The "went
nowhere" class was apparently not very considerable. On Sunday
morning at twelve o'clock Cowfold looked as if it had been swept
clean. It was only by comparison between the total number of church-
goers and chapel-goers and the total population that it could be
believed that there was anybody absent from the means of grace; but
if a view could have been taken of the back premises an explanation
would have been discovered. Men and women "did up their gardens," or
found, for a variety of reasons, that they were forced to stay at
home. In the evening they grew bolder, and strolled through the
meadows. It is, however, only fair to respectable Cowfold to say
that it knew nothing of these creatures, except by employing them on
week-days.
With regard to the Wesleyan Chapel, nothing much need be said. Its
creed was imported, and it had no roots in the town. The Church
disliked it because it was Dissenting, and the Dissenters disliked it
because it was half-Church, and, above all, Tory. It was supported
mainly by the brewer, who was drawn thither for many reasons, one of
which was political. Another was, that he was not in trade, and
although he objected to be confounded with his neighbours who stood
behind counters, the Church did not altogether suit him, because
there Mr.
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