THE COUNTRY SUNDAY. 67 



cheque-book, leaving them to face the spectre of bank- 

 ruptcy. At least once a week the elder, out of sheer 

 British determination to claim his rights, stepped into 

 the chapel rooms with his private key, just to walk 

 round. They put another lock which his key did not 

 fit, but he heaved the door open with a crowbar, and 

 their case must have been feeble indeed when they 

 could not even bring an action for trespass against him. 

 The historian knoweth not all things, and how this 

 schism arose is hidden from view. Very likely, indeed, 

 it may have arisen out of the very foundation of the 

 chapel itself, such buildings and land being usually held 

 in some manner by a body of managers or trustees — a 

 sort of committee, in fact — a condition which may easily 

 afford opportunities for endless wrangling. In this par- 

 ticular the Established Church has a great advantage, 

 the land and building being dedicated ' for ever,' so that 

 no dispute is possible. Tales there were of some little 

 feminine disagreement having arisen between the wives 

 of the two men, magnified with the assistance of a 

 variety of tabbies, a sort of thing by no means impos- 

 sible among two hundred relations. Such affairs often 

 spring from a grain of mustard seed, and by-and-by 

 involve all the fowls of the air that roost in the branches. 

 Idle tales circulated of a discussion among the ministers 

 (visitors) which happened one evening over the pipes 

 and three-star bottles, when the elder, taking down a 

 celebrated volume of sermons, pointed out a passage 

 almost word for word identical with what the pastor had 

 said in his sermon on the previous Sunday — a curious 

 instance of parallel inspiration. Unkind people after- 

 wards spread the gloss that the elder had accused the 

 minister of plagiarism. Mere fiction, no doubt. After 

 a thing has happened people can generally find twenty 



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