CHEATING THE PARSON
FORMER TROUBLES OVER TITHES.
Though there has been plenty of trouble about tithe in recent years, harvest is no longer so anxious an affair for parsons as it was in the days when every tenth sheaf was marked by a tally and claimed by the rector. Parsons had to keep a pretty sharp look-out of they wanted their legal dues, as is suggested by the harvest song which Dryden wrote for his “King Arthur”: “We've cheated the parson; we’ll cheat him again; For why should a blockhead have one in ten?” One method of cheating the parson was practised at Epworth by a farmer against Samuel Wesley, father of John and Charles. Wesley came into the harvest field one day and found the farmer engaged in cutting off the ears from the tithe sheaves and putting them in a bag. Wesley contented himself with marching the dishonest farmer down to the town and turning the bag inside out in the market-place. Having done so, he left the culprit to the judgment of his neighbours. Probably, however. the only criticism would have been levelled on the score of being found out. —“Manchester Guardian” Miscellany.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 October 1942, Page 4
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196CHEATING THE PARSON Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 October 1942, Page 4
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