Three generations

360 MEN AND WOMEN MET BY THE WAY
sought for, and was discovered surreptitiously trying
the entrance to the pulpit, to see if it would admit of
his " too, too solid flesh."
I had one brief interview with Father Adderley.
He came one morning to Backworth, our house in
Banbury Road, to make some inquiries about Ruskin
Hall. His name was not announced, and with my
short-sighted eyes I had the idea that in his girdled
cassock, with a large hood, the man was a very tall
woman. Of course the moment he spoke I was dis-
abused. The situation in all other respects was quite
conventional, and for that reason perhaps, though I had
read and admired his "Stephen Remarx" his person-
ality did not make the impression on me that I received
from that of Father Dolling.
In 1904, when I was in my seventy-eighth year, I was
granted in return for what I had been able to do for
literature a pension from the Civil List, which I here
gratefully acknowledge.
Such pensions are surely justifiable in connection
with a profession whose members give profit and
pleasure to many, while the big prizes of the pro-
fession are only for a few. For the mass, many of
whom are read largely, the pecuniary returns are
precarious and shifting, are only possible for a re-
ceiver in normal health and strength, who cannot
transfer his powers and rights to a deputy or sub-
stitute, while the rights may die before the writer, and
the gains are in comparison with the wages earned in
other professions extremely moderate.
Shortly afterwards we gave up our large house in
Banbury Road, dispersing its household. We went to
a smaller house in Park Terrace, where there were
only two or three additions to the family. Our work