Soul of a Bishop by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
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page 22 of 308 (07%)
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the bishop beyond measure, and baffled him hopelessly. He could not see
any means of checking them nor of defending or justifying her against them. The palace was awaiting its tenant, but the controversies and bitternesses were still swinging and swaying and developing when King George was being crowned. Close upon that event came a wave of social discontent, the great railway strike, a curious sense of social and political instability, and the first beginnings of the bishop's ill health. (4) There came a day of exceptional fatigue and significance. The industrial trouble was a very real distress to the bishop. He had a firm belief that it is a function of the church to act as mediator between employer and employed. It was a common saying of his that the aim of socialism--the right sort of socialism--was to Christianize employment. Regardless of suspicion on either hand, regardless of very distinct hints that he should "mind his own business," he exerted himself in a search for methods of reconciliation. He sought out every one who seemed likely to be influential on either side, and did his utmost to discover the conditions of a settlement. As far as possible and with the help of a not very efficient chaplain he tried to combine such interviews with his more normal visiting. At times, and this was particularly the case on this day, he seemed to be discovering nothing but the incurable perversity and militancy of |
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