The Breckenridge news., 1906-02-14
ECCENTRIC PARSONS.
STORIES OF ENGLISH CLERGYMEN
WITH ODD WAYS.

A Rector who Had Mania For Col
| Iecting-A Curnte who Made "a Coat
Last Forty-tbree Years - Remarka-
| bIe Savings From Meager Incomes.
Many stories are told of an eight
eenth century Leicestershire parson,
the Rev. Mr.. Hagemore of Calthorn,
who had mania for collecting, says
the London Tit-Bits. When he died he
left behind him 80 gowns and cassOclSs,
| 100 pairs of boots, 400 pairs of shoes,
50 wigs mot one of which he had ever
worm and 100 pairs of brceches. In
addition to this extensive wardrobe he
had accumulated 80 wheelbarrows, POO
pickaxes, POO spades, a ladders, 5S
dogs. so wagons and carts, so plows
| Che never used one of them. 240 razOrs
and an enormous number of walking
sticks, for which Il toy man gladly of
fered IS
Mr.. Hagemore had two servants, one
Of each sex, both of whom he locked in
their bedrooms every night, and it was
through this precautionary measure
that he lost his life. AS he was walk
ing i'm his garden very early one morn
ing his dogs leaped on him and threw
| him into Il pond. The servants heard
their masters cries for help, but as
they were locked in they could not go
to his assistance, and the reverend gen
tleman was drowned, his hOardings go
ing to his next of kin, London porter.
1t is a good many years now since
the Rev. John Trueman of Daventry
departed this life, leaving behind him
the snug fortune of 100000. the accu-
mutation of a niggardly lifetime. Some
remarkable stories are told or Mr..
Trueman's miserly habits how he
would take turnips from his parish
toner's fields and then beg pieces Of
bacon to boil with his purloned veg
| etables and how he would invite him
| self as guest to the houses of his flock
! in turn and pull the worsted out of the
corners of the blankets to darn his
stockings.
A more remarkable clerical miser
| still was the Rev. Morgan Jones,
! Berkshire curate of century or so
ago. During the whole OF Mr.. Jones
forty-three years curacy of Blewbury,
| it Is said single coat and hat served
him. When his coat showed too pal
pabe signs Of wear he would cut out
piece of its tails and patch the torn or
worn part with it until in process Of
time the tails vanished altogether, and
the quondam coat was converted into
a jacket. with a patch for almost every
day in the year When his hat similar
~ showed the ravages of time he ap-
propriated the head covering of a scare
crow and used II for repairing the dam
age. His one and only shirt underwent
the same patching and renovation, its
tails following those Of the coat, while
the curate's stockings underwent so
many processes of darning that not a
vestige of the original and only pair
remained by the time he had no further
use for them.
For the last twenty years of his life
Mr.. Jones household expenses never
exceeded half crown a week. He in
variably retired at sunset to save the
cost of candles. and in the coolest
| MtdllcI DtNtI ullONtt lllllStil lllt luA-
ury of fire except on Sundays, and
then the fire was made from sticks
! picked up in the roads and church
yard. His menu was limited to bread
and bacon and tea, and half quartern
| loaf lasted him n week. For little
short of half century this old clergy
man lived on his fees and saved his in
come of $50 a year, while subscribing
| literally to religious societies and Civ
ing many a pound TO his needy parish
toner's.
What a thrifty parson can do on a
miserly small income was shown by
one time curate of Thulkeld, in Cum
berland, Alexander Naughley, whose
entire income was IS los. year. Mr..
Naughley lived absolutely alone, slept
on a bed of straw and cooked his own
scanty food, but he never failed to
present a respectable appearance to the
world, while not word of complaint
ever passed his lips.
A very eccentric parson was the Rev.
Langton Freeman, an old time rector
of Billion, in Warwickshire, who left
the following strange instructions for
his funeral: "For four or five days
after my decease l would not be re-
moved out Of the place or bed I shall
die on, and then l would be carried or
laid in the same bed in the summer
house In my garden, to be laid in the
same bed there and to be wrapped in a
strong double winding sheet, the door
and windows to be locked and bolted,
the building to be planted around with
evergreen plants and fenced Off with
iron or oak pales and painted Of dark
blue color and for the due perform
ance of this and for keeping the build
ing, etc, always in repair | give to my
nephew, Thomas Freeman. the manor
Of Wilton" etc.