# Phoebe Tozer — Salem Chapel character guide

> Phoebe Tozer in Salem Chapel by Margaret Oliphant.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Phoebe, Miss Phoebe, The plump Phoebe, Phoebe Tozer, Miss Phoebe Tozer, Miss Tozer, the guilty Tozer, the engaging Phoebe, Poor Phoebe

**First appearance:** 0000-i

## Snapshot

The butterman's pink-handed daughter, all dimpled devotion and sidelong glances, who sets her cap at the young minister with a persistence that leaves him speechless.

## Who they are

Phoebe moves through Salem as her father's cherished daughter and the congregation's most conspicuous marriageable prospect, her flirtation with Vincent conducted under her parents' approving eyes. She offers to nurse his dying sister with clasped hands and cast-down eyes, a performance of maidenly self-sacrifice that is both genuine and calculated. Her pursuit matters because it embodies the social pressures closing in on Vincent — the expectation that he will belong to Salem body and soul, and that Phoebe Tozer is the price of belonging.

## Relationships

### [Arthur Vincent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/characters/arthur_vincent)

_social_

Phoebe Tozer is a young woman in Arthur's congregation who harbors a quiet admiration for him.

### [Mrs. Tozer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/characters/mrs_tozer)

_family_

Mrs. Tozer is Phoebe's mother, and she is protective and concerned about her daughter's future.

### [Miss Vincent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/characters/miss_vincent)

_friendship_

Miss Vincent is kind and sisterly toward Phoebe Tozer, offering her guidance and companionship.

### [Arthur Vincent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/characters/arthur_vincent)

_social_

Phoebe Tozer is a young woman in Arthur's congregation who harbors a quiet admiration for him.

### [Mrs. Tozer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/characters/mrs_tozer)

_family_

Mrs. Tozer is Phoebe's mother, and she is protective and concerned about her daughter's future.

### [Miss Vincent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/characters/miss_vincent)

_friendship_

Miss Vincent is kind and sisterly toward Phoebe Tozer, offering her guidance and companionship.

### [Arthur Vincent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/characters/arthur_vincent)

_social_

Phoebe Tozer is a young woman in Arthur's congregation who harbors a quiet admiration for him.

### [Miss Vincent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/characters/miss_vincent)

_friendship_

Miss Vincent is kind and sisterly toward Phoebe Tozer, offering her guidance and companionship.

## In the story

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/chapters/i)

Mrs. Tozer's blooming daughter, who wrote the pink invitation note and is described as pink all over, with a plump figure.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/chapters/ii)

She brings a basket of leftover jelly to Arthur, hoping to please him, but her gesture only deepens his irritation and sense of being patronized.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/chapters/iv)

Flirts with Vincent and shows curiosity about his supposed romantic interest.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/chapters/vii)

Mentioned as someone Vincent avoids during his dreamy state.

### [X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/chapters/x)

Sits beside Vincent at the tea-meeting; her testimony records the event as a 'feast of reason and a flow of soul.'

### [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/chapters/xviii)

Visits Mrs. Vincent after Mr. Beecher leaves, bringing an invitation from her mother.

### [XXXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/chapters/xxxi)

Shyly greets Vincent, wiping a tear, and expresses how pleasant it is to see him again.

### [Chapter XXXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/chapters/xxxiv)

Visits the Vincent home but finds no encouragement; at the tea-party she confesses her injured feelings about Vincent's attentions; sits with Vincent in the cold drawing-room.

### [XXXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/chapters/xxxv)

Sits in the Tozer pew; subsides into tears when Tozer goes up to the pulpit.

### [The Meeting at Salem](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/chapters/xxxvi)

Present with her mother, no longer laughing as the meeting turns against Vincent.

### [XL](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/chapters/xl)

Mentioned by Tozer as one who would help prepare the tea-meeting.

### [XLII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/chapters/xlii)

Decorates the schoolroom with wreaths and roses, and worries that the text frame may fall on her father's head.

### [XLIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/chapters/xliii)

Marries Mr. Beecher about six months after Vincent's departure, becoming a suitable minister's wife at Salem.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/characters/phoebe_tozer
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/salem_chapel_se/characters