His predecessor had been a Mr. Stephens. The place had been
neglected, and church matters were at a low ebb. Mr. Elton instituted a
service on Saints' Days, which was quite an innovation at that time, and
the first of these was held on St. Stephen's Day. The old clerk came
into the vestry after the service and said, "I be sorry, sir, to hear
the unkid (= awful) tale of poor Mussar (Mister) Stephens. He be come
to a sad end surely." He had evidently confounded the first martyr, St.
Stephen, with the late curate of the parish, having apparently never
heard of the former.
A new vicar had been appointed to a parish about eight miles from
Oxford, who had been for many years a Fellow of his college, and in
consequence knew little of village folk or parochial matters. Dr. A. was
much disturbed to find that so few of the villagers attended church, and
consulted the clerk on the subject, who suggested that it might
encourage the people to attend if Dr. A. was to offer to give sixpence a
Sunday to all who came to church. The plan was tried and found to
succeed; the congregations improved rapidly, and the church was well
filled, to Dr. A.'s satisfaction. But after a while the numbers fell
off, and to Dr. A.'s chagrin people left off attending church. He again
called the clerk into his counsels, and asked what could be the reason
of the falling off of the congregation, as he had always given sixpence
every Sunday, as he promised, to all who came to the service.
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