The Saint Paul globe., 1905-01-15

Aihh
@eR

Ing first come to him when he sue
ceeded in covering on foot every one
of the 943 miles of land which lie be-
tween F'iley, the little Yorkshire town
OF which he is vical, and Rome Walk
Ing always had been a hobby of Mr..
Cooper's, but up to 1885 his tramps
had been confined to the district in the
nelghborhood of his own parish. Then,
however, the thought struck him of
trudging up to London. The capital
IS more than zoo miles from F'iley, but
the clergyman arrived at the end of his
walk in such perfect fettle that he de-
cided to go to Rome on foot.
Since then Mr.. Cooper has performed
some most amazing pedestrian featsp He
has walked from Hamburg to Paris, 4S7
miles, and from his vicarage door to Buda-
pest, 610 miles, minus the English channel.
Other long tramps of his have been across
Belgium, through Spain, from Filey to the
north of Scotland, and from the Yorkshire
village to Venice, a distance of 653 miles.
Last year he walked completely across
France-from Dieppe, on the northern
coast, to Monte Carlo, on the southern.
The impressions received on these various
JauntS have been made by Mr.. Cooper. into
book which is called "The Tramps of the
Walking Parson." Practice on the high
road has given this clergyman great stam-
ina, and he now walks at the rate of about
weeks.
No one has ever accompanied him on his
long walks and generally he takes only
what clothing he can carry in knapsack
In fact, he recently declared in the course
of lecture that on his famous walk to
Venice his luggage consisted of a spare
shirt and stockings. Each week he had to
wash those that he was not wearing and
he dried them by hanging them out of
hotel windowsl
"PeccavI" In Real Life
Probably when E. W. Hornung wrote
"Peccavi," his novel about a vicar who
rebuilt his church with his own hands, the
author little thought that his mythical
churchman would soon have a counterpart
IN real life. Such, however, is Rev. H
Mcpherson, vicar of the famous old church
at Grayne. Kent. This building which is
more than 500 years old, partially COL
lapsed year or two ago, since which time
its vicar, whose parish is one of the lone
liest and poorest in Great Britain, has
been collecting funds for it's restoration.
Among those who have contributed to
these have been the king and queen of
England and the emperor of Germany,
but not enough money has been forthcom-
ing to engage a sufficient number of
workmen, and not long ago the vicar de-
clded to make things go faster by taking
hand in the work himself. Since then
he has worked every day. from in the
morning until dusk, as a common mason,
mixing his own mortar, wheeling it to the
church himself, and laying stone almost
as deftly as if he had been brought up to
the business. He has been nicknamed
''the stonemason vicar" and now that the
details of his plucky work are getting to
be known, probably won't have to keep il
UP much longer.
The list of "unorthodox'' English par
sons is not nearly complete, but may be
wound up for the present with references
to the Rev. Henry Russell Wakefield, rec
tor of st. Mary's, Bryanston square, Lon
don, who has just permitted himself to be
elected mayor of the metropolitan district
of Marylebone, and to the Rev. H. E.
Eardley, of Tunbridge Wells, who recently
undertook the management of a local
hotel Hayden Church.