"FIVE YEARS' HELL."

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLI, Issue 9392, 14 December 1920, Page 5

"FIVE YEARS' HELL."

IN A COUNTRY PARISH.

IMPRESSIONS OF A RECTOR j

"Five Years' Hell in a Country

Parish," by the Rector of Rusper, the Rev. Edward Fitzgerald Synott, is a breezy title, and the contents'of the book live well up to it The revelations contained' in, this work are likely to make it ,the most widely-discussed j book since ' Crosland's famous "Un- | speakable Soot." The Rector of , Rusper is the "first clergyman to come I forward boldly to reveal English village : life in all its naked reality. He deals I with a frankness (that borders on : brutality, in narrative form, with all aspects of village gossip,, village scandal, village duties, village, wealth and poverty. The Rector of Rusper was recently completely vindicated at the Consistory Court when charged „_with various and- some of. them, frivolous offences. During one of the hearings the judge observed that Rusper was "a 1 hotbed of. scandal." Here are some points on which the Rector's book may fairly be judged: — I have seen some of the lady worshippers thrust out their tongues in the direction'of other worshippers. . One or- two ladies- in.- my congregation s specialise in footwear. They scrutinise my boots to see that- they are properly blackened and that the polish is of the radiance which they consider resjuisite. I had a little bit of heaven when preaching to the „ .soldiers at Roffey Camp. They did not look down at my boots and say that because they .were protected! by- a few useful- hobnails or a couple of Blakey's I was; defiling the house of God and standing between them and the blessing- from' above. Many 'of- the men in my parish are women I' The feudal" lord of the eleventh century has gone. His place is taken by the new-rich, the man with money and no pedigree. W.ith people of this new type a rector stands much,on the level of a butlei: or head housemaid", and he may - not be so well paid" as the chauffeur. There are no Helens of Troy iri. Rusper ! There are no women who could inspire the modern Leanders of Sussex to swim the Hellespont nightly for the sake of a few. brief moments of .sweet converse;: 1 Beauty does not bloom'here f^ -Some women,,.,there are who, denied beauty of face >;an'd form, make themselves still more / repellant by their thoughts, words, and deeds. Long hours spent in idle and venomous gossip seem to leave a mark on their plain and vacant faces. Some persons think that a clergyjtnan's , cockerels =. should produce the' soothing notes of a.cathedral' organ. Sometimes when I noticed t£it my morning congregation was smaller than usual, and that some well-known faces were missing, I' could not help thinking that I knew where they were gone. They were busy elsewhere—U>n my farm, poaching my rabbits! Our village hall was built io< keep • the parson out! I have preached on the subjects of All Saints' Day, All Souls's Day, and (owing to the behaviour of some of mv parishioners) when the first of April came round on "All Fool's Day." This was one of the sermons which gave the greatest * offence. —* One of my lady parishioners called at. the rectory and expressed" herself very forcibly concerning' something I had said to one of her employees. Before her majesty left I offered" her smellingsalts I After she left I threw a plate at the eat! One of the strictures that had been passej upon me was that I had not prevented boys from bathing in ponds on Sunday afternoons. To chase naked boys out of a pond" with a cane I must confess I regarded as a ta&k more for the village schoolmaster than the village parson. Rusper has become- a by-word ! It is a synonym for slander, backbiting, and gossip, and' as such it will probably appear in the standard English dictionaries of the future. The volume makes diverting reading, but its author can hardly expect local popularity from it or, indeed, a rush for his services: as rector from other parts of the Kingdom.