The Henson Journals

[108]

4th Sunday in Lent, March 15th, 1931.

I celebrated the Holy Communion in the Chapel at 8 a.m. Ella, Fearne, William, 3 maids, and myself communicated.

Ella brought to lunch, the curate, Alfred Toomey, who had been preaching in the parish church. I fear that his opportunity for preparing for his "Priest's Examination" is very inadequate.

I wrote letters: revised a sermon: read the "Observer" (which is strangely anti–Baldwin on the Indian Question) and walked for a while before lunch.

I motored to Newcastle, & preached in the Cathedral at 6.30 p.m. The congregation, though large, was not crowded. I have often observed that, at those seasons of the year, at which it is customary to arrange special preachings in the parish churches, there is less than the normal tendency to gather for sp sermons outside one's own accustomed church. Had my visit been at another time than Lent, there would probably have been a larger congregation. But I am not sure of this, for I am certainly not what is called a popular preacher, nor am I the accepted component of any party programme or "cause".

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