The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1899-12-17
MINISTER'S. WIVES.

V me one evening, when on my
return home from the bedside
of patient little sufferer, met a
minister's wife and had a few min
utes' chat with her. For give me,
sister, if I misunderstood you. but
it seemed to me that your sweet
sensitive heart had been a little
touched. and as / came on home
thought more and more of the life
of minister's wife. l shall speak
first of the disadvantages and then
of the advantages, as / see them.
To begin with, not only is she with
out a home, but in one sense she is
without a name; the preacher n
our minister, but she is our minis
ter's wife. Sne must of course be
the acme of perfection. She must
dress poorly, so that her dress will
not keep even the poorest of the
congregation from church. She
must also dress well and stylishly,
so that the wealthy will feel proud
OF their minister's wife. She must
never think of her home and chill
dren, but must always visit every
member of the church that is sick.
She must never stay at home to do
her work, because there is so much
church work for her to do. but she
must always have her house neat,
clean and dustless so that IL any.
one should drop in (which only
happens about every fifteen min.
utes) they will have respect for the
minister's wife as q housekeeper.
When they move to a new place she
must listen with patience to each
member of the church, that has not
been working, while they give her
the history of every difficulty that
has ever occurred in the church:
of course she must have no opinion
of her OWE, but she must make ev-
cry faction believe that she thinks
they are right. What she calls her
home belongs to the church, so, of
course, if the church members want
to have anything at a time that no
one else wants tbem, they can 60 to
her home. If any preachers come
in town, of course the minister's
wife is supposed to work for them.
She must smile and never let the
heartache appear visible when told
repeatedly about how much more
work the former minister's wife
has done. Last of all, bat by no
means least, / speak of salary. If
these good people ever get their
money at all, it is given in such
little pieces that it is like our hay
ing $500 in 81. 90 pieces. eWe all
know that if we have the So 90 bill
it goes farther. Yet they never
have the $75 or 500 at one time.
She must leave home, friends and
loved ones and go among strangers
and be perfectly contented and
never home-sick. No courtesy,
such as calling on her first and re-
turning calls. must be shown her.
for she is the minister's wife, and
is supposed to get out and get ac-
quainted with every member Of the
church. Christ himself could not
please everybody yet if there is
one objection to the minister's wife
they must move on" For fear
our ministers wives will all resign
their positions if i paint this pic
ture- much darker, let me reverse
the canvas.
I once heard o preachers wide
say that the church had not hired
her to do the church work" That
because our husbands were hired
down in town we did not go. down
there to. work. True, the church
did not, but we consider you our
model and you will get yoRr pay,
where the earnest church workers
will get theirs. To us you are the
highest type Of woman. You are
our ideal of a perfect wife and
neither. The hearts ovefburdened
with care and strife feel that to you
they can 60 and find a friend that