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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
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