Making Ends Meet
Sta,—Many will have enjoyed reading Making Ends Meet and will congratulate the schoolnsater upon having not only sacrificed some of his comforts for the sake of others but learned so to live that he has made ends meet. Other professional men, e.g., the clergy, cannot do this. I worked on to the age of 75 ; then, on producing a medical certificate that I was not physically fit to continue, I was allowed to retire with an allowance of 1470 a year, part of which is obtained from the benefice I vacated—a fact of which I was unpleasantly made aware when meeting some of my old parishioners !
I set to work to do the work I felt I had the strength to do— what is called guinea-pig work, helping sick clergy or taking their places when away from home. But I found that the bread was taken out of my mouth ; all -kinds of people were used for this purpose—chiropodists, postmasters, students at theological colleges, &c.—for lay readers do not take fees, and the clergy in their poverty must escape them.
Soon the rising cost of everything made living in the house I had rented in lieu of the vicarage impossible. Another move was imperative. Strength, too, was decreasing as age advanced. My .wife could not possibly continue working daily in the house and kitchen, for she had not any training for this. Hitherto her active work had been of a different kind ; others by their skilful work had set her free to do the work of her life. When she had borne the strain of housework (cleaning and washing) for a few years in her old age, is it any wonder that she collapsed ? There remained only one course to pursue—to live in a hotel. But no hotel will now receive you under about £1 a day for each person—such luxuries as children are, of course, out of the question—and where can f2 a day be found? There is certainly an annual payment which I receive from the Hants County Council of f13 Is. 8d. This is a superannuation allowance granted by the Council in return for work at a workhouse for 35 years. I was able to fit this in with parochial work, and the remuneration was £20 a year. Haling reached the stage when I have to live in a hotel I .hope I may not have to change residence again, for I am at the mercy of the proprietor. I am quite sure of one thing, viz., that the moment I fall ill I must go --and where? There is no place but a' nursing home, and that costs about £14 14s. a week. And where must my poor wife go ?—Your obedient servant, A. T. FINCIL Red Lodge, Seaeiew Road. W. Worthing.
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