in the pulpit, go to the altar--an ordinary table with
drawers--throw up the cloth, open a drawer, take out two candles and a
box of matches, go up the pulpit stairs, fix them in the candlesticks,
and light them.
During the winter months part of his duty was to tend the fire during
service in the Duke of Bedford's large curtained, carpeted pew in
the chancel.
When I was a boy I was staying in Northamptonshire, and went one Sunday
morning into a village church for service (I think it was Fotheringhay).
There was a three-decker, and the clerk from his desk led the singing of
the congregation, which he faced. There was no musical instrument of any
kind. The hymn, which of course was from Tate and Brady, was the
metrical version of Psalm xlii. The clerk gave out the Psalm, then read
the first line to the congregation, then sang it solo, and then the
congregation sang it altogether; and so on line after line for the whole
eleven verses.
More attention must have been paid in those days to the requirement of
the ninety-first Canon, that the clerk should be known, if may be, "for
his competent skill in singing."
In 1873 I was curate-in-charge of an out-of-the-way Norfolk village. On
my first Sunday I had an early celebration at 8 a.m. I arrived in church
about 7.45, and to my amazement saw five old men sitting round the stove
in the nave with their hats on, smoking their pipes.
Pages:
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362