Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1885-01-16

I less and prOiligatc people OF ZIP.
worth repaying him with bitter op
position and even injury. BY much
sickness in his family, losses by
fire, poor crops, cheating parish
ioners, and importunate creditors
'by the malice Of those who hated
both his ecclesiastical and State
politics., Mr.. Wesley was often
thrown in sore straits. At one
time we find the rector and his wife
Joining stocks which came to but
six shillings to send for Goals; : tho
next day he gratefully acknowl
edges a gift Of flO from the Count
ess of Northampton.
He was possessed Of strong faitl
and undaunted spirit, for, when
arrested in his own churchyard
and thrown into Lincoln Castle for
debt. he writes TO the Archbishop
of York, / hope TO rise again as
have always done whom at the
lowest, and thin, cannot be
much lower now. / serve a Master
who cannot be deceived, and who
l am sure will never l0rsake me-
We find Ms. Wesley at this
troublous time in delicate health,
hernew.born infant dead through
the carclcssness of a nurse, sur
rounded by those whose malice
was not satisfied with the incarcer-
ton Of her husband, but even
vented their spite upon his helpless
family, stabbing the COWS which
Welded the inmates Of The rect0ry
their chief support, and manning
the faithful watchdog. But all
these trials she bore, says her nus
band, with that courage which
becomes her, and which ] expected
Of her With wifely tenderness
she sent her imprisoned husband
'ncr rings, because she had moth
ing else to relieve me with
Mr.. Wesley's friends advised
him to leave such an ungrateful
field, but he writes, even from pris
on, Il may yet do good there, and
t is like COW ard to desert my
| pos, because the enemy fire ,hicl
upon me- One can readily see
where the founder Of MethodiSm
gotmuchof the uuAinching bravery
which upheld him in the midst Of
obloQuy and persecution.
But time grew better, though
/ the Epworth household was al.
ways pinched and straitened. I'VE
never did want Bread writes Mrs.
Wesley, 'but / had 50 much care
/ to get it before it was eat, and to
pay for it after, as has often made
it very unpleasant to me-
Yet in spite of straitened means
and under adverse circumstances
this gracious, lovely woman direct.
ed her household with 'calm
serenity, transacted business,
wrote letters, aud conversed, sur
rounded by her thirteen children
'She lived by rule, methodlzed,
and arranged everything 50 that to
each operation she had time and
time sufficient to transact all busi-
ness Of the family The regular
hour for her childrcn's rising, re-
tiring, eating, learning, and cXer-
else was never suffered to be
broken, except in cas- 80. sickness
The concerns Of the large house
hold moved as by clOckwOrk,' and
that most Odious noise Of the crying
Of children was rarely heard in The
house, but the family usually LIVED
in as much Quietness as if there
had not been a child among them.
From the Sabbath evening Bible
readings and other religious exer
cises this piOus aud indefatiga bl'
mother held with her children grew
revival of large proportions, the
neighbors coming in and begging
to remain, until, as the notice o
| Mrs. Wesley's ex ercises passed
from one to a mother, the house wal
filed, more than two hundred at
tending. The curate advised th,
absent rector Of 'the conyenticle
his wife was ass embling. and Mr.
Wesley, a man Of irritable tempe
and rather narrow church views
requests his wife to dcsist from hel
meetings, as they appear 'ratheI
particular Bat great good wa'
accomplished by this means, anC
the impression made upon he
children must have been deep and
lasting.
1t was a cOmely, interesting
group of lads and lassies that filled
the low rooms Of the thatched rec
tory, or wandered through the flax
fields adjacent.
Samuel, the eldest, we end learn
ing the alphabet in a few hours an,
beginning at once to learn to reaC
in the first chapter of Genesis. IL
became a ine scholar, and, ,althougl
IN orders, owing to the many Ell
tanglements common to the prefer