'How do I know what is greatest,
How do I know what is least?
That is My Father's business,'
Said Eddi, Wilfrid's priest.
'But, three are gathered together -
Listen to me and attend.
I bring good news, my brethren!'
Said Eddi, of Manhood End.
And he told the Ox of a manger
And a stall in Bethlehem,
And he spoke to the Ass of a Rider
That rode to jerusalem.
They steamed and dripped in the chancel,
They listened and never stirred,
While, just as though they were Bishops,
Eddi preached them The Word.
Till the gale blew off on the marshes
And the windows showed the day,
And the Ox and the Ass together
Wheeled and clattered away.
And when the Saxons mocked him,
Said Eddi of Manhood End,
'I dare not shut His chapel
On such as care to attend.'
The Conversion of St Wilfrid
They had bought peppermints up at the village, and were coming
home past little St Barnabas' Church, when they saw Jimmy
Kidbrooke, the carpenter's baby, kicking at the churchyard gate,
with a shaving in his mouth and the tears running down his cheeks.
Una pulled out the shaving and put in a peppermint. Jimmy
said he was looking for his grand-daddy - he never seemed to take
much notice of his father - so they went up between the old
graves, under the leaf-dropping limes, to the porch, where Jim
trotted in, looked about the empty Church, and screamed like a
gate-hinge.
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