The record-union., 1899-08-06
TOM CAMPION.

one of his tenants could not be called
upon to replace chimney which had
been blown down in a recent hurricane,
on the ground that the damage had been
caused by the act of God. Here have
I stood fair by, Him all my life, never
| missed Sunday O. church, not as
could help leastways, paid my fees and
| my tithes regular, and now He've gone
and acted like this by me. shan't go
| nigh His house, I reckon not for a
| month, seeing as He won't leave my
houses alone, and don't care what no
| parSOn says to the contrary.
| And old Tom was as good as his
word. Indeed, though the rector
| scolded me upstairs and downstairs for
| saying so, l will own that I was posi-
| lively glad that, after having been
heard to make the remarks which have
| been recorded, the old mans seat in
| church should have been vacant for the
next four Sundays. For Tom CampiOn S
| integrity Of purpose was sort of by
word in our parish. It was all very
well for that licensed backbiter john
Ball to stigmatize old Tom as 1.-The very
obstinatest old devil as ever 1 clapt eyes
on" Different people may call the
what John meant and what I mean
come to pretty nearly the same thing
in the end, and I prefer to call it in
| tegrity Of purpose.
1t was that quality, at any rate, call
it by what name you please, that made
Tom Campion the best liked and most
| highly respected man in our parish.
Glad to see the old gemman's time
up" remarked the parish clerk to the
| rector when Tom made his reappear-
ance in church; sit didn't seem natural
| like not to see him in his place. But,
Lord bless your heart alive, sir! it
would have been the worst thing for the
parish as ever was for any one to go
and think old Tom Campion could ever
go back on what he's once said. There'd
| be no dependency left whatsoever"
Hereupon the rector and the CLERK,
stanch friends as they were, fell into
| rather warm discussion of the matter,
and it was then, because I showed my
| self to be of the clerks way of think
| ing. that the rector fell foul of me.
You are more than half a heather
at heart yourself, George" he said at
| last.
What makes you think that sir?"
why, your making such point of a
| mans merit in keeping a heathenish
vow of that Sort
well, you go and talk it out with
old Tom himself, SIR replied, don t
waste your wrath upon me; 1 am very
| poor game
The rector apparently took my sug-.
gestion, and three days later came and
called upon me for the express pur-
pose of telling me that I was not so
very far wrong after all.
We'll, George" he said, II am not
going so far as to say that you are
right or that I am convinced, but L
will allow that you have reason, as the
French say -
You don't think old Tom and my
self a pair of heathens, then, sir?''
I'VE will leave you out of the ques-
| ton, George; but I'll grant you that,
according to his lights, Tom Campion
| is a better Christian than many of us
are. His is Christianity of a rugged
type, and anthropomorphic to a de-
| gree; but I fancy it will pass muster
when many other claims are rejected.
Look you here, Reverend, he said to
me, you've had your say, and I've lis
tened to you quiet. I won't say as how
I agrees with you, but then preaching
is your trade and not mine. What I
do say and 1 holds to it, is that it were
a downright unneighborly act to blow
down the chimneys of my house; and
| done what 1 said I'd do, to show as
don't think it kind of Him. But there.
that is gone and past, and I count
we're square; and just to show that 1
Il will
is this: If anybody blows the Chin
neys of His house down, or seeing that
He amt got no chimneys to speak on,
if anything goes wrong to the roofing,
or the tiles, or the tower, we'll, my name
is Tom Campion, and I'll pay for dam
age And then, before I left the house
he put half a sovereign into my hand.
What's that for, Mr.. Campion?' I sad.
Well he said, I most in general puts
my half crown into the bag on Sun
days; and if I did stop at home. same as
l said l would do, I never counted as
were going to make no money out of
the job, and 1 amt a-going to,
neither"
This anthropomorphic Christian, to
borrow the rector's phraseology, vas
a specimen of a class practically eX-
tinct in England yeoman farmer
for farmer he preferred to call himself
who could trace his pedigree back
for some twenty generations. as lord
of the manor and a large landed FRO
prietor to all intents and purposes
hereditary Squire of our parish. How
it came to pass that the world, which
had educated so many families out of
all resemblance to their forefatherS,
had apparently overlooked the Cam
pions, and left each successive genera
ton as illiterate as it's predecessor, I
cannot pretend to say. But this much
/ know of my own knowledge that, I'M
sophisticated and rough of speech as
he was, old Tom he'd more of the in
stincts of a gentleman than half the
men one meets in the world, who wear
tall hats and frock coats, and are dub
bed esquires or known by some higher
title. If he spoke the Queens English
much after the fashion and with the
accent of an ordinary yokel, if his
knowledge of grammar was Faulty and
he had failed to master the laws of
euphemism, I can safely say that I
never heard the old fellow use an ex-
preston that would either raise blush
on a woman's cheek or shock the ears
of the most straight-laced Puritan. lie
was a Conservative to the backbone
a Conservative of the deepest dye if
we accept Nuttall's definition of the
term as zone who would conserve old
institutions, and is averse to change
Though he took little or no interest IN
contemporary politics and sturdily re-
fused to register lis vote for our local