CHAPTER XXIV 



THE CLERK AND THE LAST RAVENS 



The parish clerk at Itchen Abbas — William Neave's epitaph — 

 The parish clerk's reminiscences — A ghost story — Fascina- 

 tion of the raven — The last ravens at Avington — Tree- 

 climbing feats — Persecution of tame young ravens by the 

 old birds. 



THE old parish clerk is almost as obsolete as 

 the village church band or orchestra, but 

 you do come upon him occasionally "still 

 lingering here" in remote districts, and until a few 

 years ago there existed one at Itchen Abbas, a pretty 

 little village on the Itchen, a few miles above Win- 

 chester. Let me hasten to say, lest anyone's sus- 

 ceptibilities should be hurt, that this same village 

 in everything except its parish clerk appeared to 

 be quite up to date. At the Sunday morning ser- 

 vice he sat near me where I could see and hear him 

 very well. His quaint appearance and manner first 

 attracted my attention: it was out of date, out of 

 keeping, or, shall we say, harmony, yet the harmony 

 being what it was in that spiritless mechanical service, 

 the little discord came as a rather pleasing relief. 



He was a small thin old man with black alert 

 hawk-like eyes, white beard, and a black skull-cap 

 on his grey head. His high-pitched voice and speech 

 were those of a Hampshire peasant, and it happened 



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