AN INCIDENT IN CLERICAL LIFE 
43 
general approval of the scheme which has been evoked is a 
pleasing symptom of the tendency of opinion. 
Churchyard Bottom Wood. — The London County Council, 
on February 22, voted ^"5,000 towards the purchase of this 
wood. The scheme, therefore, can now be carried out. 
AN INCIDENT IN CLERICAL LIFE. 
AM the vicar of a large, new church placed in the 
“ slums.” Our work is amongst poor people, but the 
congregation at the midday celebration of the Holy 
Eucharist on Sundays is largely composed of wealthy, 
fashionable, and would-be fashionable women. On such occa- 
sions there is, therefore, a fair exhibition of the prevalent taste 
in dress. 
I read Mr. W. H. Hudson’s letter, in The Times of December 
25, on the trade in birds’ feathers, and especially in “ospreys,” 
“ torn,” as he writes, “ from birds slaughtered when feeding their 
young.” Well may he write fervidly ! The following words 
gave me a painful shock : “ With bitterness it must be acknowledged 
by everyone who retains any shred or vestige of a creed , that the clergy , 
as a class, turn a deaf ear to all appeals for help in this direction," and 
the suggestion is made that they fear to face a decrease in the 
offertories as a consequence of preaching uncomfortable doctrine. 
Alas, that, contrary to the principle of the Anglican Church, 
many of the clergy in towns are now more or less dependent on 
the offerings of their congregations ! But if the main charge 
be true the motive would not be solely pecuniary. The fashion 
in feminine ornament is a thorny subject to treat of in the pulpit 
for several reasons, and I must confess that when 1 im igine 
the serried ranks of women with nodding crests “settling down” 
for the sermon I understand how a joyful eagerness may not 
be felt for the task. But St. Paul condemned ornaments which 
indicated mere vanity or frivolity ; and this is a case of cruelty, 
and a sin against maternity. Many religious women, though 
strenuous advocates of the principle of verbal inspiration, seem 
to employ in practice a selective and discriminative method in 
applying the teaching of the Apostle of the Gentiles. They need, 
it would seem, an Apostle of the Genteels, as Manning was once 
called. I do not quite share Mr. Hudson’s admiration of the 
London vicar who, “ fired with a spark of his Master’s spirit, 
feared not to tell his congregation that he preached not to fill 
but to empty his church.” Surely his Master sought to draw 
the peop e to Him, not to drive them away. Human hearts 
must have implanted in them a faculty of response to right teach- 
ing, or what is our hope ? No doubt the London vicar meant 
