The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-08-28
SCOTTISH CLERICAL LIFE.
Some Of the AnnOyances to Which Ministers
ure Subjected In the stBraw Land.r

uTc SuuItCItu III Jut "DEuW Lhuu.'
A not and perhaps little
suspected cause Of clerical worry and
annoyance, sometimes even of peril,
lies in the vagaries of people who are
mentally unsound. Religious mania
is a very frequent form of such un-
soundness, and this often leads to the
clergy being objects of attentions far
more marked than agreeable. Extra
VACANT devotion to, or equally extra
VACANT detestation Of, some special
clergyman, is very common. The
former once, in u own experience,
gave rise to what, considering all the
accidental circumstances and sur
roundings, was probably the most
ludicrous scene ever witnessed IN a
church. In q city boasting the pos
session of n of the finest cathedrals
in England there lived a spinster lady
somewhat weak in intellect, one whose
state, however, did not render any fur
Their supervision necessary than the
constant attendance of a trustworthy
| companion. The rector of the parish
in which she lived was the object of
her most ardent devotion. To her
great despair he resigned his living
and went abroad. Some few years
later, on returning to England, he
happened to be in the neignborhood,
and having been intimately acquainted
with many of the chapter, he went one
afternoon to the cathedral in order to
see some of them. The service was
just over, and he was standing in the
nave, to which there were always
many visitors in the afternoon, waiting
to greet his old friends when they
should have disrobed.
just at the moment when choristers
and clergy were coming in procession
down the nave, the poor little woman
ly espied her former rector, and be.
fore her companion could interfere,
rushed toward him. She was ex.
tremely small; he a very tall mar
Fearing that in her excitement hel
greeting would be rather more noisy
than was seemly under the circum.
stances, he bent down, as she drew
near, to speak to her in a whisper
Rash man! In q moment she clasped
him around the neck with both arms
and sbestowed upon him a painfully
audible apostolic s%alutation. The
magnificent cathedral nave echoed tt
strange sounds that afternoon. No
even the p%ortentous solemnity of T:
cathedral verger, in the very presenc,
of the canons in residence, was proc
against the trial; and the white-robet
procession disappeared from the sacred
precincts with u most INDIGENOUS IA
pidity. The victim of this astoundin.
reception, a man possessed of remark
able power over the muscles of. hi
face, was the only person in the cathe
dral who preserved an unmoyet
gravity of department.
A very common form of religion
craze is a desire to argue out private,
ly with a clergyman some question h,
has touched upon in preaching. w,
once heard a clergyman preach on tn,
text: ''All scripture is given by in
spiration of Cod and he CHANGED t.
make some remarks upon the occa
sional value of apparently unimport
ant portions of the scriptures. Fo
8 some time afterward he was sorel
besieged by n nearer who wished t
insist on having proved to them til
! Importance of verse 8, chapter iii.
Song Of Solomon, liking Solomon
made himself a chariot of the wood o
Lebanon Fortunately, the clergy
man in question had only been oftici
, ating for a friend. Had he been vica
/, of the parish, liable to be buttonholet
as he walked about the streets, hi
: fate would nave been pitiable. Wors
of all. and often absolutely dangerou
/: TO the clergy, ;s the craze OF a mission
: either TO insist upon or prevent tn
, PRONUNCIATION of some particular doc
trine. We remember, some year
: since, seeing the vicar Of a large Lon
! don parish officiating for several Sun
, days under protection of the police
One Of these crazy enthusiasts ha
. taken it into his head that he was t
prevent some part of the service bein
= = performed, and had chosen that pal
ticular church as the field of his opel
5 ations. His threats against the vica
! were sufficiently vehement as to caus
it to be deemed advisable, pendin
9 measures for some restraint bein
/, placed upon the man. that a police
man in plain clothes should be on dr
! ty in the chancel during the service!
:. The possibility that the church migf
= become at any moment the scene OF
$ sudden struggle between a stalwal
. policeman and an excited lunatic coul
= not be held one likely to aid a cain
:, devotional spirit on the part of eithe
; the vicar or those of the congregatio
y who were aware of the circumstance
= Scottish RerieU.
G u;o4o,;o Apn;I