worried about one of the last big projects before graduation, the Senior Sermon:
What shall I say to these fellows? Better to say nothing, in times like these, than have some namby-pamby nothings that sound pretty but leave people as hungry as before. An opportunity, but a responsibility bigger than I am.
In the spring of 1933 Martin heard about a little country church in North Carolina that needed a pastor. “Two of my friends are looking into it for me.” Back to the South. Closer to Mabel and her family, and to his family. Security, if there was any during the Depression. But Martin knew that more experienced men would be applying for the job. He did not want to give up on his dream of serving in another country. And he would not hide his views on war and on race.
April 8, 1933
Wish I could talk and not have to write this.
The problem? Martin was applying to work for the (Northern) Baptist church overseas and Mabel was a Methodist. While it doesn’t sound like much of an issue today, both of them knew that it would matter to the church leaders. Martin tried to explain his dilemma:
There are so many Baptists who are constantly making trouble with the officers. Frankly I do feel that denominationalism (different Protestant groups) has outlived its day. We can talk it over later. It is your decision whether or not to change your church membership. Should we pull out all together or stay in and try to encourage fellowship among groups?
Martin must have felt sad even bringing up this subject with the woman he loved. Two days later he tried to joke with her and forget the last, difficult subject:
Are you making those what-do-you-call-it Hope Chests for your wedding gifts? Or do only foolish girls do that nowadays? Sensible YWCA directors?
His next letter to Mabel was back to worries about money and the future.
Things do not look encouraging. Work and save a “nest egg” before we are married? I think that I have never been tested as I am now. I have been recommended for a church on Long Island that cannot support a pastor and his family. But they expect their pastor to stay for several years. To get a job, you have to camp on their doorstep.
How could he do that and complete his studies at the same time?
Mabel must have opened these letters with a mixture of joy and dread. Sometimes Martin’s mood was light, even with the worries about his future. He and his friends had gone over to Princeton, New Jersey: “We heard ninety-four young men and women from Westminster Choir College perform the most wonderful singing I have ever heard.” And back in Philadelphia he had attended a lecture on China by the novelist Pearl Buck, who five years later became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
May 1933. Mabel was coming from Miami to Pennsylvania for Martin’s graduation!
Dear Girl, Come as soon as you can. Today I found out that I have an exam at the University of Pennsylvania on June 6th. Maybe you can see some of the campus while I write Sociology. Then I will throw my books out of sight and the world will be ours.
Even when Mabel was old, she enjoyed telling her family about that trip and how Martin’s friends had teased her. As she waited in the lobby, they would run by with pictures of their own girlfriends, or a classmate’s girlfriend, and tell her they had found it in Martin’s room.
After graduation Martin returned to his parents’ home in South Carolina and finally gave himself permission to relax: “Lazy as I ever was in my life. Sleeping and eating, eating and sleeping. Blackberry picking.”
But the vacation did not last long. He was off to North Carolina to look for a job, and to think and pray. Mabel’s last letter had concerned him. She was worried about their future, about her job. “I know you are distressed that the Mission Board has nothing until September. Does Miss W. (YWCA executive director in Miami) definitely expect you to stay for the year? Is there money in the YW budget for your salary?” Martin wrote about his recent hike to the top of Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in the eastern United States. “I want to come and see you, but I know I should save the money.”
Another uncertainty crept into concerns over jobs, money, church membership, and the Depression. Before the church board would begin the interview process, the candidates had to visit a doctor and receive a complete physical exam. “I see no reason this young couple could not serve in another country,” the physician reported. But he was concerned about Mabel. “Miss Orr is not only considerably underweight but has lost eight pounds in the last year. This would indicate the importance of building up her weight and strength before going abroad.”
On August 21, 1933, Martin wrote a polite and formal letter to Mr. and Mrs. John Christopher Orr, asking for their blessing on his and Mabel’s plans for a life together: “We know that you love her and want her near. Our work, however, may take us far away among other of God’s children.”
To Mabel he was more candid about his fears. “Getting married makes me just a bit afraid that I may not measure up to your ideal of me.” Yet amid the fears was some good news. The church office in New York might have jobs for them after all. A friend from seminary, who had recently been appointed of Tioga Baptist Church in Philadelphia, was interested in becoming one of their sponsors. Martin would probably have to give up his dream of going to Africa, but by this time he was ready to go wherever the church sent him.
Both Mabel and Martin had to complete a six-page application. One question inquired: “Would you go along with the majority?” Mabel replied: “Yes, unless it went against my principles.” Neither of them would compromise their beliefs in order to sound pious or to say what they thought the officials wanted to hear.
When asked about working with people of color, both Southerners stated that would be fine; they had had many good experiences with students of other races at leadership conferences. Would they respect other religions? “I would,” each wrote independently, “not only respect other religions but would work to keep the best of their traditions.”
That summer the engaged couple asked professors and friends to fill out long letters of reference, another part of the application process. They traveled to New York to be interviewed in person. Martin must have caused some suspicion among the stricter ministers on the committee, for the transcript shows that when he answered questions about how he would carry out church teachings, they repeatedly inquired, “Are you sure?” In a time when a wife was often considered only an accessory to her husband, the transcript for Miss Orr simply states: “No Questions.”
September 18, 1933
Dear Girl,
I am sending you a copy of the letter from Dr. Howard, appointing us to work among the Kachins of Burma. I wanted to send a telegram but got to thinking how much we would need that sixty-three cents in the next few weeks and months. [In the 1930s a favorite spot for honeymooners was Niagara Falls in upstate New York. Mabel and Martin would have to leave from New York City for Asia.] Niagara Falls on our way? Even if it did cost just a bit more?
Martin’s letters to his fiancée end with this one. How did Mabel finish her job among the young women in Miami, return to Birmingham, and plan a formal wedding? Years later she recalled:
I didn’t have much time to leave my YWCA job in good hands for my successor, plan a wedding, and shop for clothes that I would need for six years. Wool suits of “winter white” were quite the style in 1933, and I thought that would be fine for a going-away outfit and to use on shipboard and in England. I looked in all the shops, including the fine Loveman’s department store, but couldn’t locate one in the entire
