The vicar, therefore,
attended and waited for an hour, when the clerk affirmed that he must
have dreamed it! Dicker was given to the study of astronomy, and it is
related that he once gave a lecture on this subject in the Public Rooms.
There is close to the town a small park in memory of one of the Duller
family. A man one night was much alarmed when walking therein to
discover a bright light in one of the trees, and, later, to hear the
voice of the worthy clerk, who addressed him in these words: "Fear not,
my friend, and do not be affrighted. I am Robert Dicker, clerk of the
parish. I am examining the stars." Another account alleges that he
affirmed himself to be "counting the stars." Whichever account is the
true one, it will be gathered that he was already "far gone."
Another of his achievements was the conversion of a barrel organ,
purchased from a neighbouring church, into a manual, obtaining the wind
therefor by a pedal arrangement which worked a large wheel attached to a
crank working the bellows. On all great festivals and especially on
Christmas Day he was wont to rouse the neighbourhood as early as three
and four o'clock, remarking of the ungrateful, complaining neighbours
that they had no heart for music or religion.
The wheel mentioned above was part of one of his tricycle schemes.
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