HARDY FORUM ARCHIVE H02005 1/19/02 "DEFINITION LATH IN SHEET QUESTION" ====================================================================== Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2002 11:01:13 -0800 From: Betty Cortus Subject: Lath in a Sheet? : Recent mention of "A Changed Man" on this list, notably in Michael's prize-winning competition entry, prompted me to take another look at that story this morning. Can anyone tell me the origin and meaning of the term "lath in a sheet", that presumably derogatory reference to the new curate Mr. Sainway made by the as-yet-unconverted Captain Maumbry? Betty Cortus ========== From: "K Eldron" Subject: Re: Lath in a Sheet? Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2002 20:54:39 -0000 A lath is a flat, thin, usually long, strip of wood, most commonly used in building - you can see them holding down the roofing felt on a house under construction or fixed to walls before plastering (a familiar sight to an architect?). So a lath in a sheet sounds like a pretty vivid evocation of a tall skinny man in a surplice - cf, a beanpole. I wondered if the image derived from the sight of a sheet flapping round the prop holding up a washing line, but you wouldn't use a lath for that - too flexible (unless lath had a dialect meaning that could embrace a thin but strong pole? But then again, I don't know when washing lines came into use, as opposed to spreading things to dry on the grass or bushes.) Another possible derivation might be from laths tied cross-wise as the frame for a figure carried in a procession or a ghost to scare children - and not only children: wasn't Captain Maumbry's regiment the Haunted Hussars, plagued by a ten foot spectre gnashing its teeth outside the barracks.....sorry, I'm getting fanciful. Shut up, Eldron. K Eldron kaffi@onetel.net.uk PS All of which reminds me of my grandmother referring to someone as so useless thin you couldn't trust him to prop up an empty washing line. ========== Date: Sun, 20 Jan: HARDY-L@csusm.edu From: David Cornelius Subject: Re: Lath in a Sheet? I couldn't find any reference to the origin of "lath in a sheet". I would suggest that it might be a Hardyism. I think Maumbry is sarcastically referring to the thin build of the curate, Sainsbury, in his flowing cassock, 'sheet', particularly as he is seen in relation to the splendid forms of the soldiers in their colourful uniforms. It helps to highlight the irony of the change that Maumbry was to undergo. Again in relation to 'A Changed Man' and the Moules, I quote from Martin Ray's 'TH: A Textual Study of the Short Stories' pp. 267-8 where he says, 'The subject of 'A Changed Man' is based on the Rev. Henry Moule (180180), vicar of Fordington from 1829 until his death, who became celebrated for his heroic efforts to control the cholera epidemic in his parish in 1854. Moule was the father of Hardy's very close friend Horace, and it is in a letter of 1919 to another of his sons, Handley, then Bishop of Durham, that Hardy recalls his memories of the Reverend Moule at that period: You may agree with me in thinking it a curious coincidence that the evening before your letter arrived, & when it probably was just posted, we were reading a chapter in Job, & on coming to the verse: "All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come," I interrupted & said: "that was the text of the Vicar of Fordington one Sunday evening about 1860." And I can hear his voice repeating the text as the sermon went on in the way they used to repeat it in those days just as if it were but yesterday. [...] The study of your father's life (too short. really) has interested me much. I well remember the cholera years in Fordington: you might have added many details. For instance, every morning a man used to wheel the clothing & bed linen of those who had died in the night out into the mead, where the Vicar had had a large copper set. Some was boiled there, & some burnt. He also had large fires kindled in Mill Street to carry off the infection. An excellent plan I should think.' Hardy's inclusion of this letter in his autobiography pp. 390-1 suggests his close link with the Moules. Martin Ray adds 'The verse in the Book of Job which immediately follows Hardy's quotation could serve as an epigraph to the story: 'Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands' (XIV.I5).' Hardy's reference to the trials of Job is interesting in its connection with so many of his 'tragedies' and some of his poems and stories. Regards, David Cornelius ========== Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 07:38:30 -0800 From: Betty Cortus Subject: Re: Lath in a Sheet? A rather belated thank you to K. Eldron and David Cornelius for responding to my question about "lath in a sheet." Both of you suggested a gaunt gentleman of the cloth in a white surplice as its possible meaning. This sounds eminently sensible to me. Once again, thanks to you both. Betty Cortus ==========