CHAPTER II. 



CLERICAL LIFE AND WORK. 



Parish]work The Boatmen's Floating Chapel Ordination as Priest Resigna- 

 tion of Curacy Chaplaincy to St. Bartholomew's Hospital Marriage 

 Removal to Belvedere and resignation of Chaplaincy Honorary Curacy at 

 Erith Old-fashioned services An Explosion and its results Organising a 

 choir " Aggrieved parishioners " A burning in effigy Presentment to 

 the Archbishop Cessation of opposition Sole charge Death of the Vicar 

 of Erith Subsequent clerical work Style of preaching Sermon notes 

 Maps and blackboards in the pulpit "Flower Sermons" Complaints of 

 nervousness Stammering cured Last sermon The Funeral Reform As- 

 sociation Hatred of " mourning " Work for the cause. 



IMMEDIATELY after receiving ordination in 1852, my 

 father threw himself heart and soul into his new work. 

 His parish, which was situated in the poorest part of 

 the city, was far from being an attractive one, but in a 

 few months', time he had come to know every man, 

 woman, and child residing within it, and was busily 

 engaged in all the diverse labours which a parish of 

 such a character entails. Besides serving as curate in 

 this parish, too, he accepted the chaplaincy of the Boat- 

 men's Floating Chapel, an institution in which he took 

 the deepest interest, but which, of course, necessitated 

 a good deal of additional labour. In consequence of 

 all this heavy work (the services at the church were 

 almost incessant, and all the curates were expected to 

 attend them all), his application for priest's Orders had 

 to be postponed until the end of the second year of 



