The Henson Journals

[189]

17th Sunday after Trinity, September 30th, 1917.

1154th day

A beautiful autumnal morning. I went to the cathedral at 8 a.m., and received the Holy Communion. Budworth celebrated: there were but two of the cadets from the school present. Hughes "gabbled" the confession so that I could not easily keep pace with him. Why will the parsons do this? They make penitence & devotion appreciably more difficult.

I attended Mattins, & heard from Lillingston an extemporaneous sermon on the text from which my evening sermon has been taken. It was trying but the congregation (which seemed to be rather unusually large) appeared to like it. After service I walked with Bayley as far as his house. He gives an account of feeling in Ireland. Ker and Mrs Wilkinson came to lunch. I showed him the rather unfriendly account of the Warden's career as Educational minister which I had received from Morant. He thought it "valuable material". After attending Evensong, we (Ella, Elizabeth and I) motored to Roker, taking with us Lillingston who was due to preach at Monkwearmouth. I preached in St Andrew's Roker, a modern church built in the likeness of a capsized ship, but not without effectiveness as a parochial church. There was a very large choir, & a good organ. Mr Priestman, a ship builder, who built the church, is an enthusiast for music and has established himself as organist. He has also married the vicar's sister & thus created a domestic intimacy with the ecclesiastical management. The Vicar (the Revd A. de P. Pownall) is a young plump man, with a good voice, a secure manner, & a Cambridge hood. There was a dingy looking curate also, who, I was informed, was about to leave the parish. The congregation was very large, and joined heartily in the singing. The acoustics of the church were fairly good: for Ella & Elizabeth, though thrust back almost as far as the western wall, were able to hear everything without difficulty. We returned to Durham as soon as the service was over, picking up Lillingston on the Sunderland bridge, and arriving in the College about 9 p.m.

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