My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

MY SCHOOL LIFE AT HERTFORD 41fact, almost any book that I heard spoken of ascelebrated or interesting. Walton's " Angler " was afavourite of my father's, and I well remember a woodcutillustration of Dove Dale with greatly exaggeratedrocks and pinnacles, which made me long to see sucha strange and picturesque spot—a longing which Ionly gratified about a dozen years ago, finding itmore exquisitely beautiful than I had imagined it tobe, even if not quite so fantastic.My father and mother were old-fashioned religiouspeople belonging to the Church of England, and, asa rule, we all went to church twice on Sundays, usuallyin the morning and evening. We also had to learna collect every Sunday morning, and were periodicallyexamined in our Catechism. On very wet eveningsmy father read us a chapter from the Bible and asermon instead of the usual service. Among ourfriends, however, were some Dissenters, and a goodmany Quakers, who were very numerous in Hertford ;and on rare occasions we were taken to one of theirchapels .instead of to church, and the variety alonemade this quite a treat. We were generally advisedwhen some " friend " was expected to speak, and itwas on such occasions that we visited the Friends'Meeting House, though I remember one occasionwhen, during the whole time of the meeting, therewas complete silence. And when any brother orsister was " moved to speak," it was usually very dulland wearisome ; and after having attended two orthree times, and witnessed the novelty of the menand women sitting on opposite sides of the room, andthere being no pulpit and no clergyman and no singing,we did not care to go again. But the Dissenters'chapel was always a welcome change, and we wentthere not unfrequently to the evening service. The