New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-12-18

Church in this city. and the women are the
wives of clergyrnen the country over. For the
New-York clergyman has been reported as say
ing that too many ministers wives are falures.
II all came about in the most unprecedented
fashion. DR.. Rainsford had championed the
right Of Episcopal deaconesses TO marry. Some
one remarked that il they did marry they would
all be snapped up by clergymen. whereupon the
rector of ST. Georges Church replied that this
would be a good thing as the deaconesses thor
oughly understood church work and the average
clergynans wife did
Not only are ministers wives by the thou
sand studying the problem DIR. Rainsford's
words provoked but their husbands are fgur-
fng il out and many and woman in their
congregations are asking the question: is our
minister's wife failure?
Nearly every clergvman's wife thinks she
knows the sort of wifely support her husband
needs Nearly every clergyman is sure he knows
what of a wife he needs. But, after ALL
IL is the members of the congregation who are
positive that they know whether or not the
minister's wife is failure.
A bright young woman. having graduated
from a prominent college into the rectory Of
small parish. wrote home to her mother:
II thought / had married just one man, and
he the dearest III the whole wide world, but
find that have welded an entire congregation.
thought was to smooth the way for just one
pair of tired feet. but 1 find that 1 have taken
a contract TO throw oil troubled waters for
q not entirely harmonious family Of two hun
dre6 souls NV dear mother. when We children
alI came down with the measles you thought
your cup OF domestic full i would
rather face five simultaneous cases of measles
eny day than make my initial appearance at
a Ladies' Aid meeting. I had mysteries that
night at the dinner table. and only Henrys
keen NJ we'd
The failure of another minister's bride
on different lines. She felt that she had been
called TO matrimony as to a mission. At col
lege she had been president of the Christian
work among her classmates. She had met her
husband at a summer school for Christian
workers. and they had mixed missions and love-
making in the most elevated fashion. There
was nothing she did not know about church
genization. There woman's meeting
she was not competent 10 lead. She promised
10 be a power among the young people. and
che approached the marriage altar in that
spirit OF exaltaticn peculiar TO foreign mis-
sionaries. There were moments when her fami-
~. particularly her mother, wondered whether
she marrying the man or his work. All
this however. before the middle aged English
woman who had presided over her husbands
tiny manse during his bachelorhood had been
summoned to her native land to claim an es-
tate
Her departure was the signal for 2 procession
of incompetent servants, from whose clutches
the enthusiastic bride escaped, a social wreck
The little dinners at the rectory, which had
made the young clergyman and his wife so
popular with their vestry. suddenly ceased. Her
husbands sermons lost their optimistic tone
because he was attacked by nervous dyspepsia.
Then one awful morning Mrs. L, the heav-
fest contributor 20 the support Of the church.
dropped in to see the pastors wife, and found
her welding a feather buster.
My dear girl, don't you know that feather
busters are positively unsanitarv? l always de-
cline to employ maid who admits having made
Use Of one. Soft old gauze for bric-a -brac
canton flannel for woodwork, and silk or
chamois for the piano. I will send you a COM
plete set this afternoon"
The troubled little bride could not quite un-
derstand why. but from that day the women of
her husbands fock began TO make the most an
moving morning calls. each armed With a piece
OF household advice until 1t was borne in upon
the tired womans soul that a clergyman's wife
might work her fingers off for the poor, lead
meetings day and night and teach a Sunday
school class but If she could not make light
biscuit as well as parishoner, or the
mayonnaise dressing for which another was
famed she would be held to be a fiat failure as
her husbands wife. The dual role of Mary and
Martha proved too much for even her fresh en-
ergies and buoyant nature, and she resigned
as leader of some five six societies to take a
course Of lessons at the local cooking school
Some young clergymen. particularly those who
come OF long line of ministers and church
workers, take the bull by the horns at the very
start. and do not permit their wives 10 become
entangled in the bewildering skein of paro-
chial work. One young preacher who had
ascertained early in his pastorate that the wom-
en- Of his congregation were given to disputation
and quarreling, thought long and earnestly and
prayerfully over his approaching marriage. At
the last prayer meeting held before his wedding
cay. when the ruling spirits Of the congregation
were around him. he arose and read brief
address from which the following extracts are
taken.
He began his remarks by quoting ST. Paurs
beautiful description OF the Christian wife and
mother; then laying aside his Testament. he con-
tinued:
MY friends when meet again my wife
will be at my side. I want to tell YOU that
shall exact nothing more from her than ST
Paul sets forth in those verses and feel sure
that you, my flock Will be satisfied If she
lives up to that standard A minister's wife
IS no more called upon to minister before the
Lord than was the wife of Zacharias in the old
Gays. II is the business Of the minister's wife
30 be a keeper at home first: TO look after her
husband and family that he shall be able
20 DO the Masters work 20 the best Of his
power. II is her duty to give only so much Of
her thought and time and Dor TO the advance
Tnent Of the church is consistent with her
home duties. A clergymans wife does not take
the vows he takes. does she promise any
more than any other believer in Christ prom
ises when she joins her fortunes and her future