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About Bethesda news. (Savannah, Ga.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1947)
" m 1 111 X) j ■* mm — jy us VOLUME 7 w ■ r j&i 1 if* V ' .l|Rc S icr -i. % * MFTk* ? jwty -W * * U r > - ■ . ^L® % $ ' * v » .. few A /* ♦ * u L vX 1 fj r jM sm r/. v m fir %2>j ■ , i-Z+Jl * * m M T ••Vl Ml ■ rt.'Ti EA pi* jf*$r at-. $jk - HEM. % v Mf fa** i w*0*»% %******>«?] Sit *+m>r gr> •v% ^JjM ' 4. fejL^ " -- ;i *«i i » a ti asfe>f- ...C-c- < » ,;-., i i .»w i «M » :<'. f OPEN AIR THEATRE By O. W. Burroughs (This is the third of a series of happenings and historical facts concerning Bethesda) Lady Huntington was what might have been called a masterful woman. A person of high character, strong purpose and considerable wealth she played an important part in the early days of Bethesda although she never saw the place or even set foot upon the American continent. She was the daughter of Washington Shirley, Second Earl of Ferrars, and at the age of twenty-one was married to Theopalus Hastings, ninth Earl of Hunt ington, a house that could boast a longer lineage than her own. Born of nobility and married to nobility, she had scant pride in esutcheons and coats of arms and regarded them as the means of reaching people in her various charitable enterprises rather than that they had any glory of their own. Of serious niien, even as a young girl, one searches the record in vain for any evidence of pleasantry or the bit of mischief that the young of either sex is wont to engage in. There is plenty of evidence of her regard for others and a helpful attitude to the less fortunate. There was some high thinking in the 18th century of England but there was a lot of loose thinking too, among high and low. As a young matron she mingled freely in town society and court circles but it is not hard to be¬ lieve that she was largely indifferent to the monotonous round of what were August, 1947 SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGTON considered high-bred entertainments— the masquerades, the routs, the free and easy company of the public gardens, and especially the gambling. She may have been in it to some extent but not of it, having early shown a disposition to think and act for herself, This latter trait was manifest in her dis¬ regard of fashion of dress, she indulg¬ ing in caprices of apparel likely to cause lofted eyebrows among her own class. The countess was a member of the established church and regular in at¬ tendance upon its services but it was not until she came under the influence of White field and Wesley that great outpourings of her philanthropy oc¬ curred. There is a story to the effect that a sudden sharp and serious illness brought about her conversion to active participation with the Methodists. It is more likely that having heard through her sister-in-law, Lady Margaret Hast¬ ings, about these young men who were preaching against the evils of the times and living by method, she be¬ came interested enough to attend some of the meetings. As a born artistoerat her first reactions can be imagined. She had a strong regard for law and order and the overthrow of existing standards was repugnant to her. On the other hand she was original, re¬ sourceful and impulsive. She could see the effect the young pi'eachers were having on the masses of the people Number 27 and the good they were doing. She had lost her husband by death. Before his passing he had been in entire sympathy with her interest in the new work but had shown no interest of his own. Her hands were free, she was a person of great energy and it seems a natural field for the exercise of her ability and gifts. She cast in her lot with them and gave bountifully of her time and wealth. As one of her biographers has said. •. For women of Lady Huntingdon’s fine nature, as for dil • i 1 ! the noblest and best women, self-denial has a charm, and the danger of martyrdom in contrast to their own soft interests and delicate, dainty practices, presents a powerful fascination.” The countess not only took a per¬ sonal interest in the people on her husbands estates, but especially did she she busy herself with plans for the education of their children. She built an orphanage at Kingswood, forecasting her interest in Whitefield’s work at Bethesda. She didn’t neglect her own class either, urging invitations upon them to go with her to hear one or other of her favorite preachers, and opening her town house for Sunday evening gatherings where her friends could hear them. One wonders if she ever Continued on Page 4
