Daily service began as soon as Henderson
was his own master, and was better attended than it is now; for the
old people to whom it was a novelty took up the habit more freely
than their successors, to whom the bell has been familiar through
their days of toil. We were too far off to be constant attendants;
but evensong made an object for our airings, and my father's head,
now quite white, was often seen there. He felt it a great relief
amid the cares of his later years.
Perhaps it was with a view to him that Mr. Castleford arranged that
Clarence should become manager for the firm at Bristol, with a good
salary. The Robsons would not take a fresh lodger--they were
getting too old for fresh beginnings; but they kept their rooms
ready for him, whenever he had to be in town, and Gooch found him a
trustworthy widow as housekeeper. He took a little cottage at
Clifton, availing himself of the coach to spend his Sundays with us;
and it was an acknowledged joy to every one that I should drive to
meet him every Saturday afternoon at the Carpenter's Arms, and bring
him home to be my father's aid in all his business, and a most
valuable help in Sunday parish work, in which he had an amount of
experience which astonished us.
What would have become of the singing without him? The first hint
against the remarkable anthems had long ago alienated our tuneful
choir placed on high, and they had deserted en masse.
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