Married life however with them was a short one. The seeds of disease which had previously shewn themselves became in course of time more fully developed, and in three years and nine months she was left a widow. She survived her husband 30 years; and was permitted to continue to live at the vicarage; and she frequently held meetings at the Rough Park, at Coalbrookdale, Madeley, and Madeley Wood; having first taken counsel of Mr. Wesley, who approved of the steps she had taken.
“The Old Barn” was one of the places long associated with her labours and her name, and was a place long endeared to Mr. Wesley’s early ministers, who used it for preaching and exhortation. It was a heavy half-timbered building, in the fashion of former times, a lithograph representation of which by a friend of ours, Mr. Philip Ballard, may be seen in the houses of many of the inhabitants of Madeley.
Sarah Lawrence, whom Mr. Fletcher took as a child from the side of her mother’s coffin, and adopted as a daughter, was a faithful friend, and of considerable assistance in visiting and conversing with the sick; but she died some years before Mrs. Fletcher, who built a chapel at Coalport to her memory, in consequence of a dream Miss Lawrence had had, that great good would result from the erection of a place of worship there. The lease, we believe, has now expired.
Miss Tooth, another adopted daughter, survived Mrs. Fletcher, and for many years continued the Sunday morning meetings in a large upper room of her house, which is now converted into a public house. The Rev. George Perks who now holds a distinguished position among the Wesleyans, the present writer, and many others, attended these meetings. Miss Tooth took care that they did not interfere with the services of the Established church, which she set the example of attending punctually. She usually read one of Mrs. Fletcher’s papers, such as she had formerly read herself at her meetings. Speaking of Mrs. Fletcher, soon after her death Miss Tooth said:
“Her whole life was one of self-sacrificing endeavour to do good to the souls and bodies of men. She lived not for herself but for others. She was one of a thousand, as of mercy, so of economy; always sparing of expense upon herself, that she might have more to give to ‘the household of faith.’ She would often say, ‘God’s receivers upon earth are Christ’s Church and His poor.’ When I have proposed the purchasing of some article of clothing for her, she would ask, ‘Is it quite necessary? If not do not buy it: it will be much better to give the money to some of our poor neighbours than to lay it out upon me.’ Nor was this once only; it was invariably her conduct; and with great truth it might be constantly said of her also, that
“‘What her charity impairs,
She saves by prudence in affairs.’“She was remarkably exact in setting down every penny she expended. She kept four different accounts, in which all she spent was included. These four were the house, sundries, clothes, and poor. We have often at the end of the year been astonished to find the house expenses so small, considering how many had shared with us. At such times she has said, ‘It is the Lord who has blessed our bread and water.’”
Religious Aspect of Madeley in Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher’s day.
Having given sketches of Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher at some length, we now proceed to notice the religious aspect of Madeley at that period. In order to do this more fully we notice, first, that Mr. Fletcher during the three years which elapsed between his ordination and presentation to the living at Madeley, in 1760, occasionally visited the parish and officiated for Mr. Chambers, the then vicar, as his curate. He was therefore acquainted with the nature of the charge he was about to undertake, and with the character of the people among whom he was about to labour, a tolerable estimate of which may be gleaned from the description given by one of Mr. Fletcher’s biographers, the Rev. J. Benson, who says:—
“Celebrated for the extensive works carried on within its limits, Madeley was remarkable for little else than the ignorance and profaneness of its inhabitants, among whom respect to man was as rarely to be observed, as piety towards God. In this benighted place the Sabbath was openly profaned, and the most holy things contemptuously trampled under foot; even the restraints of decency were violently broken through, and the external form of religion held up as a subject of ridicule. This general description of the inhabitants of Madeley, must not, however, be indiscriminately applied to every individual among them: exceptions there were to this prevailing character, but they were comparatively few indeed. Such was the place where Mr. Fletcher was called to stand forth, as a preacher of righteousness, and in which he appeared, for the space of five-and-twenty years as a burning and shining light.”
How he laboured is best described by the same writer, who says:—
“Not content with discharging the stated duties of the Sabbath, he counted that day as lost, in which he was not actually employed in the service of the church. As often as a small congregation could be collected, which was usually every evening, he joyfully proclaimed to them the acceptable year of the Lord, whether it were in the place set apart for public worship, in a private house, or in the open air. And, on these occasions, the affectionate and fervent manner in which he addressed his hearers, was an affecting proof of the interest he took in their spiritual concerns. As the varying circumstances of his people required, he assumed a different appearance among them: at one season he would open his mouth in blessings: and, at another, he would appear, like his Lord amid the buyers and sellers, with the lash of righteous severity in his hand. But, in whatever way he exercised his ministry, it was evident that his labours were influenced by love, and tended immediately, either to the extirpation of sin, or the increase of holiness.”