The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-15

NC NOACl otCQ IL iACI DSduly HICO LIlE
hearts of the male members of the par
ish. She must be a "chaste keeper at
home" and yet a visitor not only
among the poor, the sick and the af-
fiicted, but in all tbs households of the
people. She was the ordained pres
ident of all the missionary. maternal,
charitable and sewing societies formed
among the women, and a leader in the
Sunday-school and female prayer
meeting" And to crown the whole,
she was expected to administer her
husbands usually meager salary so
that it would cover all expenses, al
though it was partly paid in meal and
potatoes for the family, and hay and
oats, for the horse, with spareribs and
roasts of beef at killing time" and a
donation party at the end of the
year.
When l became the wife of a Uni
versalist minister, over fifty years ago,
the most lugubrious prophecies of dis
aster attended me, for l was then a
member of a very conservative "evan-
gelicaP church. The apprehensions of
my friends, which were never realiz-
ed sprang from their ignorance of the
unlikeness of Orthodox and Liberal
parishes. Both Unitarianss and Uni
versalists were, at that time, in the
thick of their mighty struggle for ex-
istence, with the whole Orthodox world
banded against them. The members of
the two denominations were either
come cutters" from the older churches,
or recent converts to what their oppon-
ents regarded as fatal heresies, and
were ostracised by their former breth-
rem.
Enthusiastic in their defense of what
they regarded as truth, and confident
"a lie
very tolerant within their own lines,
and were bound together in a friend
ship born of battle for the right. There
was less organized work for women
within their parishes, and the minis
ter's wife, as a rule, suffered little
among them from exactions or criti-
cism.
All this l learned from personal OBJ
servation and experience, and from the
condolences of heavily burdened "paro-
chial wives" in the older churches.
Their grievances were not confined to
private utterance alone. For sudden
ly, like bolt from a clear sky, a lit
tie book, entitled 1.-THE Shady Side. +"
made it's sensational debut in church
circles and was read by everybody. The
author was evidently a woman of spir-
it, whose lot had been cast with an
uncongenial parish, where she had been
supervised and nagged beyond human
endurance. 1t was followed innne-
diately by THE Sunny Side," written
by Mrs. Phelps, the mother of the dis
tlnguished author, Mrs. Elizabeth
Stuart Phelps. She wrote from a. diff.
1erent standpoint. The wife Of an emf
nent clergyman, and the daughter of
another, who was a power in Andover
theological Seminary, her lot was cast
among refined and cultivated peonle
from Whom she received love and helm
Iuiness, While the other one met onlv
crltlclsm and hindrance. Mrs. Phelps
became the pet of her husbands par
ish. whereas the author of THE shady
Side" was made bone of conten.
ton"
Both books were widely read and
much discussed. publicly and private-
~ 1t began to dawn upon the com
| Hlunlty that ministers wives were an
| oppressed class, whose grievances
could only be redressed by giving them
| an amount of freedom and seIf-ownAr-
snip hitherto denied them. This i'm
preston was depend by an occur
renee IN Central Illinois, during the
CVn war Inc wife of a Presbyterian
clergyman, an intellectual, studious
woman, the mother of his six children
VINO was exemplary as wife. mother
ana housekeeper, came to dishelieva
the creed OF her husbands church IN
winch she had been educated. and had
hitherto accepted. This gave great
onense to her husband, his deaeons
ana the Leading people of his parish,
ana carefully complying with the req
ular forms or law they pronounced her
.nsane ana paced her in the insane
asylum at Jacksonville, Illinois
Here she was incarcerated for +hroo
years all the while holding herself
| calmly and steadily to one burmese
| 10 appeal to the courts of the state
Tor an investigation of her case yvban
she felt sure of release. AT last shn
succeeded. By a writ of habeae cornns
she was taken before the Circuit Court
when jury of twelve men pronounc'
ed her sane, after an investigation of
! d week, ana she was relieved from all
! restraint incompatible with her con-
| dition as sane woman. Although tha
| country was then in the last tbroa. -
the great war, the story of this as-
| touulnS outrage upon religious Uhert,,
and personal freedom went averv,
where, awakening universal indigns-
tlon. So infamous an outrage could
not be enacted to-day, even II a. clerI-
cal husband and his people desired n
TOT the renglous and theological hor-
| ZION mas Wldened since then. and there
is growing federation of ali churcbes
along the lines of educational and NH,
lanthropic work, without regard n
| creeds 70
Since then Father Hyacinthe. the lin.
eral French priest, who renounced bJs
VOW or celibacy and married an AroerS
lean woman, has argued in the New
YORK independent that 1.-The husband is
70 olrect the conscience of his wife pre-
ciseiy as the rather directs that of his
chllo. But nobody took up the gAunt-
iet mat the priest threw down. For
the colleges had opened their doors 10
women by this time, who were stu
dlously acquiring knowledge and abil-
lty Tor the personal direction of their
own consciences. This they have found
more satisfactory, and quite as safe as
the method advocated by Father Hya-
cinthe. Milton taught the same doc
trine in his famous line, HE, for God
only-She, for God in him." But wo-
men unlearned that long ago.
The Old Testament Scriptures CON-
tain the story of the conquest of the
ancient city Of Jericho by the Israel
ties. The priests marched round the
city seven days, blowing trumpets. ac-
compnied by the people. On the sew
enth day they all gave a great shout.
when the walls of the city fell down.
and the people went in and took pos
session. / have heard no blare of
trumpets or shouts of the people, or
yet the thunder of the falling walls.
But see that the walls are down. and
that women have entered positions
heretofore closed TO them. and are TAX
ing possession Of privileges and rights