Cheap prophecy was
his staple. It was his wont to give out about once in five years, that
the world would shortly come to an end, and, like Mr. Zadkiel, he
found people who thought their inevitable disappointment a proof of his
inspiration. Had you heard the honeyed words dropping from his lips, you
would have taken him for a Scotch angel, and, consequently, a rarity.
Could such lips utter harsh sayings, or distil vanities? Show him a
priest, and you would hear! The Pope was his particular born foe; Popery
his enemies' country--so he said. It was safe for him to stand and throw
his darts. No one could say whether they hit or did not; while most
spectators had the good will to hope that they did. How he would
have lived if Daniel and St. John had dreamed no dreams, one cannot
conjecture. As it was, they provided the doctor with endless openings
for his fancy. Since no one could solve the riddle of their prophecies,
it was certain that no one could disprove his solutions. Yet these came
so often to their own disproof by lapse of time, that I can only think
that the good doctor hoped to die before his critical periods came, or
was so clever as to trust the infallibility of human weakness.
I describe Dr. Lucas at so great a length, because it will be easier
and more edifying to the reader to conceive what he said, than for me to
recount it. He showed the Baby to be one of seven mysteries. He was in
favor of teaching him at once to hate idolatry, music, crosses, masses,
nuns, priests, bishops, and cardinals. The “humanities,” the Shorter
Catechism, the Confession of Faith, and “The whole Duty of Man,” would,
in his opinion, be the books to lay the groundwork in the child's mind
of a Christian character of the highest type.
Mr. Ogle, M. P., here vigorously intervened. Said he:--
“I can't, with all deference, agree to any of these suggestions. They
involve hand-to-hand fighting over this baby's body. No one of us is
entitled to take charge of him. Else why did we all unite to rescue him
from the nunnery? He will be torn to pieces among contending divines!
I think a purely secular education is all that as a committee we should
aim at. We have, but just withdrawn the child from the shadow of a
single ecclesiastical influence--would you transfer it to another? Every
Protestant denomination is contributing to his support, how can you
devote their gifts to rearing him for one? You would have no peace;
better at once treat him as the man of Benjamin treated his wife, cut
him up into enough pieces to send to all the tribes of Israel, summoning
them to the fight. I say we have nothing to do with this just now; let
him be educated in a secular academy, and let each sect be free to send
its agents to instruct him out of school hours as they please.”
The Rev. Theodoret Verity, M.A., rose in anger.
“Surely, sir, you cannot seriously propound such a scheme! Would you
leave this precious waif to be buffeted between the contending waves
of truth and error, in the vague hope that by some lucky wind he might
finally be cast upon a rock of safety? I protest against all these
educational heresies--they are redolent of brimstone. Truth is truth,
or there is none at all. If there be any, it is our duty to impart it to
this immortal at the outset of his existence. Secular education! What do
you mean by it? Who shall sever one question from another, and call one
secular and the other religious? Is not every relation and every truth
in some way or other connected with religion?” &c. &c. Mr. Verity has
been saying the same thing any time these forty years.
“Forgive me,” replied Mr. Ogle, “if I say that this is very vague
talking. I have not proposed to sever one question from another. I only
propose to do in a different way that which is being done now by the
most rigid of Mr. Verity's friends. It is impossible to comprehend what
is meant by such a statement as that every truth is somehow connected
with religion. It may be that the notion--if it really is not, as I
suspect it to be, mere verbiage and clap-trap, used by certain fools
to mislead others--means that there is some such coherency between all
truths as there is, for instance, between the elements of the body. I
would admit that, but is not blood a different and perfectly severable
thing from bone? Each has its place, office, relation. But who would say
that one could not be regarded by a physicist in the largest variety of
its aspects apart from the other? Yet the physicist comes back again
to consider with respect to each its relations to all the rest! The
separate study has rather prepared him for more profound insight into
those relations. Thus it is with the body of truth. In spite of Mr.
Verity I affirm that there are truths that have not in themselves any
element of religion whatever. The forty-seventh proposition of Euclid
will be taught by a Jesuit precisely as it is taught in the London
University; geography will affirm certain principles and designate
places, rivers, mountains--that no faith can remove and cast into
unknown seas. These subjects and others are taught in our most bigoted
schools in separate hours and relations from religion. What then do
you mean by affirming that there can be no secular education of this
child--apart from religious teaching? We are not likely to agree, if
I may judge from what I have seen, on any one method of religious
instruction for it, therefore I wish first to fix common bounds within
which our common benevolence may work. Well, we all go to the Bible.
We agree that between its covers lies religious truth somewhere. If you
like let him have that--and let him have some kindly and holy influences
about him in the way of practice and example, such as many of our sects
can supply many instances of. Give him no catechism--let him read a
creed in our daily life. The articles of faith strongest in his soul
will be those which have crystallized there from the combined action
of truth and experience, and not as it were been pasted on its walls by
ecclesiastical bill-posters. 'What is truth?' he must ask and answer for
himself, as we all must do before God. Don't mistake me; I hope I am not
more indifferent to religion than any here present--but I differ from
them on the best method of imbuing the mind and heart with it. Surely
we need not, we cannot--it would be an exquisite absurdity--pass a
resolution in this committee that the child is to be a Calvinist! Who
then would agree to secure him from any taint of Arminian heresy in
years to come? Dare you even resolve that he shall be a Christian and a
Protestant! I would not insure the risk. But, with so many of Christ's
followers about me, surely, surely without providing any ecclesiastical
mechanism, there will be testified to him simply how he may be saved.
Your prayers, your visits, your kindly moral influence and talk,
your living example of a goodness derived not from dogmas but from
affectionate following of a holy pattern and trust in revealed mercies,
your pointing to that pattern and showing the daily passage of these
mercies will prompt his search after the truth that has made you what
you are. Let some good woman do for him a mother's part, but choose
her for her general goodness and not for the dogmas of her church. The
simpler her piety the better for him I should say!”
This straightforward speech fell like a new apple of discord in the
midst of the committee. Angry knots were formed, and the noble chairman
found that he could not restore order. An adjournment was agreed to.
Luckily for the body of Ginx's Baby, he had been meanwhile sent to a
home where Protestant money secured to him for the time good living,
while his benefactors were discussing what to do with his soul.
*****
Surely, it were no impertinence to interrupt this history and advert to
the fact, that, in the discussion just related, every one was to some
extent right and to some extent agreed.
That religious teaching was due to an immortal spirit--some notion
and evidence of the Divine and the Great Hereafter to be conveyed to
it--scarce was disputed. Nor was there collision over the necessity
of what is called intellectual cultivation. The boy must be taught
something of the world in which he was to live; nay, this latter
knowledge seemed to be most immediately practical. As each disputant
fixed his eye on one or the other aim that end appeared to him to be the
most important. Hence, by a natural lapse, they came to treat subjects
as antagonistic which were, in fact, parallel and quite consistent. The
one called the others godless--the others threw back the aspersion
of bigotry. Then came complication. What was “religion?” Intellectual
culture they could agree about--it embraced well-known areas; but this
religion divided itself into many disputable fields. These brother
Protestants were like country neighbors who must encounter each other at
fairs, markets, meets, and balls, and smile and greet, though each, at
heart, is looking savagely at the other's landmarks, and most are very
likely fighting bitter lawsuits all the while. It was because religion
meant CREED to most members of the committee, and because it so implies
to the vast bodies they represented, that they could not come to terms
about Ginx's Baby or any other infantile immortal. Not always, perhaps,
but often, they fought for futile distinctions. Had Mahomet's creed
consisted of but one article, There is one God, the blood of many
nations might never have given testimony against the creed they resented
when to it he tacked and Mahomet is His prophet. Could Protestants but
consent to agree in their agreement and peacefully differ in their petty
differences, how would the aggregated impulse of a simple faith roll
down before it all the impediments of error!
When Ginx's Baby had grown to a discretionary age, and was at all able
to know truth from error--supposing that to be knowable--there were
in the country fifty thousand reverend gentlemen of every tincture of
religious opinion who might ply him with their various theories, yet few
of these would be contented unless they could seize him while his young
nature was plastic, and try to imprint on immortal clay the trade-mark
of some human invention.
XII.--No Funds--no Faith, no Works.
The Committee of the Protestant Detectoral Union on Ginx's Baby held
twenty-three meetings. They were then as far from unity of purpose as
when they set out. Variety was given to the meetings by the changing
combinations of members in attendance. The finances were little
heeded in the intensity of their zeal for truth. These at length fell
altogether into the hands of the association's secretary, and we have
seen involved large items of expense. The twenty-three meetings
extended over a year. At the end of that time the secretary startled the
committee by laying on the table a demand for the board and keep of the
Protestant baby for three months, amounting to L 36; and adding that the
sum in hand was L 1, 4s. 4 1/2d. In his report he said: “No effort has
been spared by means of advertisements, pamphlets, tales, leaders
and paragraphs in newspapers and religious journals, together with
occasional sermons, to maintain the public interest in this child; but
attention has been diverted from him by the great Roman Spozzi case,
and the anxiety created throughout the Protestant world by the recent
discovery made by Dr. Gooddee, of a solitary survivor of the ancient
Church of the Vieuxbois Protestants in a secluded valley of the
Pyrenees.”
The secretary asked the committee to provide the money to discharge the
baby's liabilities; but they instantly adjourned, and no effort could
afterwards get a quorum together. When the persons who had charge of the
Protestant foundling discovered the state of affairs they began to dun
the secretary and to neglect the child, now about thirteen months
old and preparing to walk. Since no money appeared they sold whatever
clothes had been provided for him, and absconded from the place where
they had been farming him for Protestantism. The secretary, by chance
hearing of this, was discreet enough to make no inquiries. Ginx's Baby,
“as a Protestant question,” vanished from the world. I never heard that
any one was asked what had been done with the funds; but I have already
furnished the account that ought to have been rendered.
XIII.--In transitu.
One night, near twelve o'clock, a shrewd tradesman, looking out of his
shopdoor before he turned into bed, heard a cry which proceeded from a
bundle on the pavement. This he discovered to be an infant wrapt in a
potato-sack. He was quick enough to observe that it had been deftly laid
over a line chiselled across the pavement to the corner of his house,
which line he knew to be the boundary between his own parish of St.
Simon Magus and the adjacent parish of St. Bartimeus. He took note,
being a business man, of the exact position of the child's body in
relation to this line, and then conveyed it to the workhouse of the
other parish.