State

Unhappy Preacher The Rev. Mr. Urmstone didn't like North Carolina — and vice versa. By BILL SHARPE Leafing through The Colonial Rec¬ ords of North Carolina, we once more came upon the miserable Mr. John Urmstone, missionary sent to North Carolina by the English Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Perhaps never in all history has a parson been so unhappy, or filled with more self- pity, complaints and criticism of his flock. For the truth was that nobody paid much attention to Mr. Urmstone. Not only that, but they didn’t pay him his salary regularly, and sometimes not at all. Even the secretary of the society, in far-away London, paid little heed to his long, whining letters. At random we pick this from one of his 1718 letters: “I set out tomorrow to a place near a hundred miles off . . , where I hope to get a little beef and pork, if I fail we shall inevitably starve, and to go a begging will avail little. I’ve tried that nay more than once, my family have little else for sometime but a little boiled com such as others feed their Hogs with, and now and then mush, alias pudding made of Indian meal, or some water porridge such as is eaten in the north of England, and would be a good food had we a little salt butter to it. The longer I stay here, the poorer I growc. ... A couple of good slaves, that speak English, and that have been used to plantation work, and a wench for the house I want sore. . . ." The Rev. Mr. Urmstone threatened to sell his plantation (for half its worth) and leave the colony unless some compensation was forthcoming. But he apparently heard nothing, for in 1719 he wrote that "I am more miserable than ever and harder put to subsist myself and my poor family. . . .” Once again he pleaded for slaves to work his farm. “I have only a sorry wretch that I came by on the ship’s account and hath but a year and a half to serve. She knows nothing of house¬ hold affairs and is a notorious whore and thief.” Meantime, his wife had died, and Mr. Urmstone threatened to send his two sons to London as "gifts to the Society," to rear and educate. The ves¬ try was way behind in his salary. Finally, in 1720, the parson received authorization from the secretary to come on home. He was overjoyed, but not for long, for he pointed out (art¬ fully. perhaps) that he would have to take a loss on sale of his plantation, and for that reason hoped the Society would give him a comfortable post in England. But, much to the readers’ surprise. Urmstone was still in North Carolina the next year, complaining as usual. He said he was unable to sell his farm, and was waiting on the vestry to pay his back salary. On top of that, a slave ran away after only ten days’ service, and me parson had been arrested several times for failing to pay his debts. But that was not the end of his woes. He warned the Secretary that should his ( Urmstone ’s) son show up in Lon¬ don, no assistance was to be given him. The young brat had gotten a bound servant with child, and Urmstone not only had to lose her services but also had to maintain her. But his ordeal did end at last. He was in London on July 21, 1721, writ¬ ing (as always) his lengthy letters. Now he sought a better post, begging the Society not to return him to Caro¬ lina, which, he said, was inhabited by ungrateful people — "the dregs and gleanings of all other English Colonies and a very unhealthy country. . . ." But before shedding tears for the un¬ happy man, one should read a letter sent by an unnamed correspondent to the Secretary. He also was fearful that Urmstone would return, and protested that he was not wanted. "He is a very unfit missionary for that or any other place — his life is so wicked and scandalous, a notorious drunkard and swearing and lewdness is also what he is occupied of for these and others of his vices. He was so much disliked of the people he was among that scarce any of them came to hear him and it is what one shall hear from almost cvey ones mouth that knows him." So the feeling of hostility seems to have been mutual. What the Society ever did with its bad-mouthing preach¬ er the Records do not say. but cer¬ tainly it had sense enough not to send him back to North Carolina. EDITORIALS BY OTHERS To the Barricades! If there is one thing that seems to me more insufferable than confronta¬ tions and the demands for reparations, it is the squares who assume we must continue to be threatened without fight¬ ing back. The continual confession of guilt and the constant wallowing around in the swamps of confession smack more of corporate illness than of health. To the barricades where the flags of justice, reform and meeting arc flying! And we had better hurry because we are just about at the spot where the worst re¬ actionary elements in our life will take over. — Bishop Gerald Kennedy, in Presbyterian Journal io THE STATE. FEBRUARY 15. 1970