Page:The Parson's Handbook - 2nd ed.djvu/58

42 craving for a fussy crowd of candles on the altar is in great measure caused by the want of a reasonable proportion of light and shade in the rest of the church.

The service books should be well bound and stamped on the outside Choir with a number, 'Choir Boys' with a number, and 'Clergy Decani', or Cantoris, etc. The boys should not be allowed to use any but those marked for them, as they have incurable destructive tendencies.

Hymn-papers should be filled in every week by the librarian, and placed one in each clergy stall, and two or three on each shelf for the choir. If they are printed altogether in red ink, the numbers will be more easily seen. It will also lessen the danger of false numbers being given out, if the place for the hymns be arranged in a column distinct from that for the chants, etc.

If the public notices that are to be read are written in a book, it serves to keep a useful record.

The Rood-Loft.–There can be little doubt that the most appropriate position theologically, as well as the most impressive, for the Rood or Crucifix is the ancient place on the chancel-screen, or, when there is no screen, on a beam running across the chancel arch. Reverence would suggest a great reserve in the use of crucifixes, which should not be dotted about the church in the way one sometimes sees. Nothing can well be more impressive than the use of one large crucifix on the screen or beam, and that alone. Figures of St. Mary and St. John were generally placed on either side of the Rood, and sometimes other figures also. The Rood-loft was a common place also for the organ and for musicians. Two, four, or six candles on the Rood-loft are in conformity with ancient custom, and look most