Mr. Binns and the Bishop

Instantly the "Anti-Scrape" Society bombarded the Times with most abusive letters. There was a frightful hubbub all round. Committees and deputations waited on the Bishop and worried him dreadfully. He pathetically said he did not dare to set foot in his own Cathedral, because stones were always crashing down, either inside or out, and his life was not safe. The deputations said that was quite immaterial, as you could make any number of new Bishops as easy as winking, but no one could ever replace the particular dog-tooth moulding, or the special 14th century masonry.

Then it was that Canon Binns took the matter in hand. First of all, he appeased the people who swore a Cathedral was solely a happy hunting-ground for architects and antiquarians. Then he propitiated the section who held gargoyles and finials in low esteem, and said a Cathedral was a place to worship in, and he wrote such judicious letters to the papers that subscriptions poured in. Then he