Page:Susanna Wesley (Clarke 1886).djvu/49

Rh woman who valued mind above matter. Very few of her country men and women at the present day ever attain the art of reading aloud audibly and intelligibly, as may be observed by diligent attendance at church, where the average clergy mumble and murder both liturgy and lessons.

Perhaps school-books of the ordinary sort were scarce at Epworth certainly there was no money to spare for the purchase of them or perhaps it was on principle that Mrs. Wesley's children were taught their very letters and small words from the first chapter of Genesis, and made perfect in reading each verse before going on to the next. As soon as the fifth birth-day was passed the house was set in order, and the mother devoted the six school-hours of one whole day to teaching her youngest pupil its letters, with what success she herself has told us. She must have had a great deal of uninterrupted time for her educational work, as her husband spent most of his days in his study when at home, and was chosen by his clerical brethren in Lincolnshire to represent them three several times in Convocation. This took him to London for many months at a time; and though the journey and the expense of remaining in the metropolis so long were heavy drains on his purse, the occupation was congenial and kept him before the public eye, thus causing a readier sale for his literary productions and giving him the opportunity of distinguishing himself and communicating with publishers. During these absences Mrs. Wesley had everything in her own hands, the glebe, the parish, and the family; she kept the books, did the best she could with regard to farming operations; though having, like her husband, spent her youth in London, and among books, she could