Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-24

happy. It must be owing to faith in this
that theological students have q habit Of
rushing into matrimony in the most hap
hazard and reckless fashion. They fall in
love while at college and marry at the first
possible minute almost, when perhaps they
have hardly enough money to pay weeks
board. Henry Ward Beecher married in
opposition to the advice OF his friends as
soon as he received his first "call." His
father, out Of the depths of his own
experience urged him to wait until he had
something ahead and a fair prospect; but
no; the hot-headed boy listened to nothing
but his own wishes, and dearly he had to
pay for it, until his matchless eloquence
and his superior abilities won for him
pulpit where he received enough salary to
live upon comfortably and to pile up for .
rainy day. When he first went to house
keeping, however, he vas painfully poor.
To keep his fire burning he had to 60 to the
river and catch driftwood. With his wife
sick in bed with malaria, homesickness and
Encouragement, be had to act as nurse, to do
the housework and seize q little time occa-
sionally for his sermons. The story is pa
thetic, and many men with less energy,
cheerfulness and buoyancy would have sunk
under such experience; but, as accounts go,
it broke his wife's spirit and detracted from
the best joys OF home, and the sweetest hap
piness of honor and success, and perhaps led
to the greatest sorrow of his life.
Another promising young minister we are
told of left college with high honors and
glowing hopes. The prophecy was made of
him that he would reach the glittering
heights of fame as q doctor of divinity.
His first ''call' was to country parish,
with an income of $500. With all
the rush and devotion of q modern
Romeo, he, at ohce, married Juliet, whose
face was her only fortune. It took but little
time for the wolf to reach the door. His
salary, small as it was, was hard to collect
from the hard-handed, close-fsted farming
population. Three babies in less than five
years, with incessant toll and anxiety, and
the worry of bills for nurses and doctors
broke the young wife down, and her death
left him to fight the battle alone. The good
sisters Of the village did not spare their re-
proaches. He had no business to get mar
ried, said they, until he was able to support
a wife and family. He should have taken
heed to the admonitions of st. Paul and re-
mained single, until he had something to go
on, or else should have married someone
with monev, was the general opinion. How
ever, he bore up, and after the regulation
year of mourning he invited his pretty sister,
in-law to take his late Wife's place and be q
mother to her sisters children. NO" said
she, with more emphasis than pollteness.
No, will never marry preacher while the
world stands. I've seen enough OF that sort
of life to do me for thousand years.
THE MINISTER'S WIFE.
But if . minister's life is made hard by
small means, and, as follows, by worldly
cares and bitter dependence, his wife has
still heavier burden in that she is usually
blamed for improvIdence, and found fault
with by the congregation for an infinite
number of shortcomings. A recent fuss in
q congregation brought out complaints, that
Mrs. Reverend Blank got too many bonnets,
considering her husbands means. (These
were gifts from friends as it turned out, al
though this fact was not proclaimed from
the housetops.) She was too fond OF society,
too much company, was not so
devoutly disposed as was becoming in her
position, was not as regular in her attend
ance upon the means of grace as she should
be-even if she had five small children-was
3 little lax in missionary work, and rather
disposed to question the propriety OF sending
money to Siam, when the church itself
needed it so badly. In short, she was set
down as rather more selfish than self-sacri-
ticing. while her poor husband was abund-
antly pitied and moaned over, as having
made serious matrimonial mistake.
But while preachers wives in the past |
have usually been sweetlY subservent,
humble-minded, and not prone to |
exhibiting any resentment or righteous |
wrath when attacked, still of late they have |
been picking up spirit enough to defy their |
critics and sister antagonists. We hear OF |
Dne who refuses to go to church save when |
she feels like it. She will take no part in |
sewing societies, or missionary meetings, or
church bazaars and suppefs. She will, NOT |
lead in prayer, nor take the chair on any
occasion. She stays at home and writes |
novels, which, as she says, pays her better |
and insures more comfort and independence
in the family, and the congregation may
either like itor lump it
The testimony Of minister's wives is that |
their lot is not a bed of roses, but rather
,ne that is studded thickly with thorns and !
histles that are thrust In on every side. /"
The moral of all the books written upon the
ubject and the tales that are told out Of
chool is that the only way to have some
ort of q good time as a preachers wife is
or her to have an independent fortune in
Ter own right. Under such a condition OF
Ifairs the wolf and Mrs. Grundy can 60
lang. Bessie BRAMBLE.