{"product_id":"2940013762084","title":"The Kirk Spook and more","description":"Before many years have passed it will be hard to find a person who has\u003cbr\u003eever seen a parish clerk.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe parish clerk is all but extinct. Our grandfathers knew him well--\u003cbr\u003ean oldish, clean-shaven man, who looked as if he had never been young,\u003cbr\u003ewho dressed in rusty black, bestowed upon him, as often as not, by the\u003cbr\u003erector, and who usually wore a white tie on Sundays, out of respect\u003cbr\u003efor the seriousness of his office. He it was who laid out the rector's\u003cbr\u003erobes, and helped him to put them on; who found the places in the\u003cbr\u003elarge Bible and Prayer Book, and indicated them by means of decorous\u003cbr\u003esilken book-markers; who lighted and snuffed the candles in the pulpit\u003cbr\u003eand desk, and attended to the little stove in the squire's pew; who\u003cbr\u003eran busily about, in short, during the quarter-hour which preceded\u003cbr\u003eDivine Service, doing a hundred little things, with all the activity,\u003cbr\u003eand much of the appearance, of a beetle.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJust such a one was Caleb Dean, who was clerk of Stoneground in the\u003cbr\u003edays of William IV.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSmall in stature, he possessed a voice which Nature seemed to have\u003cbr\u003emeant for a giant, and in the discharge of his duties he had a dignity\u003cbr\u003eof manner disproportionate even to his voice. No one was afraid to\u003cbr\u003esing when he led the Psalm, so certain was it that no other voice\u003cbr\u003ecould be noticed, and the gracious condescension with which he\u003cbr\u003ereceived his meagre fees would have been ample acknowledgement of\u003cbr\u003edouble their amount.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMan, however, cannot live by dignity alone, and Caleb was glad enough\u003cbr\u003eto be sexton as well as clerk, and to undertake any other duties by\u003cbr\u003ewhich he might add to his modest income. He kept the churchyard tidy,\u003cbr\u003etrimmed the lamps, chimed the bells, taught the choir their simple\u003cbr\u003etunes, turned the barrel of the organ, and managed the stoves.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was this last duty in particular, which took him into church 'last\u003cbr\u003ething', as he used to call it, on Saturday night. There were people in\u003cbr\u003ethose days, and may be some in these, whom nothing would induce to\u003cbr\u003eenter a church at midnight; Caleb, however, was so much at home there\u003cbr\u003ethat all hours were alike to him. He was never an early man on\u003cbr\u003eSaturdays. His wife, who insisted upon sitting up for him, would often\u003cbr\u003eknit her way into Sunday before he appeared, and even then would find\u003cbr\u003eit hard to get him to bed. Caleb, in fact, when off duty, was a genial\u003cbr\u003elittle fellow; he had many friends, and on Saturday evenings he knew\u003cbr\u003ewhere to find them.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145904701680,"sku":"2940013762084","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013762084_p0.jpg?v=1763589943","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013762084","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}