Silas Marner: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

The conversation is lively when Silas Marner enters, having reached a pitch after a slow and quiet start to the evening. Earlier in the evening, Mr. Snell, the landlord, had started conversation by asking the butcher about the fine animal he’d bought the previous day. The farrier asks if the animal was a red Durham, a type of cow, and says he knows the only red Durhams in the area come from Mr. Lammeter. Quickly the discussion between butcher and farrier becomes heated.

To dispel the argument between the butcher and the farrier, Mr. Snell appeals to the elderly Mr. Macey who remembers when Mr. Lammeter’s father moved to Raveloe. Mr. Macey, tailor and parish clerk, says he prefers to let the young ones talk, and the young deputy, Mr. Tookey, taking offence, says he’s not one to speak out of his place. Mr. Winthrop and Mr. Macey tease Mr. Tookey about his poor singing in the choir, and receive laughs from the whole group.

The landlord settles the disagreement among the group, as Mr. Macey bemoans the absence of great musicians in Raveloe, when there used to be some in the village. Mr. Macey speaks warmly of Mr. Lammeter’s father. He reports that the man sold his own land to move to the village and rent land after his wife died. While such a choice may seem odd to the villagers, Mr. Macey notes that there are reasons for certain things that no one knows.

Mr. Macey recounts the locally famous tale of Mr. Lammeter the younger’s marriage to Miss Osgood. The elderly pastor, Mr. Drumlow, misspoke during the marriage vows, asking whether the bride would take this woman for her wedded husband, and the groom would take this man for his wedded wife. No one else seemed to notice the error except for Mr. Macey, the parish clerk. Mr. Macey wondered if the words themselves or the meaning behind them had more weight in securing Mr. Lammeter and Miss Osgood in marriage.

In confusion, Mr. Macey later, respectfully, pointed out the problem to Mr. Drumlow, only to be reassured that the register, and not the words or the meaning, secures a marriage officially. Mr. Macey’s audience in the Rainbow has listened to this familiar tale with the air of hearing a favorite tune, and, upon its conclusion, question him further about Mr. Lammeter’s land and stables.

Mr. Macey says that if you go to Mr. Lammeter’s deserted stables at night you’ll see lights and hear horses inside. The farrier, Mr. Dowlas, is skeptical and dares anyone else to visit the stables with him at night. Ben Winthrop points out that anyone else believing the ghost story would be unlikely to risk such a thing. Mr. Snell attempts to settle this new disagreement by pointing out that some people can probably see ghosts, while others cannot. Such ability is like the sense of smell, which his wife has lost. She cannot smell what is right in front of her, and the landlord says he’s never seen a ghost because he doesn’t have the smell for them.