Justice of the peace

He, the minister, was about my age.

i don't know where he came from when he commenced to preach here and when he left i heard he went to the state of new york to preach attest salmon soul e c soul justice of the peace town of sheldon franklin county calvin abel says i am seventy-six years of age and reside in the town of sheldon franklin county and have resided in franklin county vermont all my life chester abel arthur son of william arthur was named after my brother chester abel i know his name that is the child's name that was born in the town of fairfield was chester abel arthur William Arthur's wife's father was named Washington Stone.

Her name, I think, was Melvina.

I always understood that his wife's father resided in Canada.

Reverend William Arthur was between thirty and forty years of age when in Fairfield.

I knew him personally while here and remember seeing him since about 29 years ago and spoke to him at that time.

Attest, Calvin Abel, E.C.' 's sole justice of the peace.

Town of Fairfield, State of Vermont.

The license was issued on November 11, 1857, and the marriage performed four days later.

The official identified himself as the Justice of the Peace in Hayes County.

Now, there's something interesting about that document.

The groom is identified as John Wilson, not John Carley, C-A-R-L-E, Wilson, as he appears in some later genealogical entries.

Is that the hotel, Mr. Carey?

Mr. Tolson runs the stories also, Justice of the Peace.

I left my buckboard there.

What's that?

Okay.

So I was elected in 2007 as a Justice of the Peace.

I believe I was 30 years old.

And the Justice of the Peace Court on the civil side handles the same matters as the City Court of East St. Tammany.

The Justice of the Peace Court has a limit of $5,000 in dispute.

City Court is $50,000, but they handle the same types of matters.

So I've presided over hundreds of cases, including civil suits, damage suits, breach of contract suits, garnishments, evictions, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of evictions I've presided over.

That's worthy of repeating.

So one can see backstair intrigue in the make-up of all these rectorial school managers, the object of which is only too apparent.

Mr Keppel, Justice of the Peace and County Councillor of Skoll, is responsible for the recommendation to the Norfolk Education Committee of this ecclesiastic clique.

Mr Keppel seems to have been as easily got at or got over as Mr Wade of Shimpling was got out.

Will Mr Keppel say how he came by these nominations? two parsons and a parson's wife on a body of six council school managers anyway the line was thus made clear for the carrying cut of this anti-socialist anti-labour anti parish council election anti higden business and the false unfounded lying and hypocritical complaints against mrs higden were soon being sent up to the norfolk education committee the council school was to be captured for the church and for privilege at all costs a sphere more genial Would the Committee kindly remove Mrs.

Presumably, therefore, there is some excuse for Mrs. Higdon if she did not recognise his reverence as he passed.

As to the necessity or otherwise for the instruction that these Bernardo children should be treated as other children in the school, the Burstyn parents know well whether Mrs. Higdon could ever be justly accused of favouritism or not.

besides in mrs higden's absence this same managers meeting had professed to find just ground for the complaints of the bernardo foster-mother which with the rector and bernardo paymaster in the chair and in the absence of the defendant is not surprising the rector had himself energetically worked up the bogus case for the prosecution and as counsel for the same he most kindly and seductively questioned his subservient witnesses the bernardo pays the foster-mother and father and the poor dear ill-used girls ah yes ill-used ardently assisted by his glebeholding tenant brother farmer fisher the foster-father's employer the other two managers simply saying nothing ere he the infallible and immaculate rector of burston proceeded to pronounce the false and hypocritical judgment above referred to discourtesy indeed not to recognise his reverence the rector or his wife and managerial supporter would indeed be excusable the enquiry by the norfolk education committee which followed was however brought about at mrs higden's own request she felt bound to appeal against the absolute untrue and unjust decision of this managerial farce she accordingly consulted the nut who asked the education committee for an inquiry after cautiously warning mrs higden that the inquiry would be held at her own risk the rector was soon busy again with his managers meetings and his bernardo correspondence scouring the parish in a vain endeavour to find witnesses c and otherwise preparing to present and bolster up his case before the education sub-committee of inquiry and thus to uphold if possible the decision to which he had committed the managers this subcommittee was composed of sancroft holmes esq j p chairman of the norfolk county council landlord and farmer mr jessop county councillor j p and farmer and mr goldsmith county councillor and farmer appointed justice of the peace since the inquiry in the eyes of these gentlemen labourers union agitating was bound to be a crime not that any such thing was mentioned at this inquiry oh no of course not hard up for grounds but hey presto enough any one reading the enquiry report again see casey's pamphlet can see how the committee were thrown back for grounds for dismissal upon the bernardo correspondence when the rudeness and the caning failed to hold water upon discourtesy to managers after the friday's hearing though this discourtesy had been found to be very slight on monday and upon the general official terminology that it is to the interests of elementary education in this parish that the head teacher should seek other employment with as little delay as possible the latter phrase looms and booms really large as providing sufficient ground in itself for the dismissal of a host of teachers excellent gentlemen excellent an unpleasant afternoon ah yes it was all managed very nicely though mr sandcroft holmes did have such an uncomfortable time of it never spent such an uncomfortable afternoon in his life so he told some one was there some inner recognition of a feeble sense of justice in this man after all some slight sense or qualm of conscience it may be so it may not if there was a spark of any such sense it miserably failed him any way and you messrs jessop and goldsmith how fared ye felt ye aught of the finer senses striving i trow not the marketing of cattle were more in your line than the meeting out of justice to a human soul how were ye too so blind ah the old saying again none are so blind as those who will not see still even this may be doing your brain-sight capacities too much credit perhaps this parson really did get over you and deceive you after all and you mr cox you never once raised your eyes towards the criminal in the dock did you why not you were facetious enough with her a little time back weren't you ah mr cox you soon know which way the wind blows don't you to a very great extent you seem to regulate it yourself here in norfolk the sequel and discourtesy again the head teacher to seek other employment with as little delay as possible what reply should mr or mrs higden have made to this urgent though somewhat extraneous order they had not the courtesy to reply to the committee declared mr a g copeman chairman of the norfolk education committee at a committee meeting later on when the case of mr and mrs higden was again raised really sir it would be difficult to see what reply to make the meekness and humility or the pride if you like of suppressed if eloquent silence seemed more befitting than the most studied reply could have been still if one must write up to the committee thank you ladies and gentlemen when sacked for good service and told to go elsewhere and look for another job and that after one's character has been falsely sworn away here you have it sir indeed mr chairman it seemed that the quintessence of courtesy was silence the committee's excuses they were asked to send in their resignations they refused to do so and were dismissed declared another member of the committee sir is that so the teachers themselves know nothing about any request to send in their resignations they certainly never received any such request that instruction of the committee to seek other employment with as little delay as possible was the only intimation of anything of the sort this could scarcely be construed into a request courteous or otherwise to send in their resignations still anything by way of excuse for your harsh hard cruel unjust treatment of an innocent woman ladies and gentlemen anything an early visitor a few days after the receipt of this seek other employment document sunday march the twenty ninth nineteen fourteen in fact mr and mrs higden received two days notice to leave the school on march the thirty first mr ikin assistant secretary appeared at burston schoolhouse early on wednesday morning april first with cheques for salary in lieu of notice which on being refused by mr and mrs higden were left by mr ikin upon the schoolhouse table mr ikin rang the school-house door-bell soon after seven a m he having arrived from norwich by an early train but not long before the youngsters were about they seemed to have been up particularly early that first of april morn and were soon seen by mr ikin and mr higden from one of the schoolhouse windows assembling on the village green with strangely bright colours flying it later appeared to be part of mr ikin's mission to induce if possible the children to go into school End of section 5 Section 6 of The Burst and Rebellion by Thomas George Higdon This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.

Chapter 4 Part 2 A Courteous Request and when would it be convenient for mrs higden to vacate the schoolhouse mr ikin wanted to know mrs higden could not say mr higden protested that mrs higden was entitled to a three months notice and that she had been most unjustly dismissed points which mr ikin did not argue what does that mean inquired the norwich official with surprise real or assumed as he looked on the bright array of children assembling on the green it is possible the norfolk committee had been informed by the rector or some one of what was likely to happen that morning i don't quite know replied mr higden laughing he did not quite know what it meant truly it soon became apparent however that the youngsters meant business though not exactly business as usual they meant keeping out of school that day anyhow unless their own teachers could go in with them how the strike started the scholars had apparently organised this business themselves all unbeknown to mr and mrs higden one of the first-class girls named violet potter it appears on the last day in school had clandestinely taken down the names of the scholars who would like to go on strike and she was now there at the crossing yonder marshalling them together Violet is, therefore, referred to by the children as their strike leader, which, indeed, she is.