Meanwhile, Florence and Ellen had gone to Scotland. On June 23 they were touring in the Edinburgh area and planning to go on to the lake country, since Ellen was tired of ruins and wanted to see some scenery. Florence wrote to Cody almost daily. She had been buying books for him (Orelli on the Minor Prophets, William Winter’s Shakespeare’s England, George Adam Smith’s book on the Holy Land). On July 1, writing from Glasgow, Florence with some diffidence told Cody “that I am fully five years older than you.” Cody had said that he would never ask but she felt that he must know. She reiterated her confession on July 12. It made no difference to Cody.20
Florence and Ellen were back in London by July 8, and Florence pressed ahead with plans for the wedding. On July 12 she wrote: “I am trying to do all my shopping before you come, and I think I shall succeed pretty fairly ... Of course, beloved, I had to have a new frock to be married in. Dearest, you will not be disappointed, will you? that it could not be white. It could not be here, you see, where we shall probably walk over to the Church, together, and go through the ceremony that makes us one in the quietest possible manner. Four weeks from next Wednesday darling.”21
They were married at St. George’s Church Bloomsbury, on August 15, 1894. The officiant was the Rev. H.S. Stork. The only other Canadians present were Ellen and Tommy Des Barres.
Marrying in England solved several problems. Would Cody have invited his stepmother and her children, and if so, would they have come? Would Florence have been married in a Methodist Church, thus offending the people at St. Paul’s and possibly the bishop? If they were married at St. Paul’s, would her Clarke relatives, especially her mother and Ellen, have been hurt? Did Florence and Cody want a splurge or a quiet wedding? If the latter, how quiet? How many should be invited?
After an extended stay in England, the Codys arrived back in Toronto in late September. They had already agreed to live with Mrs. Clarke and Ellen. This arrangement worked well. The house at 603 Jarvis Street was just around the corner from St. Paul’s, a convenient location for Cody. Cody got on well with his in-laws, and Ellen welcomed the couple in a cordial and rather jocular letter ending, “Happy thought: – to spend your winters with us and your summers in the beautiful world across the seas. Happier thought: always to ask me to join you ‘personally conducted.’ Happiest thought: – to come home now just as fast as you can.”22 This promised well for the future and, in fact, the Codys continued at the Jarvis Street home for the rest of their married life. Mrs. Clarke died on November 6, 1898 and Ellen in 1913.
They were welcomed by the congregation of St. Paul’s at a gala reception in the schoolhouse on October 1. The rector, Mr. Des Barres, gave a felicitous speech. “He expressed regret that the happy event of the previous month had not taken place at St. Paul’s, and that the guests of the evening had stolen a march upon their friends in being wed in a distant land. They were forgiven for this, however, he assured them and were most heartily welcomed back to home and St. Paul’s.” Cody replied in equally felicitous terms, “thanking the congregation for this unexpected, but gratifying expression of their good will and affection.”23
After these happy beginnings to his further ministry at St. Paul’s, life for Cody settled down to the regular parish and college routine. Three years later, however, his career at St. Paul’s almost came to an end.
In 1897 Cody accepted an offer from the Church of the Redeemer (located further west at the corner of Bloor and Avenue Road) to be assistant minister. The appointment was confirmed by the rector, Septimus Jones, in a letter dated March 8, 1897.24 Jones recorded that Cody had met with a delegation from the Church of the Redeemer and subsequently had an interview with Jones when “the position of Assistant Minister of the Church of the Redeemer, was formally offered and accepted between us and the matter settled.” A memo was appended indicating that Cody’s salary would be $1,000 per annum (he was receiving $450 at St. Paul’s). Cody’s duties (preaching, supervising the Sunday School, sick visiting, funerals, etc.) were spelled out. It looked like a fairly onerous program, although not more than many curates performed. Subsequently, Cody accepted the appointment in writing.25
When it seemed that everything was settled, Cody began to have second thoughts. He wrote to Mr. Stinson, one of the Redeemer wardens, asking for time to reconsider this acceptance: “Some further factors in the case (including my health) have since been pressed home upon me very forcibly. The way does not seem as clear to me now as it did last week. I want a few days more to consider my acceptance.”
He said he was aware that his request would seem most unsatisfactory to Mr. Stinson, but continued: “My dear Mr. Stinson, it is also a matter of gravest concern to myself. It is for me a crisis in my life. My whole future seems to depend upon it and I feel I have not been sufficiently deliberate in deciding.”26
Cody also wrote to Jones repeating his request. Jones and his wardens were stunned at this sudden about-face. Stinson wrote protesting. Jones wrote two letters urging Cody to adhere to his commitment. He insisted that Cody’s agreement with the Church of the Redeemer was a binding contract. In his second letter he entreated, “Come, dear friend, redeem your promise, and throw off the agonizing burden of indecision.” Jones was willing to accept a compromise: “Try me for a year and if you find the work too heavy – or your position undesirable in other ways, then you will be able to make a change which though regretted will cast no possible reproach upon yourself.” But Cody resisted Jones’s appeal and withdrew from the Redeemer appointment.27
There seems no reason to doubt that Cody’s reasons for withdrawal were primarily reasons of health. His duties at the Redeemer would have been onerous in themselves. Taken in addition to his work at Wycliffe and with the Evangelical Churchman, the load would have been too much. In this period Cody was also doing some work for Maurice Hutton at University College, where he served as “Examiner in Classics” from 1893 to 1897. Cody wrote of this to Jones: “The work is great and important. The opportunities are large. But my doctor tells me that I am at present working up to the full extent of my powers and that additional strain would probably lead to a break-down through nervous prostration.” Clearly, Cody was in an exhausted state in the period. Sheraton was concerned about his health and had written to him in 1896: “Now my dear brother you are depressed. Do choke this off. Get a tonic and take more regular exercise ... Oh cheer up. Be strong and of good courage.”28 Cody’s depression in 1897 probably had an additional cause, worry during Florence’s pregnancy. Their son, Maurice, was born on July 4, 1897. There were good reasons for Cody’s withdrawal but one cannot help feeling uncomfortable about this incident with the Church of the Redeemer.
Cody’s future was decided by this decision. Two years later Cody was put in effective charge of St. Paul’s. At the Easter vestry meeting on April 17, 1899, he was offered the position of assistant rector, with a stipend of $1,500. Des Barres retained the rectorship nominally, but Cody was to carry the full responsibility for the parish. His fortunes would be linked to St. Paul’s for the next thirty-five years.
Chapter 6
Cody, the Coming Man, 1900–1905
The early years of the twentieth century were a buoyant time in the history of Canada. Trade was increasing, capital was flowing in, immigrants were arriving in the thousands. Sir Wilfrid Laurier seemed justified in his assertion that the twentieth century belonged to Canada. In this buoyant atmosphere Cody’s star was rising. An attractive young priest with an expanding congregation, supported by a band of devoted laymen and consulted by bishops, other clergy, academic colleagues, and students, he was indeed the coming man.
Cody’s correspondence and diaries give a picture of a busy urban church and of Cody’s place in it. St. Paul’s congregation for the most part consisted of comfortable, middle-class people