BERKELEY. On Friday, August 14th, Agnes Wilson Alpass, formerly Mistress of the Fitzhardinge girls' school, fell asleep in Jesus. She died in the early morning, fortified by the Sacrament which she received with her relatives at a late hour the night before. Though well aware that she was going to die, she was perfectly calm and collected, and without attempting to conceal a natural wish to live, she was wholly resigned to the Will of God, and ready to depart and to be with Jesus. The last word she uttered was 66 amen " in a clear and distinct tone to the Prayer which commended her soul to God, and shortly afterwards her spirit passed quietly away. The Church in this place has lost one who was most efficient in her cause, and who set a conspicuous example of deep attachment to her teaching, which we hope others may be led to follow. As a teacher she had a wonderful power of imparting knowledge to the children under her care, but the one thing which especially marked all her schoolwork was her great anxiety to teach the children the "truth as it in Jesus." The removal of such a one from amongst us, when she was apparently so much wanted, is one of those mysteries of God which we cannot understand. The words read in the Church lesson just after her death seemed singularly appropriate, "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and His ways past finding out." The funeral took place on Tuesday, 18th ultimo, and was singularly impressive on account of the deep feeling manifested by all who took part in it. The corpse was met by the choir at the West Door, and the beautiful Hymn, "Christ will gather in his own," was softly sung, as the procession moved up the aisle. A number of her late scholars stood around her grave, when the coffin, covered with cross and chaplets of beautiful white flowers, was lowered into its last resting place. Requiescat in pace! The Monthly Meetings of the Sunday School Teachers will be immediately resumed. The next will be at 8.30 p.m., on the 4th of September. The day for the Harvest Festival cannot yet be decided on, but it will take place about the middle of September. The farmers have decided on giving their labourers a supper of meat and plumpudding at 2/- each. A house in some respects more suitable for a British Workman Club than the present has been offered to the Committee, and will in all probability be taken. It is in a much better situation than the present house, and nearer the centre of the town. The Berkeley Cricket Club has of late been more successful. Two matches against the Purton Club have been won, and one against Tortworth. By some oversight at the Restoration of our Parish Church, there was no provision made for lighting the East End, which is left in gloomy darkness when the rest of the Church is lit. A gas jet from either side of the Chancel wall would remedy the defect for a time at small cost. Standards, which ought to have been placed inside the rails at the time of the Restoration, would at present be too expensive. At the Examination in Religious Knowledge for Pupil Teachers and Monitors held by Mr. Powles in Dursley, 20th June, Ellen Long, P.T. passed, but the other Pupil Teachers, John Waters and Susan Pratt, lost the Examination. Albert Baldwin and Alice Cope, Monitors, both obtained a second class. We feel much disappointed at the general result of the Examination, but the late Mistress, Mrs. Forster, was so ill during a great portion of the year, that she did not give the Pupil Teachers the amount of instruction they ought to have received. CHURCH REGISTER. BAPTISMS. July 26-Evelyn Mary, daughter of Joseph and Mary Elizabeth Bennett, Alkington. Aug. 2 Francis Hubert, son of Thomas and Eliza Hill, Sanigar. James, son of George and Sarah Browning, Oakhunger. 9-Caroline Mary, daughter of Robert and Belinda Elizabeth 99 Perry, Berkeley. Kate, daughter of George and Elizabeth King, Ham. 12-Jane, daughter of Robert Durno and Jane Mitchell, Berkeley. 14-Harold, son of Joseph and Elizabeth Margaret Grey, Sutton, Surrey. 19-Francis Herbert, son of Joseph and Sarah Ann Ruther, The Lynch. MARRIAGE. Aug. 10-William Shurmer to Mary Ann Matthews. BURIALS. Eli Butler, aged 63 years. Agnes Wilson Alpass, aged 35 years. COALEY. The School Feast was held on Thursday, August 6th. It was a most beautiful day, and just suited to the occasion. The number of children assembled this year exceeded by 20 that of previous years, and is of itself a proof that the School is progressing favourably. An hour before the time appointed, the children assembled in Mr. Ind's meadow, kindly lent for the occasion. At 4 o'clock they sat down in the Vicarage garden to an excellent tea, and their wants were amply attended to by many ladies who took pleasure in distributing the provisions. At 5 o'clock the School and Class Rooms were both quite filled, and about 100 visitors and parents of the children had tea. The School-room was tastily decorated with flowers and evergreens. The evening was spent in the usual games and races, which never flagged till the Church bells summoned all to au Evening Service at the Church. Of the neighbouring Clergy, there were present, the Revs. J. C. Hudson, C. E. Haslam, F. T. Penley. The Prayers were intoned by the Vicar, and a short and simple address was made by the Rev. F. T. Penley to the School children. The Chancel of the Church was decorated with flowers, and the whole building looked very pretty when lighted for the Service. There was a marked improvement in the behaviour of the children, who showed no signs of roughness or il temper, but enjoyed their sports without annoying any by rudeness. During the past month Mr. Hunt, of the Cathedral, Gloucester, has given several evenings to the training of the Choir, who have much improved in their knowledge of music. It is proposed to give a Concert at the School-room, on Tuesday, September 22nd. Mr. Hunt has promised to act as Conductor, and also to sing. The Choir will sing several part-songs, and as assistance has been promised from several who are musical, we look forward to an evening of pleasure. The proceeds of the Concert will be given to the Choir Fund. The Programmes and Tickets may be obtained shortly of Mr. Allen. The prices will be Reserved Seats, 2/-, Second Seats, 1/ Sunday, September 27th, will be set apart as a Day of Thanksgiving for the late abundant Harvest. The Church will be decorated, and it is hoped that the Services will be as well attended as last year. CHURCH REGISTER. BAPTISMS. 2-Emily Sophia, daughter of Henry and Virtue Ball. 28-Oliver Francis Gazard, son of Elias and Sarah Smith. T Geese. HE Goose is more of a land bird than the Duck. Its strong high legs, its fondness for grain and vegetables, and its shortness of wing, give it some resemblance to the family of Rasores. It is the only bird which feeds on grass. The Geese represented in the accompanying cut may be seen on any English common. They and the Grey-lag' (of whom they are the domesticated variety) are the only sorts that can be taken young and familiarised in our country. The others, such as the Bean Goose and the White-fronted Goose, visit our country, but migrate in summer, and breed elsewhere. The Grey-lag is the Anser of the Romans, famous for having given the alarm and saved the Capitol, when the Gauls invaded Italy and burnt the city. Pliny gives an amusing description of the Geese coming on foot from the coast of France, near Calais, to Rome; a journey, as the crow flies, of seven hundred miles. The weary, lagging travellers, were put in front, and made to go by the sheer onward momentum of those behind.* Geese are extremely long-lived birds. There is a story told by Ray's pupil, Willughby, of a goose that was eighty years old, and it might have lived another eighty, but its owner put it out of the way because it was such a tyrant to the younger geese. The same Willughby wrote a book on birds, which so fascinated Pennant when he was twelve years old that he became, in consequence, a great zoologist, and corresponded with famous men like Linnæus, Buffon, Baron Haller, and Pallas. Pennant tells us some interesting things about geese. During the breeding season in Scotland the geese are lodged in people's housesmay, in their bed-chambers. Three rows of coarse wicker cages are placed one above another; each bird hatches its eggs in a separate cage, and a man, called a 'gozzard,' drives the whole flock twice a day to the water and back, helping those ladies to mount who live in the upper lodges, and never making a mistake in putting a goose into a wrong nest. The geese are plucked, Pennant tells us, five times a-year. The March plucking is for quills and feathers, the other four pluckings, which take place between Ladyday and Michaelmas, are for feathers only. With a coarse apron up to his chin the plucker works away, giving us pens for our letters and feathers for our beds. In this operation goslings of six weeks old are not spared. The young geese are very obstreperous; the older ones are resigned, and take their inevitable loss calmly. When geese have been plucked and plucked, till they can be plucked no longer, they are called 'cag-mags,' and are sent to the London market, and uncommonly tough and dry they are. The feathers of the Somersetshire geese are considered better than the others; those from Ireland the worst. The Romans used to enlarge the goose's liver by over-feeding, and the diseased organ was estimated a very dainty dish. There was once a most ridiculous story current about the Barnacle * 'Fessi proferuntur ad primos, ita cæteri stipatione naturali propellunt eos.' |