The Canon in Residence (1904) by Victor L. Whitechurch

Author:Victor L. Whitechurch [Whitechurch, Victor L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788026853220
Publisher: e-artnow
Published: 2016-04-07T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter XI

Table of Contents

Municipal affairs in Frattenbury were the subject of much discussion, the greater part of which was confined to the subject of the property which was owned respectively by the Mayor and the Dean and Chapter. For a long time past the City Council had been content to pursue the even tenor of its way, and had both overawed the Borough Surveyor and discouraged him from making any complaints against the property in question—or, in fact, any property which was owned by the individual members of the Council or their particular cronies. It was felt that Sir Daniel Taylor was a power in the land against whom it would be injudicious to take strong measures, and that the Dean and Chapter were a body who were best left to manage their own business—besides which, Sir Daniel and the " Close set" patronised the shops belonging to the worthy aldermen and councillors, and human nature plays a strong part where cash-book and ledger are concerned.

Of course Everett Home was a thorn in the flesh to the Town Council. He had organised the Ratepayers' Association." At first the latter was pooh-poohed as ridiculous, but it was now beginning to take strong root among the good burgesses of Frattenbury. At every meeting of the Town Council a deputation, headed by Everett Home and armed with notebooks, solemnly attended to watch and listen to the proceedings. Of course it was not lawful for them to make remarks, but, on the other hand, it had become an ordeal for each councillor to open his mouth in the presence of these judicial witnesses. Hitherto the representatives of the Press had been strictly judicious as to what they reported, but the pamphlets issued by the Ratepayers' Association contained more accurate accounts of the Council meetings, and did not spare the grammatical blunders of the speakers.

By degrees, and somewhat to his own astonishment, Canon Smith had found himself more and more in open sympathy with the objects of the Association. He had moved, at a meeting of the Chapter, that the property belonging to that body should be put into thorough sanitary repair, but his motion had not been seconded. He had preached a powerful sermon on the text, " Am I my brother's keeper?" at which the Mayor, who was seated in the Corporation pew, was highly indignant. Highest test of all, men who habitually looked askance at parsons and sundry members of Nonconformist congregations touched their hats to the " Canon in Residence" when they met him in the street. Canon Smith had grown bold in the assertion of social rights, and only Eleanor Taylor and Everett Home understood the curious process by which he had arrived at his conclusions.

Rice, the tobacconist, saw him crossing the road one day from St Roger's Gate to his shop. In the twinkling of an eye he had jumped on a chair, reached down a tin of " Southern Mixture," and had it standing on the counter by the time the Canon was at the door.

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