To
listen to him energetically arguing with the Rev. Mr. Jeffries as to
whether or no it would be proper, as had hitherto been the custom, to
devote the proceeds of the harvest festival collection (1 pound 18s.
3d. and a brass button) to the county hospital, or whether it should
be applied to the repair of the woodwork in the vestry, was under the
circumstances most instructive. The Rev. Mr. Jeffries, who suffered
severely from the condition of the vestry, at last gained his point by
triumphantly showing that no patient from Honham had been admitted to
the hospital for fifteen months, and that therefore the hospital had
no claim on this particular year, whereas the draught in the vestry
was enough to cut any clergyman in two.
"Well, well," said the old gentleman, "I will consent for this year,
and this year only. I have been churchwarden of this parish for
between forty and fifty years, and we have always given the harvest
festival collection to the hospital, and although under these
exceptional circumstances it may possibly be desirable to diverge from
that custom, I cannot and will not consent to such a thing in a
permanent way. So I shall write to the secretary and explain the
matter, and tell him that next year and in the future generally the
collection will be devoted to its original purpose.
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