American citizen., 1880-02-14

waiting to be CUT
81 can't cut out such work, and l
always did hato sewingi" cried Mary
Jano.
l saw the widows eyes open wiac
and her mouth shut w, light as re-
served clar, so i said soothingly, 81
am delighted at your proposal, Sister
Bates. I'll fetch Mary Jane to Mrs.
Twogood's myself, and you shall teach
her to cut out breeches for the Nigger-
derwiggers without delay"
The next caller was Mrs Biddlecon,e,
wife of the Sunday-school S"pcrintend-
ent. Sister Bates,'' said she, in a
very grum voice-she had bronchitis
"the minister's wife always has charge
of the infant class. We expect you to
take Mrs. Plunkett's class next Sunday.
She was our late pastors wife, you
know. We expect you to enter into
this work with all your heart and soul.
Sister Bates and myself will alway. be
at hand to advise and correct you."
Before Mrs. Biddlecome left, Mrs.
Professor Bangs, wife of Professor
Philetus Bangs, once missionary tc the
Pottiwo.imies, appeared. "Now that
orr minister has a help-meet,' said she,
"there Is some one to take the place of
poor Mrs. Plunkett in our circle. do
hope you, Mrs. Buttles, will do better
than she did. There's no reason why
our circle should not succeed If our
minister's wife has any energy"
Then came Mrs. Deacon Bullhead,
who was always full of feeling
al hope, Sister Buttles, you are spir-
itually minded" said she, in thick
voice. "I feel there's q great deal de-
pending on you. The old ladies have a
prayer-meeting, and we feel we must
have you to lead IT,"
Mrs. Belinda Slicer, Seeretaey OF the
Grand United Wn;er-workers; Mrs
Tulula Tittlepaw, President of the So
ciety for Culture of the Brains Mrs.
Bushwhack, President ct tho Society for
rroviding Canni-men with Scripture
Notices, and many other ladies, all Off
GERS of something, called, and invited
Mrs. Buttles to join.
Mary Jane was about Is when we
were married, and had been brought up
by indulgent and rather worldly parents
OF self.dcnial, resignation and humility
she knew very little, and she met the
demands of the parish with so much
spirit and independence she incurred
the displeasure of nearly every person
of any consequence in it; and, though
she yielded to my commands and their
demands, and attended about half the
meetings at which the minister's wife
alcays presided, and spent three-fourths
of her time at church work, she could
not please the people of the Corners,
and had to find a new charge.
When 1 was installed in Griggsville
Jonathan Edwards was about Is months,
think, month old. Nature and theol-
ogy give women back seat. The great
work of the world is performed by men;
but there yet remains much that must be
done, and this labor, which is of an anx-
ious and obscure sort, distasteful to men,
is very naturally performed by women.
So in church work the parsons wife
supplements the parson; but when
Mary Jane had poor health, and had to
take care of two babies and do all of
our housework and sewing, really did
not see how she could supplement me,
and l did not insist upon it. The Griggs-
vile church, however, made the usual
demands upon her, and 1 should no
doubt have been compelled to leave
Griggsville long ere this if she had not
caught a timely cold by going out in
furious snow-storm to attend a meeting
to promote the spread of the gospel in
That cold resulted in a
three months siege of rheumatism which
has proved in its way a blessing; for the
parish no longer expects her to attend
every meeting, and the ladies content
themselves by petting me as much as
possible and saying spitefully, "What
a power dear Mr.. Buttles would be if
he had wife worthy of him.
When 1 bought nay first COW, Deacon
Bulge took me all over the country to
look at beasts, white, red, black and
brindle, short horned, and muley, and
as we were riding home, the Deacon
after long period of silence, said alb
ruptly, " Mr.. Buttles, hev ye any idee,
now, what sort of a critter would
suit yeP"
There are eleven churches in Griggs-
vile, ten of which are Protestant, SO
have had considerable opportunity to
observe parsons wives, and have never
seen, as yet, one who quite pleases her
husbands parish. One lady dresses too
much, one does not dress enough. One
is too domestic, one is too officious in
church work. One never speaks in
one talks to the exclusion of
some of the sisters who are gifted in ex-
hortation. There is always fly in the
ointment. When 1 hear the criticisms
made upon these worthy ladies, whose
only sin is that they are parsons wives.
1 am sometimes tempted to ask critics,
as Deacon Bulge did me when could
not find a COW to my mind, ." Hev ye
any idee what sort of a critter would
suit yeP''
AS the parish will not let the parsons
wife alone, nor allow her the same free
dom in the pursuit of liberty and hap
piness it permits to other women, l
think each sect ought to establish train
where young women who
ho