The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-10-02
Clever Women Discuss The Duties of q Wife.

| Miss Frances Griffin in a recent issue of
 the Montgomery Advertiser discusses
 with characteristic candor Wesley's atti- tude to womanknd. The domestic rela- | lions of Wesley were of such nature | that his cratic ideas of duty" are in | little danger of ever being published in
 book form or becoming a manual of ed-
 ucation for young women. Miss Griffin
 pays her respects to MT. Wesley in her
 sensible and interesting article which
 was being discussed yesterday and warm ! ly endorsed by a number of Birmingham | women.
 1 The article of Miss Griffin, supplement- | ed by the opinions of Mrs. Samuel Will | John, who lead in the discussion, follows:
 In these days of Wesleyan anniversa- l ries, comments Miss Griffin. there Is 1 quotation of Wesley that is supposed to l contain dead shot for all aspiring or ' insubordinate wives to the effect that all 7, the duties of a wife are comprised in
 two, viz:
 1. "That she must recognize herself as | inferior to her husband; and ?. That she
 must behave as such"
 Acting upon that principle, his married life was a. warning to all like minded people.
 What ever authority dlscernment and religious matters. his want of knowledge of women, was his great undoing When he went out to find a woman
 who would admit that she was inferior to him she generally was. But what he want
 ed with such, I cannot mako out. Why | did he not want his equal, who could | stand shoulder to shoulder with him in
 the great work he sought to establish;
 strengthen him in the weak hours and
 dark days; advise and restrain his impet-
 uosty supply his place when he was un-
 able to be at two places at once; in 1 short be to him a back-action, stem winding, double -barreled, breach-loaL r | that possessed energy and zeal equal to | his own? There were plenty of such | women in his day. Instead of that, when- | ever he got sick and some nurse-gr
 brought him a hot compress or a few drops of peppermint, immediately he pro- posed marriage to her.
 | His brother Charles and the deacons,
 broke up such cratic plans, whenever | they could know of it in time; but as 1t
 was renewed at every spell of indiges-
 tion, their vigilance was finally eluded
 and he married one of those fral, fair
 creatures who was willing for him to pro- pound his theory. that the woman was inferior to her husband, and she lived up l to 1t.
 One of his difficulties was. that he only considered women as class and not as individuals Another mistake was, that he had no idea of the value of a home. nor the part he should take in its es- tablishment. He was constantly In mo- ton traveling from one end of Great Brit ain to the other, and he had little at-
 tention to spare to a woman or to home. He could not possibly be authority
 concerning affairs of marriage. He never l failed, however. in his older age to warn
 young preachers against marrying
 Paul did that too wasn't it queer? ] When really. that is the chief reason why 1 men are fascinating and women are ire
 sistible. that they may not be able to
 thwart the designs of God, by any cold
 blooded theories of their own
 Apropos of the foregoing, Mrs. John
 comments as follows
 | l nel," but at the same time a little grey
 mouse can look at the sparkling queen. This latter position is mine before that
 brainy Frances Griffin. She takes my
 thought concerning MT. Wesley.
 As the possessor of noble ancestry,
 we do not wonder that the gifts were l extended to him. nor that study broad 1 ened and cultivated those talents. We do 1 marvel, however. at his slow conception
 of woman (but what man ever read wo-
 man aright) While MT. Wesley's whole | being was absorbed in salvation of souls, l he was deficient in that great character l istie, common sense. that makes the in- | dividual life an earthly success. Never awakening to this deficiency, he blindly
 went forth yielding to fascination and 1 impulse as love.
 1 In this day of pressure and competi- l tion would it not be comical in any of | us to have tour brethren" decide the
 question of matrimony for us? | Right there comes the rub" in this wonderful mans life. Living a life of l faith and love. doing the Masters work. relying alone on Gods guidance. he for