When the tide is out the sands
are wide, long, and smooth, and very pleasant to walk on. When the
high tides are in, not a vestige of sand remains. I saw a great dog
rush into the sea yesterday, and swim and bear up against the waves
like a seal. I wonder what Flossy would say to that.
'On Sunday afternoon I went to a church which I should like Mr.
Nicholls to see. It was certainly not more than thrice the length
and breadth of our passage, floored with brick, the walls green with
mould, the pews painted white, but the paint almost all worn off with
time and decay. At one end there is a little gallery for the
singers, and when these personages stood up to perform they all
turned their backs upon the congregation, and the congregation turned
_their_ backs on the pulpit and parson. The effect of this manoeuvre
was so ludicrous, I could hardly help laughing; had Mr. Nicholls been
there he certainly would have laughed out. Looking up at the gallery
and seeing only the broad backs of the singers presented to their
audience was excessively grotesque. There is a well-meaning but
utterly inactive clergyman at Filey, and Methodists flourish.
'I cannot help enjoying Mr. Butterfield's defeat; and yet in one
sense this is a bad state of things, calculated to make working
people both discontented and insubordinate.
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