At any rate, he let himself
out into the churchyard, and returned no more! He may possibly have been
unable to find a discourse, but these are details with which we are not
concerned. The clerk and congregation with becoming loyalty lengthened
out the already dreary hymn by sundry additions and doxologies to give
their pastor time to don his robes, and it was long ere they perceived
the true cause of his delay. They were somewhat nettled, as one may
suppose, at being thus befooled, and here lies the gist of our story.
Next Sunday the clerk did not give out the second hymn at the usual
time, but waited in solemn silence till Mr. Wallace had returned in his
black gown from the vestry and ascended the pulpit stairs. Then, and not
till then, he closed the pulpit door with a slam; and, _keeping his back
against it_, called out significantly, and with a tone of exultation in
his voice, "We've got him, my boys; _now_ let us sing to the praise and
glory of God," etc.
William Wren held the office of church clerk at Stondon Massey in Essex
for thirty-six years, from 1853 to 1889. He was a rough, uneducated man,
but with a certain amount of native talent which raised him above the
level of the majority of his class. I can see him now in his place
Sunday after Sunday, rigged out in a suit of my father's cast-off
clerical garments--a kind of "set-off" to him at the lower end of the
church.
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