Page:Church Seats and Kneeling Boards.djvu/15

Rh Church, I pleaded with Mr. Butterfield that, as a man advanced in years and of a gouty constitution, I should be allowed what I considered a more tender sort of treatment. He simply asked me to make a trial of the kneeling-board in my choir-seat for a month, with a promise that if, at the end of that time, I was dissatisfied, he would accede to my request. I agreed, and when, at the end of that time, he asked me what my experience had been, I said that it was wholly and entirely favourable to kneeling-boards—that I would have no alteration made, as I had never knelt with so much comfort before in my life. And I say so still.

"I agree with the late Bishop Hamilton, of Salisbury, who said of these kneeling-boards:—'I have never seen the case of kneeling met before. Mr. Butterfield should take out a patent for this.' "

The Rev. Edgar Hoskins, Rector of S. Gregory by S. Paul, London, speaking of the advantage of Mr. Butterfield's kneeling-boards over pads, says:—" Pads retain dirt—a very serious thing in our great town Churches—and when the floor of the Church has been washed, the kneeling-pad not only absorbs but retains dampness; but, besides this, it often happens that the kneeling-pad, which is either placed or hung opposite to the seat, some-how or other finds its way to a place where it is not available for the person for whom it was intended. I have known persons who have come to Church early, appropriate more than one pad, and by this means deprive their neighbour of the use of one.

"I desire, however, to say something from the point of view of the person who is directly responsible for the spiritual welfare of the parishioners. Fixed kneeling-boards assure a clergyman that means of kneeling are provided for all the worshippers in the Church, while the migratory habits of pads make him afraid that when persons want them they will not be able to procure them. Then, again, kneeling-boards do not involve the wear and tear and expense consequent on the use of pads, for it is necessary to arrange these after every service, so that one shall