the rest of the journal was filled with the usual miscellany of parish happenings ; the chronic drunkenness of derick gowan , culminating in that parishioner 's removal from the river ness as a water-logged corpse in late may ; the hasty wedding of maggie brown and william dundee , a month before the christening of their daughter , june ; mrs. graham 's appendectomy , and the reverend 's attempts to cope with the resultant influx of covered dishes from the generous ladies of the parish-herbert , the reverend 's current dog , seemed to have been the beneficiary of most of them .