The Henson Journals

[84]

St John the Baptist, June 24th, 1924.

I ordained Lake to the Priesthood in the Chapel. A number of the students from St Chad's, to which he had himself belonged, attended, & formed an efficient choir. Moulsdale sang the Litany. There was no sermon, and the service hardly occupied an hour and a half. Knight presented the candidate.

I wrote to Herbert, offering him charge of the new Easington district: to Prideaux, offering him St James's, West Hartlepool: & to Pestle offering him Tanfield, of which the Vicar, old Canon Archdale, died yesterday.

Wilson sent me the following lines, which, he says, were posted up in the mess–tents in France: they carry a counsel which is very relevant to the requirements of episcopal office:–

A wise old owl sat on an oak;

The more he saw, the less he spoke;

The less he spoke, the more he heard;

Can't we be like that wise old bird?

I motored to Annefield Plain, & confirmed 87 persons in a tin church which was stifling. The very unpleasant parson, Talbot, would handicap any function, & there was a dreadful disparity in the sexes; nevertheless, I was not wholly displeased.

We returned to Auckland after the service, getting noble views of the Cathedral on the way.

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