The Verger Would His Fortune Try.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 76, 30 March 1931, Page 6

The Verger Would His Fortune Try.

It Occurs To Me.

A RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY has arisen because the verger of a Birmingham church bought a ticket on the Irish Sweepstake. The Bishop of Birmingham is shocked. the priest of St Aidan’s sympathetic. but the verger’s a sinner for all that. For the appearance of sanctity should absorb some of the meaning of sanctity. . _ Yet it seems a pity to pillory the verger, who, after all, hardly shares the elevation of h bishop. Vergers, like most of the people who have a "flutter” with a lottery, are poorly paid. Having no hope of gaining a competence by industry or thrift, theirs is only a human act to give Chance an occasional opportunity to do them a good turn, if she feels so disposed. . But misdeeds have their own punishment, for poor sinners feel a bit sick to-day that all that wealth, and the power wealth can give, has gone to an Italian cafe keeper when there were so many good British subjects handy. Moral: How much better the verger s mite would have been in his own pocket or the coffers of the Church. The Bishop was not so muddled in his thinking. All the millions of burst bubbles will make the air a bit clammy for a while, and half-crowns will show a tendency to linger on the palm before they slip on to the lottery table. For “ hope deferred maketh the heart sick." Another lottery and then a few more, but each time fewer fools and sinners. These things have their cycles, too. B E S .