come
back again; you are not in any hurry. Even the clerk dies; but you die
not, you bide your time. Everything comes again. The old woman shall
give you a taste o' the suds and the hot iron. Thus we go up and thus we
go down." Then he takes up the old book, musty and damp after twelve
years' imprisonment. "Fie," he says, "thy leather is parting from thy
boards, and thy leaves they do stick together. Shalt have a pot of
paste, and then lie in the sun before thou goest back to the desk.
Whether 'tis Mass or Common Prayer, whether 'tis Independent or
Presbyterian, folk mun still die and be buried--ay, and married and
born--whatever they do say. Parson goes and Preacher comes; Preacher
goes and Parson comes; but Sexton stays." He chuckles again, puts back
the surplice and the book, and locks the coffer[5].

[Footnote 5: _For Faith and Freedom_, by Sir Walter Besant, chap. 1.]

Like many of his brethren, he had seen the Church of England displaced
by the Presbyterians, and the Presbyterians by the Independents, and the
restoration of the Church. His father, who had been clerk before him,
had seen the worship of the "old religion" in Queen Mary's time, and all
the time the village life had been going on, and the clerk's work had
continued; his office remained. In village churches the duties of clerk
and sexton are usually performed by the same person. Not long ago a
gentleman was visiting a village church, and was much struck by the
remarks of an old man who seemed to know each stone and tomb and legend.
The stranger asking him what his occupation was, he replied:

"I hardly know what I be. First vicar he called me clerk; then another
came, and he called me virgin; the last vicar said I were the Christian,
and now I be clerk again."

The "virgin" was naturally a slight confusion for verger, and the
"christian" was a corrupt form of sacristan or sexton. All the duties of
these various callings were combined in the one individual.

That story reminds one of another concerning the diligent clerk of
R----, who, in addition to the ordinary duties of his office, kept the
registers and acted as groom, gardener, and footman at the rectory. A
rather pompous rector's wife used to like to refer at intervals during a
dinner-party to "our coachman says," "our gardener always does this,"
"our footman is ...," leaving the impression of a somewhat large
establishment. The dear old rector used to disturb the vision of a large
retinue b