The Savannah morning news., 1901-10-13
In l754 there had been 1Os children

DeIoIe the Union society In 1900, ROD-
ert II. Griffin paid beautiful tribute
TO this remarkable woman. Born
amid the splendor of high rank, young,
beautiful, eminently gifted, rarely ac-
compllshed daughter and wife of belted
earls, worshipped by all who knew her,
ana ruler of her set lordly and Illus
trlous array of genius and irreligion.
stricken with illness she suddenly saw
light which she had needed but not
sought, and rose follower of the Wes-
leys. She was not the woman to fear
conventionalities or dread the loss of
social influence. She gave herself at
once, with all her native enthusiasm,
10 the work, and until death remained
uilWaVerlngly the same. The names of
other women. equally exalted in rank,
her contemporaries and friends, have
passed into oblivion, or come down TO
us with no claims to extraordinary re
spect, but above the grave of Selma,
countess of Huntingdon, sweet flowers
perpetually bloom and grateful hands
increasingly cast votive chaplets." Re-
lglous fervor marked her through a
nalf century of life, but was modified
oy sagacious judgment and practical
energy. To the affairs of Bethesda she
gave immediate attention. The plans
Oh Whlteneld were we'll known to her
ana she desired their prosecution to the
ENDS he had sought, the glory of God
through the creation of an educated
ministry, and the rearing under Chris
tlan influences of such orphans as
might come under the charge of the
nome. With her, as with Whitefield in
MS last years, the college apparently
oveTshadowed the charity.
Lady Huntingdon took up the task
that had dropped from the hands Of
Whitefield. A copy of the will had
peen Drought to England by Cornelius
Winter, who had been associated with
Whltefeld in America, working prin-
clpally among the negroes and with
such success that letters had been Civ
en- him by Gov Wright and the rector
OF Christ Church parish, recommend
ing him for ordination. This was re-
FUSED by the ecclesiastical authorities,
much to the disappointment of Mr..
Haoersham and others who had ex-
peetations of establishing a church of
negroes through his instrumentality.
Ihere are few, and of no inconsid-
cradle property" wrote Habershan to
him, who would be glad to have their
black servants become fellow heirs
with them and partakers of the inner
itance undefiled that fadeth not away"
Mr.. Winter, whether from cause or
thC ollOdllOH III Georgia
through the eyes of disappointment,
reported affairs at the orphan house
as in discouraging, almost deplorable,
state. He says" wrote Rev. John
Berridge to Lady Huntingdon, that
tnere are but few orphans in the house
ana no symptoms of grace in any. Mr..
wright has the whole nagement of
the house, who, according to my little
knowledge of him, seems neither to
have zeal nor grace enough for the
work. Mr.. Whitefield, when in Geor-
gia, made sumptuous feast on a Sun
day, for all the better dressed people,
intending to renew this every year by
way of commemoration; but 1 hope you
will put stop to this quitting bust
ness. / wish the orphan house may
not soon became a mere bluecoat hospi-
tai and grammar school,"
The impression had been created in
the minds of Georgia's Governor and
Council that on the death of Whitefield
Bethesda would be placed in their
hands. While there was some disap-
pointment at his disposition of
the property, no obstacles were put in
the way of Lady Huntingdon or of
Mr.. Habersham as executor for Geor-
gia under the will. Lady Huntingdon's
housekeeper was soon sent over to di-
I6CI liic uOHl6SllC affairs Oh btlH6Sud.
The Rev. Mr.. Crosse, who had been in
Mr.. Whitefield's service, and who was
at the time vicar of Bradford, was
chosen as chaplain and master of the
house; and Mr.. Percy, rector of St.
PauPS Church, Charleston, then in
England, was selected as president of
the institution, and general agent of
the Countess in the administration of
its temporal affairs. Lady Hunting
don was not satisfied that the work
should go on, even under the direction
of specially selected representatives,
without having been on the ground
and studied its wants and opportuni-
ties herself. A visit to Georgia. became
one of the cherished ideas of her life;
a dream of usefulness in a new world,
freed from the social restraints and
obligations of the old, devoted to the
planting of seed in a fertile soil where
the harvest would be unhampered by
the noXious and sitting growths that
centuries of mans depravity and sell
fish ambitions had generated in Eng
land. The horizon of her plans broad-'
ened. Looking into the future she
saw Bethesda the center of religious
influences radiating in all directions,
reaching and guiding the lives not
only of the colonists and their slaves
but of the aboriginies as we'll. The
scope of its work would be like an
ever widening circle. AS with her
mentor. Lady Huntingdon had long
since set aside self, and the sacrifice
involved in a voyage across the At
lantic and a residence of considerable
duration in the colony would have
been none too great for her to have
made. But the opportunity never
came. At the time of Whitefield's
death she was 60 years of age. But
for the revolution intervening 1t is
highly probable that she would have
visited the scenes of Whitefield's labors
in America and have sought to direct
at first hand the project that had been
so dear to his soul.
Missions for Georgia.
Under her auspices, though, a more
ambitious undertaking was begun than
even Whitefield had contemplated. Be
thesda was to become the heart of
mission movement to the colonies.
Here students would be trained for the
grand work of evangelization. From
IL a chain of churches would spread to
the borders of the long thin stretch of
coast country beyond which the red
man still stood as barrier to the adj
vance of an alien people before whom
he was soon to recede and disappear
1t was not a chimerical scheme;
IL was designed with the same
reliant and ardent faith that had led
Whitefleld to establish Bethesda in
an Impoverished and almost dying set