" RITUALISM AND POPERY." 29 



the church those Avho had previously deemed it unneces- 

 sary to attend Divine worship at all. 



My father's share in the work of the church was 

 now as follows. On Sunday morning and Sunday 

 evening he said the prayers or sang the service ; on 

 Wednesday evenings he did the same ; and occasionally 

 but very occasionally he preached. After service on 

 Wednesday evenings came the choir practice ; and as a 

 general rule, after service on Sunday evenings the choir 

 adjourned to the Lady Chapel, and there sang a selection 

 of anthems, less for the sake of the practice than as 

 a sort of additional service of praise. After a time this 

 custom came to be known and appreciated among the 

 members of the congregation, many of whom would 

 always stay for the singing after service. And the 

 arrangement was most popular with the members of the 

 choir themselves, who were thus enabled to indulge 

 their taste for choral singing of a somewhat more ad- 

 vanced character, without the usual effect of destroying 

 the thoroughly congregational character of the church 

 services. 



Yet the "innovations," as they were commonly 

 styled, were not introduced without a great deal of 

 opposition. Letters without number appeared in the 

 solitary local newspaper of those days ; the clergy were 

 freely accused of ritualism and Popery ; my father, as 

 the originator of the surpliced choir, was even publicly 

 burned in effigy. But the excitement gradually calmed 

 down until the year 1867, when the malcontents were 

 again aroused to indignation upon the occasion of a 

 dedication festival. 



