Memoir of Mary L. Ware, Wife of Henry Ware, Jr.Hall, Edward B. (Edward Brooks)
Religion
Memoir of Mary L. Ware, Wife of Henry Ware, Jr.
Hall, Edward B. (Edward Brooks)
Unitarians -- United States -- Biography; Ware, Mary L. (Mary Lovell), 1798-1849
We have added Mr. Ware's pleasant little postscript to the last letter,
chiefly to show, by his own confession, how very feeble he must have
been, and how great her anxiety and care. Indeed, she says of him at
this time, "His system requires rest; it will be long before it is fit
for use again." She herself was far from well, and had the depressing
prospect of a more serious sickness, in a foreign land, with added
cares. And yet neither of them was idle, during any period of that
trial. They accomplished a great deal in various ways, and prepared one
distinct work for publication. We say, _they_ did it; for Mrs. Ware
seems to have joined in that labor which afterward gave us one of the
most useful of Henry Ware's works. We refer to his treatise on the
"Formation of the Christian Character." It is probably known that this
book was written almost entirely in travelling; first in this country,
during the horseback jaunt which Mr. Ware took alone through New England
to Canada, in 1828, and then abroad, at various stages of this European
tour. And here it was in Mrs. Ware's power to be of essential service to
her husband, in a way which she explains in a letter written late in
life, half jestingly taking to herself a part of the credit for the work
to which we refer. To Dr. John Ware she writes, in 1844, in reference to
her husband's labors in this and other ways, at the time of which we are
speaking:--
"You will gather from the letters of European friends in what
estimate he was held by them. That is of little import; but it
shows how faithfully he preserved his identity as a minister
of the Gospel. In looking back upon the jaunt, as a whole,
nothing is so prominent to my mind as the perpetual indications
of his ruling passion, if I may call it so,--his love of his
profession,--the eagerness with which he sought out his
ministerial brethren wherever he heard of them, stopping by the
way-side to introduce himself and extend to them the hand of
fellowship, often going out of the way many miles for that
purpose, and making all other objects subservient to that of
increasing his knowledge of men and things pertaining to the
ministerial life. I _know_ his visit was a useful one to his
brethren in many respects....
"You know, I believe, that the greater part of his work upon
the 'Christian Character' was written on that tour. Its pages
are to my memory a sort of diary of our progress, associated as
they are with the pleasant evenings, when, after our autumnal
day's journey, having despatched our supper, we settled
ourselves at a little table before a cheerful wood-fire in our
inn, and he with his writing materials, and I with my work, or
writing or reading, could almost imagine ourselves at home.
Thus were my evenings spent in alternate writing, reading, and
criticism, until I almost felt as if I had written the book
myself!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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