The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-08-22
AmoNg the Books

.4tn011gstk1e Books
"a Circuit Riders WIFE,"
BY Cora Harris. with illustrations
by William II. Everett. Henry Aitemus
Company, OF Philadelphia.
"A book unlike any other, In that IT
lis sensational. but sane. It is tho
story Of two Methodist itinerants who
pracuced the Beatitudes for thirty
years among the people on backwoods
circuits The application Of worldly
philosophy to heavenly things viii
the tender eRulgence OF humor which
CLOVIS on every page gives 1t a pes
culiar and happy fascination.
Any one who reads this book will
meet for the first time some special
heart secrets, and will finish 1t with
q deeper feeling OF religious sym
patty. ".The Circuit Riders WIFE,
says in beginning to her book
audience:
But now, after an absence OF near
ly thirty years. I am addressing this
series OF letters to the people Of the
world concerning life and conditions
In another, removed from this one
by the length of country roads, by tho
plate glass surface OF the religious
mind. They will record some expe-
riences OF two Methodist Itinerants,
and whatever think besides, for they
are written more particularly to re-
lieve my mind of a very great burden
of opinions, for William has been pro-
noted. He has received his LIZ d. in
the Kingdom of Heaven by this time.
II there are any degrees or giving OF
degrees there, along with Moses and
Elijah. And doubt II there Is more
respected saint In that great com
pany.''
After describing with whimsical
humor the difference between herself,
conventionally brought up young
woman OF Middle Georgia, In the Epis-
copal Church. and the wide gap be-
tween her worldliness and Williams
sancuty, she tells how she met her
future spouse. She informs the reader
that she was going to tea at the
Mallarys' and that she wore a green
muslin. very tight in the waist, but
faring In the skirt, like tho spring
boughs Of a young bay tree. She was
introduced to William and Immediate
~ hoped that he would ask her to
marry him, which he did. She naively
goes on to state that they were en-
gagged In O week and married in a
month.
The Impression is borne in upon the
mind that THE Circuit Riders Wife"
was pretty. high-spirtted young girl.
though in referring to her looks she
only says she had corn-tassel hair
and complexion that betrayed her
emotions Wonder as to the sitting
OF these emotions arises. for she tells
that. when at the conclusion Of a
twenty-mile buggy--ride on her we'd
ding day. her husband lifted her down
at the door of modest home and
welcomed her with kiss, that same
kiss was trihe too much like a
benediction.
Here was a woman who loved
gaiety, brightness and all that the
world could give Of JOY, turning her
back on 1t every bit, and casting her
lot among the poorest and the hum
blest OF people, whom she and VIII
liam afterward served. Unlike Lots
wife. however her glances are never
straying backward toward the things
she has left behind. She INDUCES in
no fruitless lamentations.
Her keen sense of humor and her
vivid realization of the weaknesses as
well as the fine qualities making up
| human entities in the backwoods OF
Georgia., and on Redwine Circuit, tn-
vest every sentence she writes with
sparkle that is Irresistible in Its
allurement. There is pattlos as we'll
as sparkle in few OF these sen fences,
which serve as a preamble to her ac-
count OF the first revival which came
to pass at Redwine, the year OF her
marriage, when the crops had been
laid by. She says: William faced his
first revival. and l faced William.
Spiritually speaking. we parted COM
pany. He pa ssed into praying and
fasting trance, and my heart was
nearly broken with the loneliness. for
praying and fasting did not agree
with me, and William seemed to res
cede in some mystical sense hard to
define, so that Il became sort Of
unwilling grass-widow.'
Different phases Of experience de-
veloping along the lines of itinerant
ministry are treated blythe Circuit
Riders Wife, In the same shrewd en-
pertaining style. shifting and awaken
ing consciousness continually by the
truth and justice Of what she brings
out. For instance. on one occasion
that she recalls, there was meeting
OF the Foreign Missionary Society in
the spring or slne year. AtglhlS tlHe
William was stationed In small
town. and the meeting was presided
over by a beautiful and we'll dressed
woman, Sister Smaller, who proposed
that eacA woman present should do
without a. new gown at Easter and
give the money to the missionary
cause. Then the Circuit Riders
Wife" took her courage In her hands
and. facing Sister Smaller, Informed
her: You are perfectly able to do
without new Easter clothes. AS for
me. ] have promised the Lord to dress
better. more like q human being, and
I intend to do it, I am#tired OF sitting
y in retired corners at parties and re-
ceptions. It Is a matter Of conscience
with me-. Just as the missionary is
with you. "a
The years passed on, and then the
end Of Williams work came. and the
i key to the whole situation is given In
these few words with which he lis
incurred William had always meant
more to me than heaven" confesses
{ his widow. I had endured poverty.
prayers prosecutions and REVEALS for
his sake. And now I had lost him.
& The very thought was immeasurable.
N,