The Henson Journals

[224]

Saturday, October 30th, 1926.

A bright but very cold day. I spent most of it in clearing of the accumulation of a week's correspondence. In the afternoon I walked round the Park with Ernest. The trees have still a fair amount of foliage, and this has changed from green to a glowing russet, which, under the sunshine, looked radiant. There was a football match in progress, but otherwise the Park seemed almost altogether deserted. Indeed, I have noticed a marked absenteeism of the miners from the Park during the last 3 weeks. The colder weather may account for it, but I do not think so. I am rather disposed to connect it with the prosecution for stealing coal which the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have recently carried through to the futile conclusion of ten shilling fines. Whether the men are fearful of being suspected if seen in the Park, or whether they are abashed by their own guilty consciences, I cannot tell, but the fact appears to me certain, and I don't like it. It is very unlikely that the miners differentiate the Bishop from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. They probably hold me personally responsible for the prosecutions, which, to be quite honest, I did not disapprove, and certainly made no attempt to arrest.

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