The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1868-08-25 00:00:00

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BROLDWEY ROAD CAM

To tlie Editor.

81e.—Why people should meddle in what they' ought
not to do, I cannot tell. I knew a 01•1171110.11 1010
settled in a perish and thought he could speak like •
book, and actually printed one, or • tract, and a poor
man replied to it. I only wish you could bare read it.
The poor wan cut up the parson and his arguments, as
the Irishman would say, to smithereens. There never
was the like!, in fact, the panon was similar te • poor
fish in strange waters when • fine Jack Otter collar.
bin. A clergyman ones in a parish, where Uwe wu •
stir about • road, thought, humus he had talked of
broad and narrow ways all his life, end with a college
education and • bead upon his shoulders, he must know
something about this and that, and it must be part of
his duty to interfere. So Is. said he would not have the
road mule, and he talked about prior, patience, good
temoer--glorions words, and even brought the
pulpit into use, and said it was not their fault., but
some lawyer's, who this man of peace thought was
a '• pettifogger;" and, to carry out those peaceable
Ideas, they WWII to leave the reed alone, and to do as he
told these, or his would oppose them to the utmost.
He would not give way. There is no differenco,of coarse,
between what • man tells you to do and what he does
himself —betweea preaching and practising—between
words and deeds. You will not be surprised that where
everybody was friends they soon bad differences of
opinion. This eleroman, year readers will probably
thick, should not have interfered. remembenng what
the Vicar of Annswell stated in his letter to the Times
"That one-half of the clergy know no more bow to
preach than they do bow to plough,* he should have
considered to which half he belonged, and if the fint,
try and make himself mon proficient, and if there is a
dissenting chapel in his perish make an effort to prevent
It. bats, fitiswk there being plenty of room in the
church. Now your oorrespoudeat K. H., in last week's
paper, Is evideetly meddling in what he should noti
His knowledge of it is imperfect, for his statement. are
incorrect. Ur. Hopkins does not ask for *road through
the river, as there is one already, for E. H. states an
ancient rieht of way leis been estatslished. Tbe bed of
the river is not broad. What Kr. Hopkins maintains is
that the parish ;have made a good road on level pound
for some considerable distance, and raised it above the
adjacent land to prevent the water overflowing it, built
a wall, and made • bridge or culvert where it was
required, and now they leave off within • short distance
of where it would join the Will road. Completing that
small piece would be • great benefit to the public,
for it would avoid a sharp hill both ways, and
utilise what the pariah has already done. If
the river does flow over it. confine the river to •
channel and raise the road at the side. The road
would have to cross the river, and it can easily be done
and the expense would not be great, awl thereby no-
body would be injured, the public generally benefited,
for the passing of vehicles of all descriptions over the
place is great. 11r. Hopkins, wishing to live in peace
with his neighbours, said, "Expense shall not be an
obstacle; give me £lOO and I will do it, or, do it your-
%lves, and I will give you no. and my friend Mr.
Luddism £2O. This handsome offer was refused, and
Kr. Hopkins was driven to proceediogs to enforce what
he oonsiders is the right of the public, and certain
parties have pushed on the parish, al•hough by a
very small majority, to go to law to defend sash pro-
ceedings. lithe parish win they must pay their own
expenses, which will come to far more than the making
of the road; and, if they lose they men sot only pay
their o•n charges, but make the road, and perhaps
have to pay Mr. Hoptins's expenses too. This is • fair
at/dement of the position of the parish, and I think
E. H. will agree with me, as also your readers, that
he has put it in an unfair light, and, like the poor
clergyman above referred to, has rushed into print when
he should have left it alone..