In Memoriam.

Waiapu Church Times, Volume I, Issue 1, 1 July 1907, Page 10

In Memoriam.

MRS. SELWYN.

(lfrorii a Correspondent). Sarah Harriet Selwyn, the widow of the great missionary Bishop of New Zealand , and afterwards of Lichfield, passed peacefully away on Palm Sunday at Lichfield, where she has spent the twenty-nine years since her husband's death. She was born m 1811, and was, therefore, m her ninety-seventh year. The daughter of an English Judge (Sir John Richardson), born m stirring times, political and social (she could just remember the news oi the battle of Waterloo arriving m London), she must have been wellfitted by her brilliant personality to take her place m the world to which she belonged. But her marriage with George Augustus Selwyn m 1839 introduced her into different surroundings, and for more than twenty years she shared to the full his vigorous, strenuous life, and helped him, m New Zealand and Melanesia, as scarcely another woman could have done. Her great cultivation, for she came of a literary family, and inherited literary taste ; her practical knowledge, her wit (that most uncommon attribute of a woman) ; and, above all, her devotion to Christ were all brought to bear upon the mission work, and to the end of her long life she loved ' the Maori and the Melanesian races —extolling their, virtues, fighting iheir battles, and telling m a rarely brilliant and racy manner the wonderful story of her life among what were then called " savages." But she always told of what other people had done ; of herself s-he did not tell, and, perhaps, among the greatest and most remarkable of her many fine qualities were the reticence, the invariable good taste, and the shrinking modesty of thought, as well as of word, which she showed about what she had done. No one will know— until the day when all may be revealed— what Mrs Selwyn' s share really . was m the evangelisation of the colonies where Bishop Selwyn's work lay. She returned to England m 1867, when her husband became Bishop of Lichfield. It was evident that she had left at least half her heart on the other side of the world. But her versatility came to her aid, and it is certain that, considerable as may have been her influence m New Zealand, it soon became, if quieter, still as powerful for. good, and as remarkable, m England; Those who knew, who saw behind the scenes, when things went wrongly and appeared suddenly to right themselyes—said with a smile " Mrs Selwyn." But she did not appear. She was

rarely seen at a public meeting— in fact her shrinkinjg from publicity of any kind was, even in' those days, unusual. Her charity towards those who differed from her was unbounded, on- this and on other points. But her quick - witted nature, her power of accurate and courteous expression of her meaning, enabled her to hold her own with dignity. Her reserve was great, and perhaps it never entirely melted, even towards those who knew her best. She inspired a large respect as well as love m those whom she honored with her regard. No account of her could be complete without a mention of her love of fun and real joy m a joke. She could tell one herself — nobody better. Yet although she was a first-rate talker she was an even better listener, and 'this quality of listening well increased rather than diminished with her extreme old age. Naturally her very quiet, very womanly, but most powerful influence for good grew as she lived on. Quite quietly, quite privately, accessible to all her friends and acquaintances at almost any hour of the day m her little room at Lichfield, she spent the twenty-nine' years after her husband's death. Seldom going away, except now and then to Cambridge, reading greatly, writing much, sihe kept herself m touch with New Zealand, and with the world. The largeness of her thought, as well as her knowledge of men and of affairs, led her. to despise nothing and no one, but only to hold out compassionate hands to the simple and to help the fallen to rise, with the greatest simplicity and absolute unconsciousness of being better or of doing more than other people. Her life has been a varied, romantic> and unusual one m the highest degree, and her own world is the poorer for her death. But those of us who really knew her as she was owe a debt of gratitude which can never be repaid for her wonderful life amongst us. She is enshrined m our hearts as a courteous, Christian gentlewoman, high-minded, reticent, modest.