AT THE TIME of Martha Wing’s birth in 1874, Sand Spring, Iowa, was enjoying the heyday of its prosperity. A village of about five hundred inhabitants, it was the business center of a much larger, thriving farming community. As for industries, there were two wagon shops and factories for making brooms and washing machines. Its most profitable enterprise, however, was the Butter and Cheese Factory which had been begun by Martha’s great uncle, Asa Bowen, and was located in the basement of his hotel for many years. Sand Spring could justly be proud of this business, for it produced the butter which took the gold medal at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia about two years after Martha’s birth. Thereby a great demand was created in the eastern markets for its butter and so Delaware County, in which Sand Spring was located, was “put on the map.”
Martha’s father occupied a rather prominent place in the affairs of this booming town. “Successful as a business man,” Mr. Wing also “held with acceptance the offices of township clerk and notary public” for some time. The fact is that “gifted with more than ordinary ability and possessing a character of sterling integrity [he] was well and favourably known” in the whole county.
Throughout the years, however, Mr. Wing’s health steadily declined until he became so weak that he was forced to give up working. “His business affairs, which up to the time of his confinement to the house had been prosperous, dropped considerably;” and then, when his store goods were closed out at a public sale, he realized “a ruinous loss.”
“Patiently and trustingly” the invalid “ever bore his ills,” but at length he knew that the end of his earthly pilgrimage was near. Then “with his face turned toward the Celestial City” this Christian Pilgrim penned the following lines:
Writhing in pain I inly groan,
Toiling I cry, “Sweet Spirit, come;
Speak to my heart, Thyself reveal:
Thy counsel all in me fulfill.
Oh, fill my soul with love and joy,
With happiness without alloy;
And lift me from this cave of gloom,
And let me know I’m going home.
A home, a home so bright and fair,
Far, far above this world of care —
Where dwell the good and pure and free,
Who gather around life’s garden tree.”
The thought now thrills this heart of mine,
‘Tis there the glorious God doth shine;
He says, “My child, no longer roam,
Come, join us in thy blissful home.
A peaceful home, so beautiful,
Where each one loves the golden rule —
There, from all pain and sorrow free,
We’ll sing around life’s garden tree.”
This world is bright and beautiful;
But oh, who loves the golden rule:
Who, who doth for his brother care,
And with him in his sorrows share?
Oh, there is One, and One alone:
Who feels our sorrows, hears our groan;
O help me, Lord, to patient be,
Obey Thy voice and follow Thee.
Not long after he wrote this poem, Charles Wing reached the River of Death. “As the moment of dissolution approached, he comforted his weeping relations with the assurance that he should reach a safe haven in the life beyond, and then he passed peacefully and quietly away.” So “Christian” entered the Celestial City, April 8, 1876, five days before his thirtieth birthday.
Two days later the community of Sand Spring “turned out en masse to pay their respects to C. 0. Wing,” the local newspaper reported. “The concourse of citizens was one of the largest occurring here for some years, and all the proceedings highly impressive.”
Doubtless the funeral was held at the Methodist Church which Mr. Wing had attended regularly as long as he had been able and where his wife played the organ for the assembled worshipers for many years. A simple but sturdy structure built of hand-hewn timbers, with a tall spire, it stood near the Wing home on a slight elevation at the head of the town, dominating both it and the surrounding countryside. At the opposite end of the town was a little cemetery where a devoted wife laid away the body of her beloved husband—”till the day dawn and the shadows flee away.”
Heroically Mrs. Wing now undertook the full support of herself and her three daughters, the youngest, Mattie, being only about a year and a half. Fortunately, before Mother Wing had been married, she had received an excellent education in music at the Union Academy in Belleville, N. Y., so that the “Directress” of the Musical Department of that school had recommended her “as an able, efficient and correct Instructress.” Now Mrs. Wing gave music lessons, both instrumental and vocal, at “ten for a dollar.”
As might be expected, the family circumstances were often somewhat straitened. But if there was not an abundance, the brave little mother saw to it that there were some of those “extras” which mean so much to children so that Mattie could recall years later, “Even in our worst times we always had a little something sweet at the end of the meal.”
As early in life as they were able, Mrs. Wing trained Nettie, Ada, and Mattie to help her in the duties of the household. In a diary which Mattie kept as a very young child, she often recorded, “Gathered chips,”—a small but real aid to her mother in providing kindling for the starting of fires.
Typical of children everywhere, the Wing girls, however, were more interested in play and picnics than in housework. “I was thinking now,” Mattie wrote Ada when she was a grown woman, “how we used sometimes, when we were children, to walk three miles down to the Kline Woods with our dinners, work ever so hard walking through the woods, but what delicate children we would be with any housework in sight to do!”
Mother Wing also carefully trained the characters of her three daughters. Although Mrs. Wing was still unconverted, she was a religious woman of high standards which she inculcated in her own children. Many of these principles she had learned from her mother, Elmina Bowen Tuttle.
The fundamentals of morals and manners Grandmother Tuttle had carefully set forth in a large notebook comprised of selections from—or summaries of her reading on these subjects. Inasmuch as this material gives the moral climate in which Mattie was reared, some excerpts are included here. Great stress was laid on the conscience, several pages being devoted to this important subject. In this connection several “Rules for moral conduct” are given:
“Cultivate, on all occasions in private or in public, in small or great, in action, or in thought, the habit of obeying of the monitions of conscience, all other things to the contrary notwithstanding.
“….above all take the true and perfect standard of moral character, exhibited in the precepts of the gospel, and exemplified in the life of Jesus Christ; and thus examine your conduct by the light that emanates from the holiness of heaven.”
In Grandmother Tuttle’s notebook there were also numerous instructions for the governing of the social relations and habits of young women which were taken from The Daughter’s Own Book. Specific advice is given on a variety of subjects as “Early Friendships,” “Epistolary Writing,” and “Death.” Of special interest, as far as Mattie’s training is concerned, are the following injunctions and observations:
“Forming the Manners — First impressions of the character are gathered from the manners, and first impressions are not easily eradicated. It is always taken for granted, unless there is decisive evidence to the contrary, that the manners are the genuine expression of the feelings. . . . Cultivate good manners then as one means of improving your disposition and imparting real excellence to your character. Endeavor then to banish from your heart all evil dispositions and to cherish every temper that is amiable and praiseworthy.
“Conversation — Whether you are discussing a grave subject, or talking about the most familiar occurrences of life, let it be a rule from which you never deviate, to say nothing without reflection. . . . Beware of talking too much. . .
Guard your lips whenever you find it in your heart to make yourself the heroine of your own story.... In a word let it be a principle with you never to be violated that in whatever circumstances you are placed all that you say shall be characterized by the simplicity of truth.
“Self-Knowledge — If you would know yourself, it is essential that you should habitually and faithfully perform the duty of self-communion. You must not be contented with looking merely at the external act, but faithfully investigate the motives and principles of your conduct. You must compare your actions, not with any human standard, but with the rule of duty which God has revealed in His Word…. Reading the Scriptures and prayer are among the most important of all the means of self-knowledge. Study the Bible then daily and diligently, and pray without ceasing for the enlightening influence of God’s Spirit, and you will soon be proficient in Self-Knowledge.
“Time — If you would use your time to the best advantage, I hardly need say that you must form a habit of persevering diligence. In whatever circumstances Providence may place you, take care that the whole of your time be employed: and consider the first inroads of indolence as a melancholy harbinger of the wreck of your usefulness, and the loss of your reputation.”
Such were the precepts by which Martha Wing was trained in her formative years, and a comparison of these principles with the fully developed character of her mature years gives abundant evidence that this instruction was unusually effective.
This was supplemented by that received at school and at Sunday school. “A conspicuous object in the town” of Sand Spring was the schoolhouse which was only a two or three-minute walk from the Wing house. Quite awhile before Mattie would ordinarily have started school, she was accepted as a student there simply because she tagged along after Nettie and Ada. Here a profound effect was produced on her and the other pupils by the teachers and textbooks. “Most of the teachers opened the morning exercises by reading the Bible and offering the Lord’s Prayer.” And the readers, which Mattie eagerly devoured, all contained numerous excerpts from the Bible, selections designed to inculcate moral as well as literary values and appreciation.
Regularly Mattie and her sisters attended the Methodist Sunday school; and it was at the Sunday school’s Christmas “entertainment” just after she had passed her sixth birthday that she made her first public appearance. Her piece for this occasion was one of the greatest hymns of the church, written by Isaac Watts. With her “cute little lisp” Mattie recited the majestic, familiar words:
Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Does his successive journeys run,
His kingdom spread from shore to shore
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.
Considering the future efforts of Mattie in behalf of the extension of the kingdom of God upon earth, no more appropriate selection than this could have been chosen for her to give as her first bit of ministry.
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Martha Wing Robinson (1874 - 1936)
Martha held meetings which touched people to return to the work of the service of God. The Robinsons opened a "Faith Home" where people would come for teaching and prayer. Like George Muller they depended on God to provide what was needed for expenses. Thousands came through her home and healings were a regular occurrence. Her husband died in April of 1916, but Martha continued in her ministry. She had a very sharp gift of discernment and regularly told people the secrets of their hearts. She often had directive prophetic words for those under her care. Many young people came to the home for training and went into the mission fields and evangelistic endeavours.Martha Wing Robinson died June 26, 1936. Shortly before she died she stated her life's message "Nothing matters but Christ Jesus." Her whole life was spent in the service of God and for the Glory of His Son Jesus. She had seen many healed, saved, delivered, empowered and sent out. She was truly a mother in Israel. In 1962 Gordon P. Gardiner wrote a book about her life called "Radiant Glory" because that is how she lived her life.