The Henson Journals

[237]

10th Sunday after Trinity, August 4th, 1929.

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PARADE AT RIPON.

We left the Castle at 7.20 a.m. in a heavy rain, and motored to Ripon, where we arrived nearly half an hour before time. We were met in the Cathedral by Colonel Stobart, Shaddick, & Canon Tuckey, who explained that on account of the rain the Parade had been cancelled. We spent half an hour in looking at the Cathedral under the guidance of the Antiquarian–organist, & then returned to Auckland. We occupied less than 70 minutes in the journey, the roads being practically empty of traffic: even the magnet of the Bank Holiday tomorrow could not bring the motorists on the roads in such weather. I presented the MS. of my sermon to Colonel Stobart, as it was so utterly adapted to the occasion that it could be no use on any other. The Colonel & Chaplain were so evidently distressed at the failure of the Parade, to which they had been looking forward, that I was really sorry for their sakes that it could not be carried through.

[238]

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"Such is the anticipated feeling of the country that, if a man would but vent enough of that, he might wellnigh preach the Koran".

Gladstone to R. Phillimore. Dec. 3rd 1849

[v. Letters. Vol i. p. 95]

The country as a whole has outgrown this fanaticism, but it remains powerful in the lower middle & upper artisan classes, as we have discovered in the course of the Prayer Book controversy. A remarkable example of this sentiment is provided by the popularity of Bishop Barnes in Protestant circles where his "Modernism" would have earned him nothing but malediction had it not been allied with his vigorous hostility to "Anglo–Catholicism".

Last night I write to William. The atmosphere became heavy, & was only eased by a considerable thunderstorm about 5.30 p.m. There was a deluge of rain. I had finished my walk round the Park before the storm broke. The outlook for the holiday–makers tomorrow is none of the brightest.

[239]

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While we were sitting at dinner. A large motor drove up to the door, & deposited a stout gentleman, exhaling the reek of innumerable cigars, who turned out to be Mr Hover Clark of Minneapolis, with whom we stayed when visiting America. He avowed himself a strong believer in Prohibition, though he thought that Canada had dealt with the liquor problem more wisely. He said that Alf. Smith lost many votes through the vulgarity of his language – the dialect of the Bowery – which, when heard through the radio was unmitigated by his engaging personality. He told us that Dr Freeman, who was Rector of St Mark's in Minneapolis when we visited that city had not become Bishop of Washington; that he was amazingly successful in his new office, and was raising fabulous sums of money for the completion of his cathedral. Americans measure all things in terms of 'the almighty dollar": & the test of episcopal success is the capacity to collect great sums of money for purposes which are called 'religious'!

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