Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1894-04-26
THE MINISTER'S WIFE.

themselves when they LETT the place.
They had all been married men; they
had all had large families and small
salaries, and they had never given
satisfaction. After the first few
months the trustees had groaned over
the salary; the elders decided that
Brother A. wasn't gifted in prayer;
the congregation complained Of not
being visited enough, Of not being
sufficiently edited, and wondered
whether the minister couldn't do
more good in another place. And
then matters came to crisis, and
there was a vacancy in the Farming
vale pulpit, and a succession OF
ministers young and old, who preached
by request and generally made fav-
orable impression. And finally an
other call was made, another pastor
came, who was welcomed cordially,
treated to donation parties, and then
descended in popular favor until his
light died out in darkness.
Farmingvale was particularly un-
fortunate in this respect; it was IN
fact famed for its dismission Of pas
tors without peculiar provocahon'
Many a grave, middle-aged man gave
good advice to Arthur Bartlett, the
newly-hedged clergyman, who had
proclaimed himself ready to be IN
stalled as pastor Of the church in
Farmingvale. Men of much expert
ence had failed there-able men, too,
whose orthodoxy could not be doubted.
Bartlett was a man Of promise-why
should he doom himself to disappolnt-
ment at the beginning of his career?
Nobody approved of the act; but
Bartlett, ardent, hopeful, and only
twenty-five, was all the more resolved
to accept the call. He hoped to sue
ceed where no one else mad ever sue
ceeded; to do good, to become beloved,
and to end his days where Re had be-
gun his work. 1t was pure and
beautiful ambition, although worldly
men might smile at it as being very
humble. So Arthur Bartlett came to
Farmingvale, and stood before the
pulpit during the ceremony of install
lation, and received the charge with
an humble determination God being
his helper) to obey it; and the next
Sabbath stood in the pulpit and
preached unto the people.
There are some young men who
have woman's beauty without being
efeminate. Arthur Bartlett was one
of these. He had soft, golden-brown
hair which could not be called red by
his greatest enemy, broad, high fore
head. white as flesh and blood could
be, and color that came and went,
now the faintest tinge of rose, now
deepest carnation. Moreover, he was
neither puny nor ungraceful, stood
straight as an arrow, and had a voice
clear and singularly musical, and
powerful enough to fill the church
without an effort
That day bright eyes looked up at
the young minister, and many a GIRL
if the truth were known, thought
more of his fair face than of his ser
mon. But he preached with all his
heart in the words he uttered, and
thought not at all of anyone of them.
Perhaps they did not quite under
stand this; for that day the young
ladies took violent fancy to the new
minister, and most of them resolved
to do all they could to make Farm
ingvale pleasant for him. OF course
he would marry soon. He needed a
wife, they decided. Sewing societies.
fairs and tea-drinkings followed each
other in quick succession. Farming
vale, so to speak, caroused, though In
a genteel and virtuous fashion, tor
the next three months, and Miss Al
len, the dressmaker, took new ap-
prentice, and superintendent the fit-
ting department herself, leaving the
needle to vulgar hands, so great was
the demand upon her skill. New
bonnets, fearfully and wonderfully
made, came by express from "thf
city" and the five Misses Marden ex'
cited unparalleled envy by appearing
in pink dresses.
There had never been such a sue
cessful minister before; nobody darec
to find fault with him. upheld by al
the womankind of Tcrmingvale-
young and old, graRdmothers, grand