58 FIELD AND HEDGEROW. 
and the pastor fills his tumbler half full of spirit, and 
but lightly dashes it with water. It is cognac and not 
brandy, for your chapel minister thinks it an affront if 
anything more common than the best French liquor is 
put before him; he likes it strong, and with it his long 
clay pipe. Very frequently another minister, sometimes 
two or three, come in at the same time, and take the 
same dinner, and afterwards form a genial circle with 
cognac and tobacco, when the room speedily becomes 
full of smoke and the bottle of brandy soon disappears. 
In these family parties there is not the least approach to 
over-conviviality ; it is merely the custom, no one thinks 
anvthing of a glass and a pipe; it is perfectly innocent; 
it is not a local thing, but common and _ understood. 
The consumption of brandy and tobacco and the good 
things of dinner, tea, and supper (for the party generally 
sit out the three meals), must in a month cost the host 
a good deal of money, but all things are cheerfully borne 
for the good of the church. Never were men feasted 
with such honest good-will as these pastors; and if a 
budding Paul or Silas happens to come along who has 
scarce yet passed his ordination, the youthful divine may 
stay a week if he likes, and lick the platter clean. In 
fact, so constant is this hospitality, that in certain houses 
it is impossible to pay a visit at any time of the year, 
without finding one of these young brothers reposing 
amid the fat of the land, and doubtless indulging in 
pleasant spiritual communion with the daughters of the 
mansion. Something in this system of household 
ministers of religion reminds one of the welcome and 
reverence said to be extended in the East to the priests, 
who take up their residence indefinitely, and are treated 
as visible incarnations of the Deity whose appetites it is 
meritorious to satisfy. Indeed, these young men, who 
