Entry from Bygones – 15th October 1873

October 15th 1873

“The following lines have been lately found in the fly leaf of an old book:-

An Impromptu on Guilsfield Church

There is a church near ‘Lydan Hall,

With pews so quaintly queer,

You’d say they’re made before the fall

And grown queerer year by year.

 

In this church is a cozy seat,

Fit for the grand and great,

Where rich and poor do never meet,

So cruel thus is fate.

 

Some pews are straight,some have three sides,

And corners of like number,

The congregation sits, or strides

With little ease, and void of slumber.

 

The word “strides” in the last stanza is peculiar,one cannot guess what it means, unless it be that person cannot sit in the narrow seats with his knees together”