Reverend C. Hassall Tells Husband

NZ Truth, Issue 1185, 16 August 1928, Page 5

Reverend C. Hassall Tells Husband

T^ He Formed A Love Pa£t With His Accuser's Wife Who Sang fe Choir

i ,111,1111,11 *»nilllll»lll)ll)HHHIllltnillinilllinilllllltlllHllllH11llltlllHIIIHIIlHIHiHlltllinillllHltltllUllllHHlll,l,UHHHIllHUIIHnHHIIIItllltMlinilltlMIHIIjlM,l,l II I '''['''' £| KMnraiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiuiinHm^ II IT must provide rather embarrassing food for H I! f reflection for v a parson to know that whilst |I (I he assumes the mantle oi clerical .piety, |I I preaching on a basis of unchallengeable If I goodness and chanting, maybe, the passage: [| 1 ' ■" Whpm God hath joined together, let .no; || man put asunder," he is capable btslipping || surreptitiously from the pulpit Jo x>re£k a || sacred commandment before running away |f with another man's wife, who sang m: the jf choir. "Let' him wha is without sin; cast n the 7 first stone!" '„ ' II

IT may be perfectly i-easonable to suppose that iii the of his devout religious exercises the ' Rev. |<3la\ide Ellis Wroughton Hassall, duly 'ordained deacon of St. Paul's•'Cathe-dral'/-Dunedin, had given the blessing of his church, the legality of his .God and the advice of himself to many ■matrimonial alliances. .' ■','■ And, to assume this everyday part, of ielerlcal duties, is ordinarily to presuppose that he who,, purporting to .speak as a humble instrument of God, 'ishouid be without sin himself. ..-. ■ < But apparently Biblical doctrine or precept meant nothing to Hassan, who declined to appear m the Dunedin Supreme Court last Saturday to defend his name and character against the allegations contained m the divorce ' petition of- Edward Stephen Gale, , a young Gust o.'rn s olerk, who joined the cleric as corespondent. : f The petition was liased on the ground of misconduct Early In March- of this year, a sensation was caused m social and ecclesiastical circles through the sudden disappearance of the.Rey: Claude, Hassal] and, inciden tally, Mrs. Elf rida Lucia Dundas Gale, best known m Dunedin as an Otago representative tennis player arid 'a member of St. Paul's Cathedral choir. , Little information -was offered .by the interested parties on either side, beyond the fact that Gale,' the woman's husband, m response to "N.Z. Truth's" request that, he should give a statement of the facts to quell \ the idle gossip and uncharitable Innuendo, said his wife* had told Jiim that sh,e and Hassali intended going away together,

Supreme Happiness

and that the following .day she left home taking her personal belongings with her. ■ „ ' . ■ Gale at that-time stated- that he had ho reason, to believe that his wife had been guilty' _of any imy proper relationship with Hassall, but he thought that she must have been deceiving him. for some time. ,lTie next (Sale heard of the . matter was from' a friend, who supplied the information that Mrs. Gale had sailed by the Manuka from. Wellington for Australia. So much for the rift m. th;e Gale household. ■■■ Perhaps v it': was mere coincidence that at: the same' time the. contents ot the Hassall. home were offered for sale by, public; auction — even the matches •• : -- : ■ ' :"" '■■ : ' were sold—osten-sibly-to enable Mrs. . Hassall to regain her health, on a sea voyage to her home m England. The ' Hassalls had

enjoyed the supreme happiness of a loving union. The young- clergyman, according to his wife, was the ; beau ideal, paying infinite care to her happiness, while she,, m return,, was wrapped up m him and his work. ■ ' She lavished on him the tender sympathies and loving care of a dutiful wife, arid it was m her desire to assist him' to continue unhampered m his work that she agreed 'to! selling iip their' home, so that he could lodge m town and be m close' touch to administer the needs of his parishioners. Then came the crash. -Hassall's ; attitude towards her changed, and soon she learned, while she was living with a friend m North East Valley, awaiting a passage to England, that her husband, had ab-

sconded and that Mrs. Gale had made a simultaneous departure, the intormation. being supported with the conjecture' that they were bound for Australia. • •.,'.-• • , s .So, over the tea clips m Duriedin, idle lips passed the story of ' the curate who stole the heart, of another man's wife, and the episode was embellished, nay festooned, ' with subtle inference — a direct negative, if it could be believed, to the assertion that marriages are made, m heaven. At the same ( time an old family friend of Mrs. Gale, prompted no doubt m the best interests, related a strange compact that HassaH and the woman had allegedly entered into. ' . The effect of It^wais ,that they would neither travel ndr^vlive together as man: and ' Wife, m the full sense of the term, until each „was free to do so. <»_■ That' this was palpably . erroneous was proved last week when a boardinghouse keeper, from Palmerstqn South, informed the court that Hassall and Mrs. Gale occupied a room m her house as "Mr. and Mrs. Masters," on the night they left Dunedin for Australia. ■■ ; '' '..'" • ."V' „..'•.•■ .• : Vivacious xWoriUm But how came these pepple to' mean; so . muih to -each, other? , -.'■■■ - • ; Mrs. Gale, a . vivacious type with', an' effervescing personality, was possessed of a contralto voice; of fine quality which was an 'effective unit m the choir of St. Paul's for some nine years. „ '/And pn ; a January;, morning," as the' ptago University ; students chose to' refer to the incident m their capping celebrations, the inspiration of the siren apparently stirred m the : young curate the impulse whiAh impels, and incites. ' Nature was generous to Elfrida Gale, whose unaffected charm , drew around her a circle of admirers of whom the curate was the most . prominent. • And their constant association m ;■; church work . brought them'frequently together, offering every qp- . portunity for thejr friendship to> .ripen into true love. "',.; ; And m such an atmosphere, between pulpit and choir bench, the ' Rev. Claude Hassall and Elfrida Gale were thrown together, ultimately, through their own folly, to wreck, two homes and wound two' aching hearts. 1 Hassall had • spent two years hi church work m Dunedin and prior to that, he was, according to his own

|| ; • tFrom "N.Z.' Truth's" Special Dunedin Representative.) ' || II 'Y' HE melodious tones of her rich contralto voice, floating || If 6ut over the congregation at St. Paul's, Dunedin, might || 1 1 have inspired or unnerved the preacher 'm his moment of al- \\ ft legedly devout contemplation. Rev. E. C W. Hassall has || 1 1 not given us this plum for the public pudding of wonder, ff ll Perhaps he does not like being cited as a co-respondent m || || a divorce action, anyway! And how blandly he lifted the f| 1| parsonic eyebrows and opened the cultured mouth to admit U \\ m a perfect wave of eloquent affection that he loved his If || accusers wife. He: was certainly frank- More, said he who If || had just arrived from the park with the woman when her || || husband called, he had even intended taking her away to || |1 Australia. And it came to pass! If

word, a product of. Harrow, a lieutenant m the British' I^faVy arid a prison chaplain. In Anglican circles in*Dunedin-it Is certainly said m • his . favor that he helped materially by his. inspiring work to» dwell tlie finances of the diocese, \vhile his popularity among the parishioners was immeasurable. . His work wiis- the, subject of eulogis,tic reference " many- .times by [ both the clergy and the parishioners to whom Hassall frequently made eloquent ap peals for greater recognition for the youth of the church.and youth work.

•He was a, polished elocutionist and it was asl soothing - music to hear his richly-toned and clearly articulated voice reading the lessons. , Toe •!!. was another movement to which .thu curatb gave his earnest support.' - : \, But Hassall staged an "'airy bluff which, as light as thistledown, hßs been blown to the winds and has shown up the absconding cleric m his true colors as a home -breaker and an adulterer: \ ./-■' - And so they went to face the criticism of the cold, matter-of* fact world, and together they were