Bishop of Durham, as
being the proper sort for clergymen to preach. Bishop Westcott,
whether he is talking to a high society congregation, or to one of
workingmen, shows "an exquisite sense of knowing always where to
stop." So I consulted the Bishop's volume, "The Social Aspects of
Christianity" and I see at once why he is popular with the
anti-Socialist propagandists--neither I or any other man can possibly
discover what he really means, or what he really wants done.

I was fascinated by this Westcott problem; I thought maybe if I kept
on the good Bishop's trail, I might in the end find something a plain
man could understand; so I got the beautiful two-volume "Life of
Brooke Westcott, by his Son"--and there I found an exposition of the
social purposes of bishops! In the year 1892 there was a strike in
Durham, which is in the coal country; the employers tried to make a
cut in wages, and some ten thousand men walked out, and there was a
long and bitter struggle, which wrung the episcopal heart. There was
much consultation and correspondence on episcopal stationery, and at
last the masters and men were got together, with the Bishop as
arbitrator, and the dispute was triumphantly settled--how do you
suppose? On the basis of a ten per cent reduction in wages!

I know nothing quainter in the history of English graft than the
NAIVETE with which the Bishop's biographer and son tells the story of
this episcopal venture into reality. The prelate came out from the
conference "all smiles, and well satisfied with the result of his
day's work." As for his followers, they were in ecstacies; they
"seized and waltzed one another around on the carriage drive as madly
as ever we danced at a flower show ball. Hats and caps are thrown into
the air, and we cheer ourselves hoarse." The Bishop proceeds to his
palace, and sends one more communication on episcopal stationery--an
order to all his clergy to "offer their humble and hearty thanks to
God for our happy deliverance from the strife by which the diocese has
been long afflicted." Strange to say, there were a few varlets in
Durham who did not appreciate the services of the bold Bishop, and one
of them wrote and circulated some abusive verses, in which he made
reference to the Bishop's comfortable way of life. The biographer then
explains that the Bishop was so tender-hearted that he suffered for
the horses who drew his episcopal coach, and so ascetic that he would
have lived on tea and