When He Missed His Mother

1910

Bishop of Lincoln Regretted Inability to Make Frank Criticism of Poor Sermon

Cannon Scott Holland, in an appreciation of the late bishop of Lincoln, mentions that Doctor King was a bachelor, and his mother lived with him till her death. He said once, after hearing a rasping sermon that irritated him: "It is at such a time that I miss my mother." He was asked why.

"Because directly we were through the door I should have turned to her and said: 'That was a beastly sermon,' and then it would have been out, and I should have been sorry to have said it and should have begun to apologize for the sermon and to love the preacher. Now the poison is in me all the week and I can't get rid of it."

Doctor King had a delicate and subtle wit. Once, said the canon, we had all been rather swept off our feet by the vivacity of certain Hampton lectures which were laid out on rather well worn conventional lines.

The material was old, no doubt, but still it was surprising how well they went. How was it? What would King say of them? "Well, it is wonderful," he said, "how good an old pair of trousers will come out if you have laid them away for some time in a drawer."

He had hit it exactly. The trousers were green, for all their apparent sheen.