Since women can be
churchwardens, and have been so long ago as 1672, sextons, overseers and
registrars of births, and much else, and even at one time were parish
constables, it seems that the pleasant duties of a parish clerk might
not be uncongenial to them, though they be debarred by law from
receiving the title and rank of the office.
CHAPTER XVII
SOME YORKSHIRE CLERKS
During many years of the time that the Rev. John Torre occupied the
rectory of Catwick, Thomas Dixon[82] was associated with him as parish
clerk. He is described as a little man, old-looking for his age, and in
the later years of his life able to walk only with difficulty. These
peculiarities, however, did not prevent his winning a young woman for
his wife. Possibly she saw the sterling character of the man, and
admired and loved him for it.
[Footnote 82: This account of the clerks Dixon and Fewson was sent by
the Rev. J. Gaskell Exton, and is published by the permission of the
editor of the _Yorkshire Weekly Post_.]
Dixon was strongly attached to the rector, so much so, that to him
neither the rector nor the things belonging to the rector, whether
animate or inanimate, could do wrong. He had a watch, and even though it
might not be one of the best, a watch was no small acquisition to a
working man of his time.
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