There was the school, for instance.  He could indeed go across and visit it, but he had no control, no more than the veriest stranger that strolled along the road.  He had always been anxious for a good school, and had done the best he could with means so limited before the new Acts came into operation.  When they were passed he was the first to endeavour to carry them out and to save the village the cost and the possible quarrelling of a school board.  He went through all the preliminary work, and reconciled, as far as possible, the jarring interests that came into play.  The two largest landlords of the place were unfortunately not on good terms.  Whatever the one did the other was jealous of, so that when one promised the necessary land for the school, and it was accepted, the other withdrew his patronage, and declined to subscribe.  With great efforts the vicar, nevertheless, got the school erected, and to all appearance the difficulty was surmounted.

But when the Government inspection took place it was found that, though not nearly filled with scholars, there was not sufficient cubic space to include the children of a distant outlying hamlet, which the vicar had hoped to manage by a dame school.  These poor children, ill fed and young, could hardly stand walking to and from the village school—­a matter of some five miles daily, and which in winter and wet weather was, in itself, a day’s work for their weary little limbs.  As the vicar could not raise money enough to pay a certificated teacher at the proposed branch or dame school, the scheme had to be abandoned.  Then, according to red tape, it was necessary to enlarge the village school to accommodate these few children, and this notwithstanding that the building was never full.  The enlargement necessitated a great additional expenditure The ratepayers did, indeed, after much bickering and much persuasion, in the end pay off the deficiency; but in the meantime, the village had been brought to the verge of a school board.

Religious differences came to the front—­there was, in fact, a trial of force between the denominations.  Till then for many years these differences had slumbered and been almost forgotten; they were now brought into collision, and the social quiet of the place was upset.  A council of the chief farmers and some others was ultimately formed, and, as a matter of fact, really did represent the inhabitants fairly well.  But while it represented the parish, it left the vicar quite outside.  He had a voice, but nothing more.  He was not the centre—­the controlling spirit.