KENSIT'S CAROL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 88, 15 April 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

KENSIT'S CAROL.

SHOCKING SCENES AT YARMOUTH.

If the High Church contingent seem to have entirely mislaid their consciences in the course of this lamentable schism, the Low Church extremists are not much better. No quarrel earthly or heavenly) can justify the use of the methods of Kensit pere et flls. The scenes which signalise the provincial meetings of these worthies really defy description. At Yarmouth the other evening the High Church V icar of Gorleston was so furious at what he heard at a Kensit.gathering that (in the words of a witness at a subsequent police court proceedings) he 'jumped from his chair on the platform like a hungry tiger wanting his dinner, and went for the chairman, knocking him down.' The police then intervened. The Rev. Cecil Quaintain, a Low Church curate, said he had seen the Vicar previous to the meeting and he told him he (the Vicar) had made all preparation for Kensit's visit to Gorleston, and if he came his mother would not know him when he returned. The chief constable said that he suppressed the meeting and ordered the Vicar out of the building, telling him that his conduct was disgraceful, and that he ought to be ashamed of himself. The defendant, in his evidence, admitted interrupting the meeting and said his intention was to move a counter resolution. He was struck on mounting the platform, and he hit back in sslf defence.

The magistrate inflicted a fine of 40/ and costs,' with the alternative of a month's imprisonment. The Vicar said, 'I will take the time. It is a gross miscarriage of justice. I struck out in self defence.' The fine, however, was paid by a friend.

That the provocation offered by-the Kensit gang is considerable will be gathered from extracts from the following 'Battle Hymn of Kensit's Men.' The first verse of the hymn and the chorus is as follows:—

The Church is in a hawful state, "With Richerlists a.nd such; The Pope 'c won't 'aye long to wait For most of 'em—not much! So Mister Kensit's took the 'ump (And rightly too, says I), And when 'c goes upon the stump You'll see the feathers fly. Then pack your traps and clear the way; depart, be gone, get hout! And make no noise, or Kensit's boys '11 show you 'oo can shout. No more of yer 'anky-panky now, no more of yer Romish rot, For Johnny K. is one the way to bust the blooming lot. The expliot of some of- the -'Kensit- Boys' in a church is thus described:—.•■>*• ~ ■ 'Sit down,'says 'e-.- 'I-won't.-'^ays^lv- \-> 'Then, verger, turn 'im out!' With that I lets a Bible fly, . . ~■_.; And lands him on the snout. To stop 'is Bicherlistic row, I knocked 'im off 'is perch; And there and then we taught 'im 'ow. To desecrate a church. Then pack your traps, etc. My friends all stuck to me like bricks, The 'ymn books flew like 'ail; With one of them big candlesticks I smashed the halter rail. The idolaters set up a squall, But soon they got the toe; We made a 'olesome Gospel 'all ' Of that galanty show. So pack your traps, etc. -