Higdon, looking upon the countryside with the eye of a person married to it, held high hopes of betterment. He could not help observing the long hours of toil, the scant incomes, the over-crowding, etc., which that noble soul, the Reverend Charles Kingsley, pictures in “Yeast.” Higdon, after his day’s teaching, tramped the country lanes, and made first-hand acquaintance with the joys and sorrows, aspirations and hopes of Hodge and his helpmate. He spoke words of healing and helpfulness to the Lazarus of civilisation, Carlyle’s Dumdrudge, and our poor country cousins. He saw lean labour, wrinkled, seamed and scarred by grinding toil, privation, self-denial, and short commons; so, John Ball-like, he carried the message both on Sundays and weekdays. Unfortunately, he did not attend the local Sunday services. Unlike Longfellow’s blacksmith, he did not go on Sundays to the church to hear his daughter’s voice. One reason was that he had no daughter which, of course, makes a deal of difference, the other reason was that he preached himself. You require to be a very strong clergyman indeed to permit competition in well-doing. At any rate, the rector spoke to Higdon about his non-attendance at church. A FEW WORDS ABOUT THIS RECTOR. The Rector of Burston, Reverend Charles Tucker Eland, was appointed to the living about a month after the Higdons took charge of the Council School. His stipend is £495 per annum, with rectory house, and fifty-four acres of glebe land producing £86 yearly (according to Crockford). The village numbers 315 souls, three of whom, according to latest information, attended service upon a recent Sunday. Under these circumstances one may sympathise with his desire to annex a congregation. Higdon was cautioned, I suppose, in a friendly (half-joke-real-earnest) manner. He is very much opposed, however, to private property in Sundays. The Reverend Charles suggested that it might be prejudicial to the school, etc., if the teacher stayed away. Kings in the past have threatened dire penalties for non-attendance at church, but when people attend church simply because the schoolmistress, the wealthy farmer, or the large employer puts in an appearance, then they show little respect or love for Divine teaching. Attendance should be a matter of choice, not compulsion. Timothy Sparks, who later attained world-wide celebrity by using his real name, Charles Dickens, issued a quaint little book upon this subject, entitled “Sunday under Three Heads.” Robert Kett, Norfolk rebel, suggested in 1549 “that all bondmen should be made free, for God made all free with his precious blood-shedding.” I presume he meant that this might also apply to Council School teachers.