A Child of the Cloth (6 page)

“The lane that led to the cottage was a short walk from the station. The lane had high banks either side with trees arching together, with the sunlight sparkling through the leaves. The bushes were alive with the singing of small birds and the humming of bees collecting from a profusion of wild flowers. In the banks were small wild strawberries, Arthur picked some and offered them to me; he said this is one thing he always missed, when he was in the army, but always knew that one day he would again pick wild strawberries as he had done as a child; he said it helped him keep his sanity in some trying situations.

“As we approached the cottage I could see his daughter standing at the gate. As soon as she saw us she started to wave with both hands, Arthur returned the wave and said, ‘One hand is waving to me, and the other hand is waving to you'. I also started to wave and it created a wonderful warm feeling, dispelling all my fears. I was overwhelmed when she told me that when her father had shown her the announcement in
The Daily Telegraph
, she had urged him to contact me again, as the only happiness he ever spoke of was of his time with me. She was positively delighted that her father and I were to be married, as she would at last have someone whom she could call mother and hoped that one day I would allow her to address me thus. I said I would love to be called ‘Mother'; you are the daughter that I should have had.

“There were a lot of tears and joy that day. We were married by special license in St John the Baptist, the small parish church in Tisbury. As you might imagine there was some discussion as to whether we should be married in a registry office or a church. Arthur still holding strong views on religion caused me some concern, but being the man he was and knowing that I would not feel properly married if I was not married in a church, it was his suggestion we marry in St John the Baptist. I said surely that will not be permitted if you have not been baptised in the Anglican faith, and then to my complete surprise he told me that he had in fact been baptised in St John's and had sung in the choir. He had been in great demand to sing in other churches for weddings and funerals as he had possessed an exceptionally fine soprano voice but had left the church after becoming disillusioned by his treatment. Evidently the then choir master at St John's, unbeknown to him, had been accepting fees from other churches for his singing and had never given him any of the money even though he was aware that the money would have been a great help to Arthur's family, who were struggling to survive on an agricultural labourers wages. When he found out he asked the choir master why he had not been given any of the money and was told, very sternly, that his voice was God's gift and that he was wrong to seek any personal reward, his reward should be singing for the glory of God.

“This answered so many questions I had in my mind, it explained his knowledge of Christianity and church music and also possibly how he had lost his faith. St John's is a small parish church, not high church like St Mary's. No great organ, as we both knelt at the altar rail; music for the wedding was played by one of the elderly lady parishioners on an old harmonium that had definitely seen better days. Arthur was concerned who would run out of breath first; the elderly lady parishioner peddling and playing the harmonium or the harmonium itself. Arthur could not resist quietly saying to me, ‘What would Mr. Noon the organist at St Mary's say if he was asked to play on such an instrument'.”

After the wedding ceremony, she told me that they were driven back to the cottage in a pony and trap draped with coloured silk ribbons. She said to Arthur, ‘I have everything in life I've ever dreamt of ', at that moment, Arthur took from his pocket an envelope which he gave it to her. Written on the envelope was:

‘
A wedding present for my beloved wife,
We will honeymoon in Bavaria
'

As she opened the envelope, to her great delight, there were tickets for the
Passion Play
in Oberammergau in Bavaria. The year of their wedding coincided with the year the play was being performed. It is only performed every ten years. Amelia asked me if I knew of the play, before I could answer she started to tell me about their honeymoon in Oberammergau and the play. She said she can still see the smile on his face when she said to him, ‘It must be every Christian's dream, in their lifetime to attend at least one performance of the
Passion Play
in Oberammergau', and his reply, ‘A type of Christian Hajj'.

“I asked him if he realised the performance lasted over five hours and was wholly in German. He said he was and was also aware that the performance was part play and part Oratorio and reportedly contained some fine music and then teased me by saying, ‘You must promise me not to spoil it by telling me the ending'.

“The day of the play is one of those days that one never forgets. The anticipation of the audience creates an atmosphere in the auditorium that is totally unique to Oberammergau and to be sitting with my Arthur next to me I was so happy. I felt a little apprehensive, wondering whether it would be too much for Arthur. The combination of the religious text and tableaus depicting scenes from the
Old Testament
and music makes the work accessible to those that do not have the benefit of German. As the life and trial of our Lord unfolds in front of us on that vast stage, one is completely drawn into the drama even to the extent that when Pontius Pilate, with great anger in his voice, turns to the citizens of Jerusalem and says, ‘Will no one here speak for this man'. I felt a great sense of guilt because, like the rest of the four thousand six hundred people in the auditorium, I stayed as silent as the citizens of Jerusalem. Then, the high priest Caiaphas and his temple servants shout, ‘Crucify him!' and the cry ‘Crucify' is taken up by the multitude, who shout louder and louder, ‘Crucify!', ‘Crucify!'. Pontius Pilate ceremoniously breaks his staff and casts the broken staff at the feet of Caiaphas and says to him with anger in every word, ‘Take him and “crucify” him'. Arthur must have sensed the emotion in me at the trial of our Lord as he gently took hold of my hand.

“After the trial of our Lord we were presented with scenes of gratuitous violence, acted out with great realism, as Jesus staggered across the stage, bowed low beneath the weight of the cross and the lash, the two miscreants also to be crucified, being mercilessly beaten by the Roman soldiers. There was complete silence in the auditorium as the two miscreants were nailed to their crosses. The Roman soldiers roughly took hold of Jesus and forced a crown of sharp thorns on his head, laid him on the cross and then hammered the cruel nails into his flesh. At that moment there was a great flash of lightning that lit up the auditorium, instantly followed by an enormous clap of thunder. Because of the unique design of the theatre the stage is completely open to the elements, the effect created an emotionally charged atmosphere in the auditorium. I felt an emotional shudder go right through Arthur; he held my hand more tightly as we watched the enactment of Christ's death by Crucifixion. I saw in Arthur's face a look I had never seen before, a questioning look; he did not release his tight grip of my hand until Magdalena, with great emotion in her voice, turned and faced a totally silent auditorium and declared,
‘I know my saviour lives,'
and then the full chorus sang,
‘Hallelujah he has risen'.

“Arthur and I have spoken often about that moment in the
Passion Play
and the Resurrection. It was not his moment of conversion to Christianity but he did admit that he felt a great sense relief at the moment of our Lord's Resurrection. The belief in the Resurrection, being so fundamental to Christianity, Arthur's reaction gave me great comfort. He once explained his thoughts on the possibility of a heaven and an afterlife. He said he had reduced the argument in his mind to a simple ‘yes' or ‘no'. He had been comfortable with ‘no' for most of his adult life but on contemplating our final demise and knowing my absolute belief in heaven and the resurrection, made him question his argument many times. He said he had one recurring and extremely disturbing dream of a vision of Heaven, it being a vast maze of unmarked, seemingly endless roads with large signs saying, ‘No entry to non-Christians' and him walking past the end of each road, looking down, not knowing whether I was at the end of one waiting for him.”

She told me they had been married for just over a year and said she had never been happier in her life, and had found complete forgiveness in her heart for her mother and prayed that her mother was at peace in heaven.

She told me that she expected this would be her last visit to Wimbledon Village. She and Arthur had come up from Tisbury to make arrangements for the sale of the house and its contents. They had visited her solicitor and asked him to make all the necessary arrangements for sale of the house and its contents, explaining to him that they had no wish to come back to Wimbledon or to be involved in the sale of the house and had asked him if he could kindly deal with everything for them. She related to me how it was a strange, but not an unpleasant feeling, walking through Wimbledon Village arm in arm with Arthur. Firstly to the solicitors and then to fulfill a mutual wish to visit St. Mary's Church, where she especially wanted to place flowers on her father's grave. “Arthur wished to sit on the bench under the old yew tree where we fell in love.” She then opened her handbag to show me a sprig of lavender which she said Arthur had picked just as he had done all those years ago. She said she was so pleased that I had accepted the silver tray with all the memories contained in it and listened to her story. At that moment the doorbell rang. Looking at her watch, she said, “Right on time that will be Arthur, you must meet him.” Arthur was just as she had described him. He warmly shook my hand telling me how pleased Amelia had been when I said I would be pleased to accept the silver tray.

“Do you realise how long we've been sitting here?” She asked. ‘Yes,' I replied, ‘most of the day; but I feel privileged and moved listening to your story'. As I took my leave of them I said, ‘May I thank you, Mrs. Arthur Halfpenny, for the silver tray'. I could see the delight in her face by addressing her as Mrs. Arthur Halfpenny. We shook hands and I wished them well. We were never to meet again but about a year later I received a letter from her with the sad news that Arthur had died. She said it was not unexpected and that she was getting wonderful support from her daughter. She made the observation in the letter that, in most relationships, people meet and get engaged, usually for a short period, then marry for the rest of their lives. In her case she felt that it was different, her marriage, although of short duration in this world, would restart when she was together again with Arthur in the next life. She quoted with some license the words that Shakespeare gave Cleopatra,
‘I have immortal longings in me; methinks I hear my Husband call'.

Some months later I received a letter from Arthur's daughter Amelia giving me the sad news of the death of her step-mother. She also told me that they rest together in consecrated ground, this being the last wish of her father. She also enclosed a newspaper cutting from
The Daily Telegraph.
Recording the passing of: ‘Mrs. Arthur Halfpenny née Stevenson, loving wife and Mother'.