Our Churches and Chapels eBook

Titus Pomponius Atticus
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 386 pages of information about Our Churches and Chapels.

Our Churches and Chapels eBook

Titus Pomponius Atticus
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 386 pages of information about Our Churches and Chapels.
The chancel is high and open, and has rather a bare look.  Within it there are three windows, filled in with stained glass, of sweet design, but defective in representative effect.  The colours are nicely arranged; but with the exception of a very small medallion in the centre, referring to the Last Supper, they give you no idea of anything living, or dead, or yet to be made alive.  The windows were put in by the late T. Miller, Esq;, C. R. Fletcher Lutwidge, Esq.; and J. Bairstow, Esq., and they Cost 90 pounds.  At the western end there are three stained-glass windows, which look well.  The colours are rich, and the designs artistic.  Two of them, we believe, were fixed in memory of the late Mrs. Winlaw.  The vestry stands on one side of the chancel, and in the doorway of it there is a red curtain, intended to keep out the tail end of whirlwinds and draughts in general.  When we looked into this vestry, the idea flashed upon us that its occupant must be a specially studious and virtuous gentleman, for upon the mantelpiece there were 14 large Bibles, surmounted by three sacramental guides.  But earth is very nigh to heaven, and when we saw a series of begging boxes flanking the books, and a looking-glass, which must at some time have cost tenpence, we retreated.

From the centre of the chancel, the church looks very imposing:  indeed, you get a full view of all its architectural details here, and the conclusion previously arrived at, through what you may have seen from other points—­namely, that the edifice is simple, bucolic, and prosaic—­is entirely changed.  The reading desk is a commendable article, and with care will last a considerable period.  The pulpit—­ circular-shaped, and somewhat small in proportions—­has a seemly appearance; but it looks only a homely-built affair when minutely inspected, and might be pulled in pieces quickly by a passionate man.  Two or three curious articles are associated with it.  At the base, there is quietly lying an aged gutta percha pipe, the object of which we could not make out; and in the pulpit there is another gutta percha pipe, with an elongated, funnel-shaped top, put up, probably, for some very useful purpose—­for whispering, or speaking, or sneezing, or coughing—­which alone concerns the preacher, and need not be further inquired into by us.  There is a thermometer opposite the pulpit, which, probably, is intended to test the atmosphere of the church, but which may, for aught we know, be serviceable to the minister in moments of extreme mental coldness, or in periods of high clerical enthusiasm.  If he can regulate the sacred temperature of either the reading desk or the pulpit by this thermometer, and can, in addition, utilise the gutta percha tubes as exhaust pipes, then we think he will derive a tangible advantage from their presence.  Near the entrance to the centre aisle there is a somewhat handsome stone font, octagonal in shape, carved on four of its sides, and resting upon a circular pedestal, which is surrounded by eight small pillars.  Not far from and on each side of the font there is an official wand, carried at intervals, with a decorum akin to majesty, by the beadle.

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Our Churches and Chapels from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.