Noe's No

In the shadow of a new, white stone Gothic edifice, St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral at Memphis, Tenn., stands the house of the Cathedral's dean. Here, in 1921 from Georgia, came Rev. Israel Harding Noe,-- with his wife, Mrs. Ellen Morris Camblox Noe. Friendly, more personable in appearance than she, a good conversationalist, he guided his large flock ably, over pulpit and radio, until he came to be known as one of Memphis' most popular churchmen. A liberal, a patrician, he distinguished himself--without seeking notoriety--in such matters as an attack last month on Tennessee's famed anti-evolution laws. He considered his home life, untouched by scandal, an exemplary one. Perhaps he wanted a son--his one baby boy had died at birth, and a daughter was suddenly taken from him last month --but he still had two little girls, Eugenia and Peggy. And these might compensate for a misfortune which had come upon his wife: a three years' illness which culminated in a crucial operation. Mrs. Noe had wished to have this postponed until she might give birth to a male child. But the' dean objected--her life would be at stake--and the operation was performed. The result of the operation proved to him that he was right, that she should not risk childbirth. But childbirth is avoidable. Mrs. Noe did not believe it necessary for them to live the life of "comparative strangers."

Dean Noe was alone last week in the Deanery house. Mrs. Noe had left him, taken the girls to Sewanee, Tenn. and all Memphis was talking of the divorce suit she had brought against him on the unusual grounds of "coldness and aloofness." He had, she said, "reached such a state of spiritual perfection that he no longer cares for things of the flesh."

In his legal rebuttal, the dean said that if his wife left him it would be impossible for him to maintain two establishments. He loved her and his children and "there never has been a time when [they] need him more than at the present time."

Standing firm with his Church, whose Bishops at the Lambeth Conference last August recorded their "strong condemnation of any methods [save abstinence] of birth control from selfishness, luxury or mere convenience" (TIME, Aug. 25), he pointed out that the sexual instinct, used for procreation, is a holy one, but "when misused ... it becomes a carnal instinct. While the respondent believes in this absolute standard of morals, he is sympathetic with human weakness, and knows that it will take humanity a long time to reach that goal.

"While [the] respondent believes that the only Christian standard of birth control is self control, he desires to state that he has come to this conviction through a steady growth in spiritual development and insight."

--Pronouncetl noy.

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