The Early Life of Mark Rutherford | Page 6

writer uniformly mindful of his
object, which is not personal distinction, but the conviction of his
neighbour, poor as well as rich, all the facts in order, every point
answered, and not one evaded. At the opening of the first letter, a
saying of Burkitt's is quoted with approval. "Painted glass is very
beautiful, but plain glass is the most useful as it lets through the most
light." A word, by the way, on Burkitt. He was born in 1650, went to
Cambridge, and became rector, first of Milden, and then of Dedham,
both in Suffolk. As rector of Dedham he died. There he wrote the Poor
Man's Help and Young Man's Guide, which went through more than
thirty editions in fifty years. There he wrestled with the Baptists, and
produced his Argumentative and Practical Discourse on Infant Baptism.
I have wandered through these Dedham fields by the banks of the Stour.
It is Constable's country, and in its way is not to be matched in England.
Although there is nothing striking in it, its influence, at least upon me,
is greater than that of celebrated mountains and waterfalls. What a
power there is to subdue and calm in those low hills, overtopped, as
you see it from East Bergholt, by the magnificent Dedham half-
cathedral church! It is very probable that Burkitt, as he took his walks
by the Stour, and struggled with his Argument, never saw the placid,
winding stream; nor is it likely that anybody in Bedford, except my
father, had heard of him. For his defence of the schools my father was
presented at a town's meeting with a silver tea- service.
By degrees, when the battle was over, the bookselling business very
much fell off, and after a short partnership with his brother-in-law in a
tannery, my father was appointed assistant door-keeper of the House of
Commons by Lord Charles Russell. He soon became door- keeper.
While he was at the door he wrote for a weekly paper his Inner Life of
the House of Commons, afterwards collected and published in book
form. He held office for twenty-one years, and on his retirement, in
1875, 160 members of the House testified in a very substantial manner
their regard for him. He died at Carshalton on February 11, 1882. There

were many obituary notices of him. One was from Lord Charles
Russell, who, as Serjeant-at-Arms, had full opportunities of knowing
him well. Lord Charles recalled a meeting at Woburn, a quarter of a
century before, in honour of Lord John Russell. Lord John spoke then,
and so did Sir David Dundas, then Solicitor-General, Lord Charles, and
my father. "His," said Lord Charles, "was the finest speech, and Sir
David Dundas remarked to me, as Mr. White concluded, 'Why that is
old Cobbett again MINUS his vulgarity.'" He became acquainted with a
good many members during his stay at the House. New members
sought his advice and initiation into its ways. Some of his friends were
also mine. Amongst these were Sir John Trelawney and his gifted wife.
Sir John belonged to the scholarly Radical party, which included John
Stuart Mill and Roebuck. The visits to Sir John and Lady Trelawney
will never be forgotten, not so much because I was taught what to think
about certain political questions, but because I was supplied with a
standard by which all political questions were judged, and this standard
was fixed by reason. Looking at the methods and the procedure of that
little republic and at the anarchy of to-day, with no prospect of the
renewal of allegiance to principles, my heart sinks. It was through one
of the Russells, with whom my father was acquainted, that I was
permitted with him to call on Carlyle, an event amongst the greatest in
my life, and all the happier for me because I did not ask to go.
What I am going to say now I hardly like to mention, because of its
privacy, but it is so much to my father's honour that I cannot omit it.
Besides, almost everybody concerned is now dead. When he left
Bedford he was considerably in debt, through the falling off in his
book-selling business which I have just mentioned, caused mainly by
his courageous partisanship. His official salary was not sufficient to
keep him, and in order to increase it, he began to write for the
newspapers. During the session this was very hard work. He could not
leave the House till it rose, and was often not at home till two o'clock in
the morning or later, too tired to sleep. He was never able to see a
single revise of what he wrote. In the end he paid his debts in full.
My father was a perfectly honest man, and hated