Agnes',
by all the poor of St. Agnes', as a memorial of the lives of sailors and
marines of St. Agnes' lost in the sinking of the _King Harry_. Your
predecessor, Bishop Crawshay, knew of its existence, actually saw it and
commented on its ugliness; yet when I told him the circumstances in
which it had been erected he was deeply moved by the beautiful idea.
This altar has been in use for nearly three years. Masses for the dead
have been said there time after time. This altar is surrounded by
memorials of my dead people. It is one of the most vital factors in my
work there. You ask me to remove it, before you have been in the diocese
a month, before you have had time to see with your own eyes what an
influence for good it has on the daily lives of the poor people who
built it. My lord, I will not remove the altar."
While Father Rowley was speaking the Bishop of Silchester had been
looking like a man on a railway platform who has been ambushed by a
whistling engine.
"Mr. Rowley, Mr. Rowley," he said, "I pray you to control yourself. I
beg you to understand that this is not a mere question of red tape, if I
may use the expression, of one extra altar or Holy Table, but it is a
question of the services said at that altar or Holy Table.
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