Skip to main content

Full text of "TheCompleteMemoirsOfGeorgeSherston"

See other formats


shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall
slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their
loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their
horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their
wheels like a whirlwind: their roaring shall be like a
lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall
roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it
away safe, and none shall deliver it. And in that day
they shall war against them like the roaring of the sea:
and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and
sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens
thereof. Here cndeth the First Lesson." And the
brisk little man turned over the leaves to a passage
from Peter, arranged the gold-embroidered marker,
and returned to his pew with erect and decorous
demeanour.

Twenty minutes later Mr. Colwood climbed the
pulpit steps to the strains of "O God our help in
ages past". My own vocal contribution was incon-
spicuous, but I had a stealthy look at my watch,
which caused Stephen, who was giving a creditable
performance of the hymn, to nudge me with his elbow.
The sermon lasted a laborious twelve minutes. The
Rector had a nervous mannerism which consisted in
his continually gathering up his surplice with his left
hand, as if he were testing the quality of the linen
with his fingers* The offertory was for a missionary
society, and he took as his text: "He that hath two coats,
let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat,
let him do likewise." The results of the collection were
handed to him on a wooden plate by the Colonel,
who remarked afterwards at lunch that he ''didn't
mind saying that with the best will in the world he'd
have preferred to give his half-sovereign to someone