The Parson's Wife,
In olden time Providence often punished the sins of men and women in
some remarkable fashion. The divine retribution often followed swiftly
upon the violation of the sacred rules of life. We frequently read of
profane men and women whose blasphemy has been instantly followed by
some paralytic seizure, or who, when guilty, and protesting their
innocence have called down heaven's vengeance on their heads if they
were not even then stating the truth, have been at once rendered
lifeless by some strange stroke of the divine power. The following
story will illustrate this principle.
There was once a parson of Mottram--his name and the date of his
holding the benefice are for obvious reasons not mentioned--who had a
peculiar wife. In many respects she was a loveable woman, but she
possessed a nose formed like a pig's snout, and she was forced to eat
her meals out of a silver trough specially provided for her. How she
came to win the affections of the parson, is not known, it might have
been that she had riches to make up for her deficiency in beauty of
countenance, or it might have been that the parson saw in her
compensating charms which were not obvious to the rest of mankind.
This tradition only deals with the cause of her strange infirmity.
Her parents were very wealthy; her mother was a haughty dame who
worshipped wealth, and looked down on all people who were humble in
station. To those wealthier than herself, or whose social standing was
above her own, she was most polite and agreeable, and willing to go to
any trouble no matter how great, to win their friendship and esteem,
but to those who were poor, no matter how estimable they might be in
mind, ability, or real worth, she was chilling and distant, and even
insolent in bearing. True Christian love and charity were virtues she
did not understand. Probably she did not believe in them; at least she
did not practice them. No poor man's blessing ever ascended to heaven
on her behalf, for she was never known to bestow a gift willingly upon
the needy. So, no doubt, Providence considered that it was necessary
she should be taught a severe lesson, that thereby mankind might be
led to see that such un-Christian conduct was opposed to the highest
rules of life, and could not be practised with benefit and impunity.
One day, to her door, there came an old beggar woman and her children,
clearly betokening by their appearances the utmost misery and
destitution. Their clothes were all in rags, only just able to hang
together, while here and there, through the great rents, the flesh
showed bare and cold. Their faces were pinched, and their frames thin
and withered from lack of proper food; and nearly all of them were
shoeless. Their feet were red and blistered, cut in places by the
sharp stones of the wayside.
"A charity, I pray, good lady, for the love of Christ," said the
beggar woman as the lady stood at the door. "Not a bite have we had
this day, and we have travelled far. If thou hast children of thine
own, take pity upon the starving children of the poor."
But the haughty dame bade her begone.
"Out on thee, thou vulgar drab," said she. "Thou art no honest woman,
else had thou hadst a husband to provide for thee."
"My man is dead, lady," protested the beggar, "and I am left a widow."
"More likely thou art a harlot, and the children basely begotten. Away
with thee from my door, or I will have the constables after thee, and
thou shalt be publicly whipped for a low woman."
Then, losing her temper completely, she called for her serving men.
"Ho, there. Rid me of this pest. Turn out this old sow and her litter,
for there is the smell of the stye about them."
At this outrage the poor woman fled. Some say she called down the
vengeance of heaven upon the haughty dame, others state that divine
justice asserted itself of its own accord. Be that as it may, the
wealthy lady was in due course with child, and she brought forth a
daughter having a face shaped like an animal with a pig's snout
thereon, who in after years married the parson of Mottram. Thus did
pride and want of charity bring its own reward.