Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1884-03-21
THE PROFESSOR AND THE HARRY

THE PROFESSOR AND TIE HARRY.
Mother Church, who in bygone ages
sheltered all the learning of the land be-
meath her broad wings. and who, even
after this monopoly had passed away from
her, continued to provide for learners and
learned in munifcent fashion, has in
these latter times been sadly shorn OF
wealth and patronage by the relentless
march of progress and the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners. Yet there is balm in
Gilead. Here aud there q sinecure has
been suffered to remain for the benefit of
those whose work is not altogether OF the
tangible kind 90 dear to the nineteenth
century. Here and there Reverend Jack
Horper, putting bis thumb into the di-
minished pie of Church preferment, can
pull out plum, and, sitting down under
the shadow of some gray cathedral tower,
can draw soothing deductions after the
manner Of his juvenile prototype. A bish.
opric may no longer be post Of dignifed
ease, archdeacons may be men doomed to
perpetual hurry and worry, wealthy plu.
ralists may have become an extinct class.
but Canon of Lichbury Cathedral is still
a parsonage whose dwelling aud comfort
able Income are rather the acknowledge
ment of past distinction than the equiva-
lent of any present labor. Not, OF course,
that the Dean and Chapter Of Lichbury
are body OF worn-out pensioners. IL is
by no means in that light that they arc
accustomed to regard themselves; nor, in.
deed, are they 80 regarded by any except
the ignorant and irreverent. If repose
and competence have been bestowed upon
them, it is not only because they have al.
ready enriched the world with the results
of literary research. but that they may
have moro leisure to continue doing so.-
Soma Of them have achieved rsnown as
authors OF theological treatises, others are
deeply versed in classical lore; while some
like Canon Stanwick, hold university pro-
fsssorships.
The latter divine was understood to
owe his canonry (which had been con-
ferred upon him at comparatively early
age) to that celebrated work, The Life
and Times Of the Emperor Julian in
which an interesting character and an in
teresting period of history had been so
exclusively and impartially treated as to
leave no room for further exploration of
the same ground. Whether, as his admir-
ers declared. the Professor had surpassed
Gibbon as trlumphantly in the handling
Of his subject as Gibbon surpassed Vol
taire and other earlier writers. and wheta.
or in the course of his well-weighed obser.
vations he had made out as good q case
for the Church which be represented as
was possible and desirable, are questions
which need not be discussed here. One
consequence, at all events, of his accom-.
plished task had been to place him In the
front rank of living historians, and anoth.
or had been his appointment to a vacant
stall in Lichbury Cathedral.
This last reward of merit should have
been especially grateful to him, for he was
. bachelor of retired habits, whose life had
been spent among his books. and to whom
life had little left to offer in the way Of
attraction save increased opportunities for
study; cnd, In fact, he was, as q general
thing, very we'll satisfied with his lot
Nevertheless. rs he paced up and down
his smooth lawn one morning in August,
he was in less contented frame Of mind
than usual. The whispering of the sum.
mer breeze in the old elms. the cawing Of
the rocks. the occasional deliberate ding
doag OF the cathedral clock far overhead,
checking off the slumberous quarters and
half soArs-all these familiar sounds had
failed to produce upon him that sense of
calm which IL SO conducive to thought; be
had been compelled to lay aside the OPEN
ing chapter Of his new work, The Rise Of
the Papacy. and to take to walking to and
fro in the garden, with bis hands behind
his back. and his gray head sunk beneath
shoulders which were somewhat prema-
turely bowed.
The truth was that the Professor, like
other professors. had once been young.
and that the days of his youth. had been
wildly and Unexpectedly brought back to
him the night before. This is always q
disturbing thing to happen to man; and
what made it particularly 20 In Canon
Stanwick's case was that his youth had
been marked by trouble which he had
taken terribly to heart at the time of its
occurrence. To be Tilted is no such rare
experience, and to get over it with great
rapidity is the ordinary lot Of the Tilted
one: out some few strangely constituted