The Henson Journals

[449]

Friday, September 19th, 1913.

We left Pitnacree by the 9.50 train from Grandtully, and travelled to Tillypronie by way of Perth and Aberdeen. We lunched at the latter, & walked in the town for half an hour. At Dinnett [sic] the motor car met us, and we arrived at the house about 5.30 p.m.

I read in the "Glasgow Herald" an account of a meeting at which the lecturer warned his hearers that the Union of the Scottish Churches might be injurious to the cause of Temperance (i.e. total abstinence). He gave statistics of the churches which used unfermented wine at Holy Communion, & drew the inference that zeal for temperance advanced pari–passu with the democratic constitution of the churches. Establishment implied indifference to the urgent evil of drunkenness! I incline to think that the Fanatick pointed to a serious & as yet unperceived rock in the way of re–union. The temperament of the established churches is radically different from that of the so–called voluntaryist communions. On this matter of temperance, I think the moderate position of the Established clergy is right, & the vehement intolerance of the Sectaries represents the natural ardour of the ignorant & undisciplined, who form so large a [450] proportion of their most active members. It is, perhaps, true that the Established Clergy in Scotland do not take as firm a stand as they ought against a vice, which none can deny to be flagrant, frequent, & socially mischievous. I have heard it said that among the country clergy in the remoter districts drunkenness is not infrequent: and certainly there is vastly too lenient a view generally taken of that disgusting vice. The dissenting bodies, by their violent denunciation of drunkenness & their passionate insistence on total abstinence are able to draw to themselves the support of the general conscience. To a much less degree the case in England is similar: but there total abstinence has spread very widely among the established clergy: & temperance has almost ceased to retain a place among Christian virtues!

This house is little altered from the state in which it was some years ago when Ella & I visited it as the guests of Sir John Clark, who then was the proprietor. The present owners have made a point of minimizing the unavoidable changes. I am interested to learn that Dicey is well known in these parts. Mrs Dicey is a connection of our hostess. She (Mrs D.) unfortunately has been bitten by the Suffrage mania. The Professor is resolutely set on the other side, a circumstance the more creditable to his candour, since he once advocated female "rights".

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Issues and controversies: female suffrage