The Twain One ("Mrs. Russell's Spicy Book")

     

     In 1906, shortly before her suit for legal separation against her husband was heard, Maria Russell published a 100 page book on women’s rights.  It was called The Twain One, and was based on the scripture in Mark 10 v.8 (KJV) “and the twain shall be one flesh.”

     CTR believed that it was differences of view on women’s rights that ultimately divided them, after more than a decade of happy marriage. It was obviously a subject Maria felt strongly about and she wrote in the book’s forward: “At the request of many friends who desire to see these thoughts before the public, and especially before Christians in general, the writer consents to their publication, although such was not the original intention.”

     In view of this, one might question what the original intention was, since Maria did more than just consent, she published the book direct from her home address at 607 Birmingham Avenue, Avalon, Pittsburgh.

     There were several reviews in the Pittsburgh newspapers. The first was in the Pittsburgh Press for 31 March 1906. Hidden away on page 11 it was a short and complementary review mainly quoting from the preface. Consequently it reads like Maria’s own press release, concluding: “The book, with so fine a purpose behind it, will doubtless find a good sale. The price is $1.”

     Another review appeared the next month in the Pittsburgh Post for 14 April 1906, this time found on page 7:

     This review stated that “it shows much research and has merit” although with the caveat “we would expressly forbear from commending or disapproving the positions taken” and “it is evident that some ulterior meaning haunts the positions assumed.” The book was now advertised as being sold at Pittsburgh book stores.

     A brief review also appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for 11 June 1906, page 5:

     This simplified Maria’s argument down to: “Man is required to obey God, servants are required to obey their masters, children their parents, but the wife need not obey her husband because “the twain are one.””

     These small paragraphs tucked away inside the newspapers did not give the work a great amount of publicity; a casual reader could easily have missed all of them. However, that was all to change with a lengthy article in The Pittsburgh Leader. And this is the subject of this article.

     The Pittsburgh Leader for Saturday, 13 October 1906 carried an announcement about a special feature in the magazine section of the Sunday paper out the next day, Sunday 14 October 1906.

     It announced that Maria’s book – characterized as a “Spicy Essay” was going to be reviewed by “a Minister.”

     That it was going to be a critical review was made clear by the heading in the Sunday paper.

     The actual review ran to not far short of three thousand words. A complete transcript of the review is provided below, but first, who was “the Minister?”

     The answer came out in a hearing in 1907 when Maria’s alimony was discussed. From the typed transcript of Russell vs. Russell (April 1907) on pages 244-250, CTR was asked directly if he was responsible for it? The answer was both a Yes and a No.

     CTR had bought a copy of Maria’s book simply by sending one dollar to her address. Later a reporter named Cope had called on him and “asked my opinion about the book.”

     He elaborated on page 245-246 of the hearing: “The reporter called on me, mentioned his subject and wished me to give him pointers, and I told him I preferred not to do so, but after the usual manner of reporters he was very insistent and urged me to give him some pointers; I told him I had no wish to say anything against my wife in any sense of the word; he said, “Well, you can give me some pointers.” I said, “I do not mind to give you a few pointers,” and he said, “Well, I have to go out, and if you will just jot down a few of those points, I will be very much obliged.” So I jotted down a few points, and I presume he incorporated them in that article.”

     CTR had been out of the city when the Leader was published and had not, in fact, seen the article “before this hour” when it was put to him at the hearing. His comment on reading it then and there was that the reporter – not him – “had put in a good many of the caustic features of it.”

     The “caustic features” might include the introductory preamble before the article actually gets to the review by “a Minister.” Here, Maria’s complaint is summarised: married women’s advancement in the church and business has been greatly curtailed by “too frequent maternity.” Putting it bluntly, “greedy and sinful men” keep getting them pregnant.

     Maria through her counsel accused CTR of being paid for the interview – flatly denied – of buying up copies of the paper to circulate – also flatly denied – and Maria when questioned directly accused CTR of interfering with the book’s sale. How he did this was not specified, but Maria noted that only 300 copies had so far sold. In reality, on the basis that all publicity is good publicity, the Leader article and review probably revived sales considerably for a short while. But as with most things, it soon became yesterday’s news.

     Maria had further writings to publish but stated that she did not have the resources to do so. Later in life when she obviously had the means to publish, time had moved on and her views had changed from the general Bible Student position; hence it never happened. (For details, see the article Maria – the Later Years). 

https://truthhistory.blogspot.com/2025/06/maria-russell-later-years.html

      So here follows the complete text of “Mrs. Russell’s Spicy Book is Criticized.”

 

(Transcript)

Pittsburgh Leader

Sunday Morning October 14th, 1906

Special Magazine Section

 

MRS. RUSSELL'S SPICY BOOK IS CRITICIZED

"The Twain One" Reviewed by a Local Minister, Who Finds Fault With the Premises and Conclusions                          

(Box on page by article)

MRS. RUSSELL'S SPICY GEMS

"True happiness, in any human relationship, is incompatible with ignoble ideas both of tyranny and of servility."

"Paternal and filial love must respond to each other."

"Any subserviency to fellow man is a secondary consideration. We ought to obey God rather than man and this is manifestly right so we must oppose men when they are wrong."

"The duty of submission to those in leading positions in the church we regard not in the light of unquestioning childish or servile obedience, but simply as a matter of respectful deference."

"The servant is not in duty bound to please his master in all things except within the limit of his contract."

"Obedience of children to parents is expected by God, but for any tyrannical use of this parental authority to gratify a pride of power in the dominant parties will be punished by God. The command of obedience does not apply to children after they come to maturity."

"The Scriptures do not teach domestic slavery."

"Adam found in woman a companion capable of sharing all his joys.

"Nothing in the Scriptures indicates that woman was in the least inferior to man."

"God created man and woman with equal rights."

"Woman has become the weaker vessel through sinful man."

"He (man) often, selfishly taking advantage of the situation rules over her (woman) instead of treating her as an heir."

Quotations from Mrs. Russell's book, "Twain One."

 

(Text of editorial comment followed by review)

     Marie Frances Russell, the wife of the celebrated Pastor Charles T. Russell, the North Side preacher, with congregations all over the world, has written a book which is of the "woman's rights" order. Those who have analyzed the work are of the opinion that Mrs. Russell has undertaken to sustain her position in applying for a divorce from bed and board and demanding alimony from her husband.

     "The Twain One" is the title, and the green cloth cover binds all sorts of biblical quotations to sustain the contention of the author that a woman was created equal with man, with the same rights, and instead of being servile to man, woman was expected to be an heir of the land with him and share all his joys and returns from the soil. She launches into a tirade against sinful man and takes the stand that the decline of woman in influence and wealth is absolutely due to sinful and greedy man who, taking advantage of woman, has domineered over her to such an extent that woman is generations off her sphere.

     Too frequent maternity, due of course to greedy and sinful man, has also prevented  from associating with others in the world so that she could progress mentally as rapidly as man. Instead, she has been compelled to stay in the house, raise children and, while man is recuperating in the fields and associating with his neighbors, "gathering strength the while," poor woman is debarred from what is divinely hers and sinful man is rubbing it in on her at a great rate. The time, apparently, is ripe for a change of all this, and woman should step into the church, business and even at home to demand what has been given her by God and "held out," to use the parlance of the day, by greedy, sinful, domineering man.

     A review of the book by a minister follows:

     "The title of this little volume would seem to imply a treatise respecting the oneness of union and mutual adaptability of the sexes to each other so as to produce the greatest amount of harmony or union. However, the writer does not, in our judgment, seem to approach the subject from this standpoint, but rather the reverse u 'the twain two.' The motif appears to be to disprove any special headship of the husband and hence to establish a double headship in every family. The thought of the writer seems to be the one that is now so common amongst so-called 'new women.' viz., that in the divine order men and women were by nature, and by grace intended to be one absolute equality, mentally and physically, but that women, for centuries oppressed by men, have gradually grown weaker and weaker both in mind and in body until today that writer reluctantly admits men are stronger both mentally and physically. That we may do the writer no injustice on this point we quote:

     "'They (Adam and Eve) stood on a par in God's estimation of his handiwork. It is manifest that God created them with equal rights when he gave the dominion of earth to them both originally' (p. 31.). 'Dr. H. S. Drayton tells us that while woman's brain is smaller than man's it is larger in proportion to the total weight of the body, and is more finely organized, so that in his opinion honors are about even.' (p. 37.)

     "As proof of an acknowledged feminine inferiority of strength, mentally and physically, the author says: 'Woman's natural office of motherhood and home duties connected with it, the training of children, etc., which, under perfect conditions, as originally designed, could have brought only happiness and joy, instead under the conditions induced by sin, brought sorrow and the gradual physical weakening or decline The too frequent maternity often imposed upon her, regardless of proper conditions, has undermined the health of women generation after generation, while man, whose natural occupation has been more in the fields and in subduing the elements of nature, has gathered from nature more of its invigorating force and thus woman has become, by far, the weaker vessel.' (p. 36.) 'Thus the natural tendency of sin has been, not only to render woman a weaker vessel, but also to bring her under the power of her husband.' (p. 41.) Whatever the author may otherwise be she is evidently not a logician, as shown by the above quotations: for while she argues that the sexes are equal and should stand on a par every way she, in the different quotations, claims that women have become by far the weaker vessel – hence logically no longer on a par with males.

     "But still more illogical is the proposition above quoted that women have become 'by far the weaker vessel' gradually for centuries as a result of the recognition of the headship of men. Would not even a novice in logic recognize the fact that such a claim is an absurdity; because every girl babe must receive of the strength, the virility of the father as every boy babe must partake of the weaknesses of his mother. If males begat males and females begat females we would could understand how the one sex could, in centuries, oppress and degrade the other; knowing that this is not the case, but that on the contrary nature equalizes and harmonizes the strength and weakness of both parents in the children, it follows that the author has failed to grasp her subject. She may not be aware, either, that in Europe for centuries women have labored in the fields and thus have employed the very conditions which she says has made the males superior in mental and physical strength.

     "Far be it from the writer to inveigh against women or to deny women their proper opportunities.  We are even willing to concede, that in times past, under barbaric and semi-civilized conditions, women had not by any means the liberties and opportunities they should have had; but are not the same things true of the other sex? Have not the majority of men in the past been the merest serfs or slaves? Are we not to remember that only within the past century has Europe given to the males universal suffrage? Indeed, this boon of the family was not given to the English males until within a decade, and in Russia suffrage has only been granted to the males this very year under restrictions, somewhat similar to those which prevail in Germany, which give those not property owners a decidedly less voice in than others? Are we not to remember that free school education in Europe is only the matter of the past decade? What we should notice in this connection is that just in proportion as the males have gotten free from serfdom and ignorance in the very same proportion have the females of the same lands risen to civilization and education. These points appear to us to be too frequently overlooked by those studying or discussing so called women's rights.

     "It is a fact that the twain are one by divine arrangement and by their creation. The sexes are so adapted the one to the·other that injury to either signifies proportionate loss to both. Hence the safe and sane of both sexes are practically agreed that the Almighty did not design the sexes to be exactly equal, either mentally or physically, but better far than this did design an adaptation between them, the one for the other, represented in the expression ‘a manly man and a womanly woman.’ We feel sure that the observance of this law of nature brings more joy than any amount of disputation or endeavor to prove that there is no difference between the sexes. Very few women would care to marry or expect to be happy with an effeminate man, and very few men would desire to marry or expect to be happy with a masculine wife.

     “The author lays great stress upon the fact that women do not receive proper recognition in the churches – evidently believing that no sex distinction should be recognised in the ministry. Although the consensus of opinion among Christian people for centuries has been that the special ministrations of religion should be in the hands of males, this apparently has no influence whatever with our author. She carefully culls every reference to women in the Old and New Testaments and makes the most of these to support her contention, but either innocently or intentionally omits all notice of the fact that Jesus Christ appointed no female apostles – the twelve were male and the subsequent seventy sent out were men; not was this because there were no women interested at this time, nor, as is seemingly hinted, the women of that day were so much more illiterate than the men. On the contrary, we have the apostolic statement to the effect that they were fishermen and tax-gatherers from the humbler walk of life and that, too, it was distinctly stated by the public in general that they were ignorant and unlearned men. (Acts IV:13). If ignorant an unlearned men could be qualified and used by the Christ as his representatives, could not the ignorant and unlearned women have been equally qualified for His service had He so designed. But on the contrary, have we not the information that some of the believing women of the time were of the higher class, styled “honorable women” – women of station, wealth and probably of education also.” See Luke VIII:3, Acts &VII:4-12. The same is true of the course pursued by the apostles. We have no record that they ever ordained women as elders in any of the churches they organized. Nevertheless they, both Jesus – and the apostles, were prompt to recognize, appreciate and utilize the womanly talents and qualities of the believers of that time, as we believe all Christian ministers are disposed to do to this day.

     “The author of the “Twain One” certainly displays the craftiness of an expert attorney supporting an unjust case when she attempts to so interpret the words of the apostles respecting the deference or submission of the wife as the weaker vessel to the husband as the head of the family. With an attorney’s skill she arranges three different texts in order, placing first, one, the phraseology of which she could construe favorably, and then proceeds to apply the misfit interpretation to the others. For instance the following:

     "'Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord." #Col 3:13 'Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church; and He is the savior (preserver, caretaker) of the body. Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.' #Eph 5:22-24

     "Again she quotes, 'Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands.'#l Pe 3:1

     "The veriest tyro in scriptural exegesis would surely be astonished at the cleverness of the misinterpretation of the first of these texts. The apostle says 'as it is fit in the Lord,' by this evidently meaning that women in the Christian church were to be submissive to their husbands as were the Jewish women, and not to consider that because they were now 'in the Lord' they were exempted from the proper responsibilities of wives. 'As it is fit' then evidently means, as it is proper, as it is right for those in the Lord to do. But our authoress gives a twist to the entire matter in these words. 'We must bear in mind this limitation of fitness. ' (P. 53). She proceeds to ring the changes of these words fit and fitness twelve times in her endeavor to nullify the force of the above quoted Scriptures by implying that the wives are to submit themselves to their own husbands not 'as it is fit' but rather as the wives may deem fit.

     "Surely no sound mind could understand the apostolic injunctions above quoted to signify that wives were to be so submissive to their husbands that they would murder or steal or do other unlawful things. Fortunately, the average men and women have little difficulty in comprehending the scriptural advice on this subject, vis: that love should cement the marriage tie, that in the union the twain will be one, that the head of the united pair is the husband, whose delight as well as responsibility would be to look well after the interests, mental and physical, of his wife ready, if need be, to lay down his life for her protection. Fortunately, too, the majority of women appreciate just such headship as the apostles here indicate and these are the happy couples who best represent the "Twain One," and happy are the children who have parents thus mated in harmony with natural law and scriptural injunction.

     "The advocates of 'women's rights' seem assuredly to be persons in whom the milk of human kindness have   soured sometimes through ambition and sometimes through fallacious reasoning! For instance they often tell us that the great colleges are for the men, that the women have no such opportunities for education. They tell us that the legislatures and courts are bound upon the grinding of woman into the dust, into the mire, and that it is necessary for women to step forth from the battles of motherhood and the home to battle for female suffrage and other rights.

     "Fortunately for the world, the majority of the sex reason more soundly than this. Through education or by observation they learn that their husbands and fathers in the legislatures have framed most equitable laws in their interest, for their protection and safeguard, and that the courts are always more lenient toward women than toward men, and that they fare far better at the hands of a male jury than they would if tried before a jury of their own sex, and that the public schools and high schools are as open to the females as to the males, and that a proportionately larger number of the females than of the males are afforded high school opportunities and normal school privileges. They learn, also, that there is abundant provision for their sex in the female seminaries and colleges and that these, almost without exception, have been established and endowed by the opposite sex. We conclude that the majority of the sensible thinkers agree respecting the solidarity of the race – and that in the family and home the husband and wife are not to be twain, but one, and that in the responsibility for the family's care both human and divine law are right in holding the male to be the responsible head and caretaker.

     "That the author is not ashamed of her work is evidenced by the fact that her name appears in the same six times."

(End of transcript)

W. H. Conley

 From a legal journal. I need more details. Please.

Maria Russell - The Later Years

     

     Maria Frances Ackley married CTR in March 1879.  She left the family address in 1897, and in 1903 started legal proceedings to formalize the separation. It was granted in 1906 and a later hearing in 1907 settled the alimony. This article reviews what happened to Maria later up to her death in 1938.

     After sharing a house in Cedar Avenue, Pittsburgh, with her sister Emma, Maria went to live in the Pittsburgh suburb of Avalon. She was there in 1906 because her 1906 book The Twain One was sold from an Avalon address. She is there in the 1910 census, living alone. She was still there in 1917 when a Bible student named ‘Sister Wilson’ called on her in what is described as “the regular Pastoral service.” The account was written up rather vaguely in the St Paul Enterprise for 20 February 1917, where Maria states she was not present when a Pittsburgh minister attacked her late husband from the pulpit as had been reported. The letter was headed “The Charge Not True” and the letter was sent in by J A Bohnet.

     The point was made in the letter that “Sister Russell…professes full faith in the ransom, in the high calling, restitution, chronology and the Studies in the Scriptures in general.”

     The letter also states that “Sister Wilson says she greatly enjoyed the visit and was invited to come again.” Maria also stated that she had much to do with the production of the first three volumes.

     Whether Sister Wilson made another visit is not recorded.

     While Maria was living in Avalon, her sister Emma gained a post at Bethany College in West Virginia. This was an educational establishment founded by Alexaander Campbell linked to the Restoration movement (Disciples of Christ). It had been a co-educational college since the 1880s. The details are given below as part of her newspaper obituary.

     When Emma retired, the two sisters finally moved to Florida at the end of 1922 and bought a house together. From the Tampa Bay Times for 24 December 1922:

     According to Emma’s last will and testament dated 13 September 1926 the two sisters owned the house between them; they each had “a one-half undivided interest” in the property.

     When Emma died first, her will left her share to Maria with a lifetime interest, but with the understanding that daughter Mabel, or if necessary her heirs would eventually inherit.

     Emma died in early 1929. From the Tampa Bay Times for 6 February 1929:

     This noted that her position at Bethany College had been former dean of women. A similar report in the Tampa Bay Tribune added that she’d held this position for eight years prior to her retirement. A telephone enquiry several decades ago suggested she had been “Matron of Phillips Hall” at the college which may be a more accurate description.

     The 1930 census shows that Maria continued living in the house on her own.

     There are several small references to her in the local papers – she leaves the area for a number of weeks to escape the excessive heat, she visits relatives in Chicago (her late brother Lemuel’s family), she tries unsuccessfully to get the taxes on the property reduced – etc. She doesn’t appear to have been much involved in local events, but that may just be because of her age. However, she still retains an interest in theological matters. One example is found in a letter she wrote in 1931. It is from the Tampa Bay Times for 29 July 1931, page 4.

     Under the heading Open Forum and with the usual disclaimers, letters to the editor were invited.

     Maria responded:

Editor The Times:

  If you can find space in your Open Forum I would like by this means to suggest a thought that present events have brought forcibly to my attention. It is that the present world-wide financial depression may really be viewed as a blessing in disguise however hard it strikes us both corporately and individually.

  It has compelled a sudden halt in human affairs, and both nations and individuals are forced to consider, to study, and to mend their ways. The eternal principles of truth and righteousness are put to the fore, and good men, providentially exalted to positions of power and influence, are pleading with the world, both as nations and as individuals, to repent and to do the works mete for repentance.

  Well, they are doing it. Praise the Lord! Our honored president points out and leads the way, and lo, the heart of the nations is yielding. Truly there is cause for rejoincing as nation after nation responds – in humility and in mercy toward one another. Financial prosperity could never have wrought this miracle, but “when the judgments of the Lord are abroad in the earth the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.” – Isa. 26:9.

  And this reminds me of the Lord’s typical course with guilty Nineveh. He sent his prophet, Jonah, to anounce that within three days the city would be destroyed, because the wrath of God was upon it. But Nineveh repented quickly, suddenly; and God also repented ad mercy stayed the hand of justice. It looks to me like a parallel case here on a very large – a world-wide scale. Consider: Notwithstanding the terrible experiences of the World war and its bitter aftermath, the interval since the armistice has been spent largely in hasty and feverish peparation for another conflict, which all know must be more terrible and ruinously destructive. No nation wants it, but anger, suspicion and fear impel them all to arm for defense from inevitable danger. (“And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come” – “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.”) But just as the nations stand today – armed to the teeth with every weapon of destruction that advanced science can invent, and trembling for fear of what seems inevitable in the nearing future, God has interposed in mercy and let the financial crisis come with all of its forebodings of world-wide disaster. Then, just in the nick of time He puts in the heart and mind of our noble president a plan for relief, conditioned upon observance of the principles of righteousness and mercy. Mr Hoover proved a ready instruments – wise, patient, resourceful, conservative, righteous, merciful alike to friend or foe. And lo, the nations and peoples almost everywhere respond, and the principles of righteousness and forbearance are everywhere coming to the fore.

  Judgment indeed must be laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies (is doing it) and waters of truth shall overflow the hiding places of error and sin.

  Well, the world is breathing easier – with now hope and courage, and further deeply significant developments, at the arms conference, etc., will soon claim our attention. It is a time of prayer that those in authority may have wisdom and divine guidance, and that the evil forces may be restrained. A titanic confliect is on surely. But see Zeph, 2:1-3: “Before the decree brings forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness, it may be yer shall be hid in he day of the Lord’s anger.”

MRS. M.F. RUSSELL

E 516 Fourteenth avenue north, St. Petersburg, Fla.

     Maria’s views were now quite distant from the Bible Student movement. She was optimistic about the future, believing that the financial downturn in the world in the early 1930s was really going to work out the will of God.

     Although, as noted above, she was living on her own after Emma’s death, Maria did try to get some company. This was shown in the advertisement below from the Tampa Bay Times for 13 May 1932. She described herself as a “refined, elderly widow.”

     But in the 1935 Florida State census she is still living alone.

     As her health failed with advancing years, it appears that Emma’s daughter, Mabel Packard, and her family took responsibility for her. Her obituary notice in the paper spoke of her niece, Mrs Richard Packard “of this city.” When Maria died in 1938, her last will and testament dated 4 April 1936 showed Mabel Packard inheriting the house in full. There were also a number of monetary gifts to various nieces and nephews ranging from $100 to $700. Maria had also loaned Mabel $1400 and that debt was now cancelled.

     This all indicates that Maria was economically secure at the end of her life. As for the house – it last came on the market in the early 2020s and was then valued at over one million dollars.

     The Ackley sisters, Maria and Emma, both had concerns about money during their lives, but ultimately they were quite comfortable financially.

Swanee River

      Most articles on these history blogs have a very direct connection with Watch Tower history and pre-history. But others have a more tenuous link. This is one of the latter.

     Stephen Foster (1826-1864) is sometimes called “the father of American popular music.” He wrote over 200 songs, some of which are still performed today. Many suggest the music of the southern states, and were performed by minstrel groups, although apparently Foster only ever visited the south once in his life. Camptown Races, My Old Kentucky Home, Beautiful Dreamer, and Swanee River (Old Folks at Home) are among his titles. The latter became the state song of Florida in 1935.

     When he died in 1864 he was buried in the Allegheny cemetery, as were a good number of his family. Most readers here will know that CTR’s parents, siblings and other relatives were also buried in a family plot in this cemetery.

The Tampa Bay Times carried an interview with Mabel Packard in its issue of 24 January 1960.

     Mabel Packard was the daughter of Joseph Lytle Russell, CTR’s father, through his second wife, Emma Ackley. So she was CTR's half-sister. She was born in 1881 and when about 15, Stephen Foster’s brother, Morriston Foster (1823-1904) was a next door neighbor. From him she got the information that one of Stephen’s most famous songs that starts “Way down upon the Swanee River” was originally called something else – “the Pee Dee River.”  “Swanee” sounded a lot better and the name stuck.

     The house where Mabel was living at the time of the interview was the address for her mother Emma Russell, and also her aunt Maria Frances Russell from 1922 until their deaths. Emma died in 1929 and Maria died in 1938, but according to the newspaper cutting Mabel did not move into the area until 1941. That could well be an error. The obituary for Maria in 1938 mentioned a surviving niece, Mrs Richard Packard of "this city." Mabel died aged 80 towards the end of 1961, and is buried in the same family plot as Emma and Maria.

Herald of Gospel Liberty, July 11, 1912

This was a reaction to "Pastor Russell's Newspaper Sermons." This was included in an longer article complaining that Mormon-owned newspapers would not carry paid ads for anti-Mormon pamphlets. The reference to "Patent Inside" pages was to preprinted newspaper pages sold to newspaper publishers to provide them with content at a nominal cost, about what the publisher would have to pay for blank paper alone. Herewith the article extract:

We notice, too, that Mr. Russell, the Millenial Dawnist, gets his sermons in many of these "patent insides." Think of it! We know enthusiastic members of Protestant churches who publish papers, using the "patent insides," carrying to their readers each week "a well-loaded barrel" of Russellism. Do you suppose you can find a single Russellite editor who would be carrying with his consent a sermon against Russellism? It is time for Protestant Christians to be waking up we cannot afford to swallow everything whole which may be pushed at us. Indeed we cannot, and it is time for us to begin to choose the kind of reading matter that comes into our homes each week, and even daily. It is an insult to have a big dish of Mormonism and Russellism pushed at us in every literary meal we get.

From: Light on Mormonism, October-December 1929

 The editor published part of a very long letter from a former Mormon bishop who was "caught" between Mormonism and the Bible Students, attracted to both but part of neither. 

A "COME - BACK" OF RUSSELLISM 

Our article on this active and dangerous sect in LIGHT for December was entirely kindly and Christly, though as plain as need be; just as a surgeon must sometimes be very plain with his knife. But the response of the ex- Mormon bishop in Ogden, Utah, is disappointing. He writes a long letter, in a spirit which we do not like to see in anybody, and which is never justifiable; especially toward one who has been always kind and acted only in good conscience in this matter. We can best show needed facts by quoting a little from the letter. But please remember in reading it that its writer is a combined product of both Mormonism and Russellism, and that both systems are about equally evident in his letter. We hardly need say that from beginning to end there is hardly an assertion that is even based on fact, while most seem only ventings of enmity against the Christian church and its Bible truth, which often characterizes the work of Russellism everywhere.

  

The Bible Students, as you are pleased to call them, are preaching the message of the Kingdom of Heaven which is at hand, and which means the complete deliverance of the race from bondage of sin and death, Priests and Preachers, Hell-fire screachers and blasphemous defamers of God's name in general.

On the other hand, the antitypes of those mentioned above including yourself are preaching that God made man and with a foreknowledge that he would fall, then placed in him a soul that cannot die and prepared a torture chamber called hell in which to forever wreak out upon them the wrath of a God whom the Bible says is love. And remember, Rev., not over 3 percent of the earth's people ever heard of the only name whereby man can be saved.

Research Needs

 I need clear scans of the following

1898, A Letter to Major Whittle From the Berean Bible Class of Tiffin, Ohio (A. S. Herr)

1901, Future Probation (Horace A. Randle). This is held by three British libraries. Cost to USA is prohibitive. Perhaps one of our readers in the UK can acquire scans. 

c. 1908, Questions Answering Questions (A. B. Dabney). Located but no response from the library that owns a copy. 

1909 The Three Great Covenants of Scripture (William Crawford):

1909 The Wonderful Story of God’s Love (Margaret Russell Land):

1909, After the War (E. H. Sutton):

Photodrama operatives

With thanks to Bernhard who supplied the photograph.

The word “Operatoris” is the Latin for “operators.”

The first showing of the Photodrama to the general public appears to have been on January 11, 1914, at the New York City Temple. Cutting below is from the New York Sun, January 11, 1914, page 13.

It should be noted that Fred Franz in a 1987 WT gave the date of January 4 for the premiere, but this may have been a special showing for Bible Students.

Jehovah's Witnesses: Their Position

 I need a clear scan of this tract, published in the UK during World War 2. Please. Anyone?

Miscellaneous Things

 These are past the era we normally research but interesting. Most were sent by Tom S. to whom we owe our thanks

From Mary Rutherford to Robison in Federal Prison

 

A Photo

 Laim C., a friend of this blog, sent this. It's taken from the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary archive. It is labeled "Taken at the Atlanta Convention, July 4, 1917. Can you identify those in the photo? Click on the image to see it entire. 

The first Zion's Watch Tower

     For a collector of Watch Tower history and memorabilia, one of the prized items would have to be an original copy of the very first issue of Zions Watch Tower magazine for July 1879. Originally only 6000 copies were printed (Proclaimers page 48), which at the time – even with links to existing readers of Adventist and Age to Come papers – was still quite ambitious.

     But now we know that there was not just one published paper for that July. Like the 1611 King James Version Bible (with its two versions, a “he” and a “she” Bible) there are two known printing of the July 1879 Zion’s Watch Tower. If you are one of the very, very few with an original, which one do you have?

     The article involved was on pages 4-5 of the very first magazine. It is called ‘God’s “Little While”’ and, unlike some of the other articles which give the writer’s initials, this one is uncredited. There are around five examples where changes were made in just this one article. One assumes that some copies were printed and then additional proof reading caused the typeface to be adapted before the remainder came off the production line.

     We will examine the changes as version 1 and version 2, and then explain where these can still be seen today, even if you don’t have an original. Most readers today will either have scans of the original issues, a text file of the Watch Tower for 1879-1916, or the reprint volumes – or probably all three. They reflect the two different versions of the magazine for July 1879.

     Change number one – version 1 above and version 2 below:

     

     The scripture is changed to show the correct chapter and verse, not two chapters.

     Changes number 2 and 3. This covers the end of one column and the start of a new column. First, version number 1:

     

     Compare that with version number 2:

     

     In the second version at the end of the extract there is an extra dash for punctuation. But the biggest change is at the start of the extract. Version 1 has a question “How long, Paul, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in?” Version 2 splits this into two sentences – the first is the question, but the second is the answer to the question: “How long, Paul? Until the fllness of the Gentiles be come in.”

     Change number 4 has version 1 reproduced first, followed by version 2.

   

     The words “high calling” are now in inverted commas.

     And finally, example number 5. This too has version 1 first, followed by version 2:

    

     We note that the word “may” is added to second version, and the whole phrase is now placed within inverted commas. This is because, although the paragraph ends with a reference to Romans 11 v.2-25, this is actually a paraphrase of verse 31 of that chapter. The words inside inverted commas now reflect that, although it is still slightly adjusted from the standard King James’ Version words, which read: “Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.”

     So where do we find the two versions preserved today?

     Most collectors will have scans of the first Zion’s Watch Tower in general circulation. This scan takes its material from version number 1.

    

     It is also found in the text edition of Watch Tower 1879-1916 that many will have.

     

     Apart from the reference to Acts 15-16 which an eagle-eyed transcriber noticed and changed, this was all taken from the first version.

     But then in the early 1920s the Watch Tower magazine was reprinted in seven volumes. The organization had to borrow some issues from the friends to complete this because their own file was incomplete. But the reproduction of the first July 1879 was now all taken from the second version.

     

     This indicates that both versions must have been in general circulation at some point for this to happen.

     We know that version 2 with its amendments comes from a copy originally in private circulation. It is now inaccessible in a display under glass, but the key graphics were extracted some time ago.

     We don’t know the story behind all the small changes and why they were made in 1879. But if you want to have the very first Watch Tower in your personal collection – now you need to have TWO.

     Good hunting!

 

     (With grateful thanks to Leroy who noted the changes and provided the scans for version two)