DECLINING YEARS (1873-1893) 291 



series of quotations to show the wrongness of the 

 assertions, and filled nearly a column of the paper 

 with his exposure of him. Had he been asked why 

 he expended his energies on so trivial a matter, he 

 would no doubt have replied, that somebody might 

 have accepted the statement as correct without in- 

 quiry, and so harm would have been done, and, at all 

 events, that Mr. X. himself needed a little instruction. 

 He was specially quick to animadvert upon any- 

 thing that might appear in print in disparagement 

 of the Church, of which he was so devoted a son. 

 Points which most men would either not notice, or, 

 if they noticed them, would not think it worth while 

 to take any trouble to rectify, these my father would 

 never let pass, but would take any amount of trouble 

 to expose and put straight. Many illustrations of 

 this might here be given, but let a single one suffice. 

 The frequent use he made of tracts has been else- 

 where spoken of. He circulated many of those of 

 the Society for the Promotion of Christian Know- 

 ledge, though more frequently those published by 

 the Religious Tract Society. One of these latter he 

 had been reading, and in one particular at least had 

 occasion to communicate his views to the editor. 

 It was this. The tract told, as my father read it, 

 how a poor man got no good by going to church, 

 but at once became converted by going to the 

 " little chapel " close by. This, as he observed, was 

 not keeping true to the principle the Society pro- 

 fessed, of holding an even balance between Church 

 and Dissent. On bringing this before the editor's 



