Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-25
&burcbe.]

| ly and gave away the remainder of his in
come. When at Oxford he had thirty
pounds $50 one year,. He lived on twenty
eight pounds and gave Two away. Next
year having sixty pounds he lived on
twenty-eight pounds and gave away thirty
two pounds The third year he had ninety
pounds and the fourth year 40. yet he still
limited himself TO twenty-eight pounds and
gave away the remainder. 1t is said that
In the course of his life he gave away not
! less tran :D,'DD pounds. This sum was
chiefly derived from the sale of his writ
ings. He was a man of business. his own
printer and book seller. and managed his
affairs with economy and success.
Ills failure arose from the misapplica-
tion of those qualities by which he tri-
umphed. At K:ngswood. near Bristol. he
set up boarding school for the of
his preachers. He devised the discipline Of
the school and ordered that each day should
be divided into three parts: Eight hours for
sleep. from 8 at night until the next
morning: eight hours for study and eight
hours for meals and meditation.
John Wesley could see no use for play.
Amusement was prescribed at the Kings
wood school. The hours not spent in sleep
and study were to be used for prayer. self
examination, singing. working in garden
in fine weather and in the house In wet
weather. The boys were never to be left
alone. but always under the eye of mas
ter. who was to keep them busy from idle
talk. There Were no holidays and no vaca-
tons. for Wesley held a week from
Were forming.
"Kingswood School would not work and
gave Wesley endless trouble. The rules
We're perpetually broken. He never APP
peared to have the least appreciation Of
the fact that he was striving for the i'm
possible. OF the nature of boyhoOd. of En-
glsh boyhood. with its inherited love for
cricket. foot ball and other athletic sports,
he had no conception. He could not under
stand why he could not turn out rows OF
young Wesleys. caring for nothing but work
and devotion.
In his forty-eighth year he married Mrs.
ViZelle. widow with q fortune and four
children. Her money Wesley would not
touch. Sometime before his marriage he
had published Thoughts on a Single Life
In this he extOlled celibacy and advised
the unmarried who found it possible to do
so. to remain single. alleging that he him
self was bachelor. because he thought
he could be more use In that state.
1T was sad day for John Wesley when
he changed his mind and fell in love with
the widow ViZelle. He stipulated that with
her he should not preach one sermon less
nor travel one mile the less after marriage
than before. With these views what could
wife be to him but an incumhyance? At
first she conformed to his ascetic habits and
travelled with him. She soon grew tired
of this and of the society Of the humble
Methodists to whom she was introduced
She began to grumble. Wesley was too
busy to attend to her walls. Then she
grew jealous. opened his letters. followed
him from town to town a spy.
wesley was not man to be henpecked
Know me-. he wrote to her. and know
yourself. Suspect me no more, asperse me
no more. provoke me no more; do not any
longer contend for mastery, for power or
money. Be content to be a private. insig-
nficant person. known and loved by God
and me. OF what Importance is your char
acter to mankind? If you were buried
just now. or if you have never lived. what
less would it be to the cause of Cod?
After having been a thorn in his side
for twenty years. she left his house. car
rying off his journals and papers. which
she never returned In his diary he wrote
1 did not forsake her. l did not dismiss
her. / will not recall her She lived ten
years after her flight and died in 1871 at
Comberwell. where stone in the church.
yard attests that she was a woman of ex-
emplary virtue. tender parent and sin
cere friend but 1t mercifully said nothing
of her conjugal life.
"Southey said Of her: BY her outrageous
jealousy and abominable temper she de-
serves to be classed In a triad with Kan
tippe and the wife OF Job as one of the
three bad wives"