Excerpt from The Poor LawOf the dangers that await - let us call it - unlicensed appropriation. On p. 77 I quote from Sir F. Head the story of the parish clerk who threatened to fight the overseer if he did not pay him for ringing the bell at paupers' funerals, and on p. 114 I point out that the clerk, ta of the Guardians, has a su premacy much greater than is usually held by similar officers. Dr. Aschrott combines his information with the following disastrous result (p. In many instances the clerk was the chief or even the sole actor. In answer to a question why certain improper expenditure had been incurred, an overseer stated, 'why, sir, the clerk is a dreadful man, and always threatens to fight me whenever I want to stop such a charge.' And if the clerk's physical powers were not usually exercised in this fashion, knowledge and education often made him master of the situation. To the British mind the idea of a respectable country solicitor fighting an overseer is good better far is the idea of our familiar old friend, the parish clerk, being, by virtue of superior know ledge, master of the situation. Well, after all, I am but a country clergyman, and - perhaps he is.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.