28 THE UEV. J. G. WOOD. 



utter an Amen above a whisper, the remainder of that 

 body instantly turned and gazed with astonishment at 

 the offender. The chancel was squalid and dirty to the 

 last degree, the communicants at the monthly celebra- 

 tion of the Holy Communion averaged only five in 

 number, out of a population of some six thousand, and 

 the Church, to all appearance, was doomed to speedy 

 extinction as far as the parish of Erith was concerned. 



So matters continued until 1864, in which year 

 occurred the memorable explosion at the Belvedere gun- 

 powder magazines, which stood upon the river-bank 

 about half-way between Belvedere and Erith. In ad- 

 dition to widespread and almost incalculable damage 

 spread over a wide area of country, this explosion so 

 wrecked the old parish church of Erith that, during the 

 necessary repairs, Divine Service had to be carried on in 

 the schoolroom. There music of a rather higher quality 

 was instituted, and, before the return to the church, my 

 father asked permission of the vicar to organise and 

 train a regular choir, and to provide properly practised 

 music at the Sunday services. The vicar gladly gave 

 his consent, and my father set to work to get the choir 

 together ; no light task in such a parish, and with the 

 small amount of time at his command. Shortly after 

 the church was re-opened, however, a fully choral ser- 

 vice was sung by a surpliced choir of fairly imposing 

 proportions. The harmonium was replaced by an 

 organ ; the old slovenliness, formerly so painfully ap- 

 parent both in building and service, was done away ; 

 and bright hearty services began to attract regularly to 



