| Day, Sudie ***
The 1887 graduate "Sudie Day" was actually "Ludie Carington
Day." Here are three excerpts about her from a biography of her son, Bishop J.
Waskom Pickett, The Road to Delhi.
In the late 1880s, L.L. pickett preached often across the Texas state line in
Louisiana. During the 1887-1888 school year, he preached a series of sermons at
Mansfield Female College, the first women’s college west of the Mississippi
River. There he met the woman who would become his second wife—and Waskom’s
mother. Her name was Ludie Carrington Day. Born March 31, 1867 in Bayou Tunica,
Louisiana, her parents were Lemuel P. and Emily (Alexander) Day.
Ludie, who had earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of English Literature degrees
at Mansfield, had stayed on to teach English grammar and literature. She also
served as organist in the college church, which is where she and L.L. met. Just
two weeks after the close of the revival services, Pickett wrote to her and
invited her to become his wife. She accepted, even though she had often declared
that she would never marry a preacher, a widower, or a Texan. The 30-year-old
evangelist and the 21-year-old teacher married on the fifth of December, or
thereabout, in 1888.
Like her husband, Ludie had applied to the Board of Foreign Missions. Unlike
him, she was accepted. But she needed to pass a medical exam in Nashville.
Though she felt fine when she got to Nashville, her temperature was one degree
above normal. They sent her home with instructions to record her temperature for
a month and come back. Because her temperature remained slightly above the
normal mark, the secretary reported to the Board that Miss Ludie Day was prone
to developing tuberculosis. He added that she probably would not last a year in
Asia.
Ludie gave birth to seven sons, one of whom—Vernon Day—died in infancy. When
Leroy Woodson was born and the Picketts learned they would have no more
children, L.L., who had hoped for at least one daughter, wept. As a kind of
assuagement, a succession of temporary daughters (Asbury College students)
stayed with the Picketts. They sought to adopt one of them. Three of them became
missionaries.
Ludie Day Pickett was slight in build. Her demeanor was serene. Stanley Jones
could not recall ever seeing her ruffled. When the first Pickett house caught
fire, he was riveted by a plaque on a hallway wall. It was still readable
through the flames. Later, he told "Sister Pickett" that the "Trust in the Lord"
motto was the last thing he saw of home’s interior. Ludie replied, "Stanley,
that is exactly what I am doing." Confidence in Christ was her constant refrain,
as expressed her hymn, "Never Alone."
Though all around me is darkness, earthly joys all flown;
My Savior whispers His promise, never to leave me alone!
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Ludie Day took up the fight too—in fact, had already done so. Waskom could not
recall a time when his mother was not active in the Women’s Christian Temperance
Union. And as he penned his answer on the application, he would, no doubt, have
been reminded the Kentucky WCTU had just elected her as its new recording
secretary, a post she would continue in for the next 15 years. She would accept
other roles too: corresponding secretary; editor of the Kentucky White Ribbon
(the WCTU’s paper); and, for 23 years, president of the Kentucky chapter of the
WCTU.
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After the death of her husband, Ludie Day Pickett became even more involved in
the prohibition movement. In late June, she went to Houston as a delegate to the
Democratic National Convention. In a speech to the assembly, she implored the
delegates not to nominate the frontrunner, Governor Al Smith of New York, who
opposed prohibition. To appoint Smith, she warned, would be perilous for the
party. When Smith was nominated on the first ballot, she went home to work for
his defeat. She was no doubt greatly reassured when, in the election, Herbert
Hoover won all but eight states—including Al Smith’s own state of New York.
I hope this is useful to you,
Sincerely
Arthur McPhee
agmcphee@gmail.com
|
Mrs. Pickett |
