St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-04-17

turned from his Western trip, occupied
the pulpit of the Brooklyn Tabernacle foI
the delivery of his thirteenth discourse OF
che wharfage Ring" series, the subject OF
which was "The Trials of Housekeeping, ~
and the text:
Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister
hath left me to snrve alone? Bid her, there
fore. that she help ne.-Luke x, 40.
Wonder is a beautiful village homestead
The man of the house is dead, and his
widow is taking care of the premises
This is the widow Martha of Bethany.
Yes. will show you also the pet of the
household. This is Mary, the younger sis
ter, with book under her arm. and her
face having no appearance of anxiety and
perturbation. Company has come. Christ
stands, outside the door, and, of course,
there is a good deal of excitement inside
the door. The disarranged furniture is
hastily put aside, and the hair is brushed
back, and the dresses are adjusted as well
as in so short time Mary and Martha can
attend to these matters. They did not
keep Christ standing at the door until they
were newly appareled or until they had
deliberately arranged their tresses, then
coming out with their affected surprise
as though they had not heard the
two or three previous knock
'ings, saying: "Why, is that you?"
No. They were ladies, and were always
presentable, although they may not have
always had on their best, for none of us
always have on our best; if we did, our
best would not be worth having on. They
throw open the door and greet Christ.
They say: Good morning. Master; come
in, and he seated" Christ did not come
alone; He had group of friends with
Him, and such an influx of city visitors
would throw any country home into
perturbation. | suppose also the walk from
the city mad been good appetizer. The
kitchen department that day was a very
Important department, and I suppose
that Martha had no sooner greeted the
guests than she fled to that room. Mary
had no anxiety about household affairs
She had full confidence that Martha could
get up the best dinner in Bethany. She
seemed to say: "Now let us have di-
vision of labor. Martha, you cook, and I'll
sit down and be good" So you have often
seen great difference between two sisters
There is Martha, hard working, painstak-
ing, good manager, ever inventive Of
some new pastry, Or discovering some
thing in the art of cooking and housekeep-
ing. There is Mary. also, fond of CONVEX
sation, literary, so engaged in deep ques-
lions Of ethics she has no time to attend to
the questions of household welfare. 1t is
noon. Mary is in the parlor with Christ
Martha is in the kitchen. 1t would have
been better if they had divided the work,
and then they could have divided the OPP
Of listening to Jesus; but Mary
monopollzes Christ while Martha swelters
at the fire. 1t was very important Trims
that they should have good dinner that
day. Christ WAS hungry, and he did not
often have a luxurious entertainm emit.
Alas, me! if the duty had devolved upon |
Mary, what repast that would have |
been. But something went wrong in the |
kitchen. Perhaps the fire would not burn,
Dr. the bread would not bake, or Martha |
scalded her hand, or something was burned |
black that ought to have been made brown;
Ind Martha lost her patience, and for
getting the proprieties Of the OCCASION
With besweated brow, and, perhaps, with
pitcher in one hand and tongs in
he other, she rushes out of the
sitchen into the presence of Christ,
aging "Lord, dost thou not care
hat my sister hath left me to serve
IIone?" Christ scolded not word. If it
we're scolding, should rather have his
colding than anybody else's blessing.
There was nothing acerb. He knew Martha
lad almost worked herself to death to get
lin something to eat, and so he throws a
world of tenderness into his information as
le seems to say: "My dear woman, do not
worry; let the dinner go; sit down on this
ttoman beside Mary, your younger sister.
dartha, Martha, thou art careful and trou-
led about many things, but one thing is
eedful." As Martha throws open that
itchen door, / look in and see great
lany household perplexities and ankle
Ies
First, there is the trial Of non apprecia-
ion. That is what made Martha SO mad
nth Mary. The younger sister had no
stimate of her older sisters fatigues. As
ow, men bothered with the anxieties of
ne store, and office, and shop, or coming
rom the Stock Exchange, they say when
ley get home: ooh, you ought to be in
ar factory little while; you ought to
ave to manage eight, or ten, or twenty
and then you would know
hat trouble and anxiety arew Oh, sir!
.e wife and the mother has to conduct at
he same time university, clothing es- I
restaurant, laundry, a
brary, while she is health officer, police ,
nd president of her realm. She /.
ust do a thousand things, and do
lem well, in order to keep things
ping smoothly; and SO her brain
nd her nerves are taxed to the utmost.
know there are housekeepers who ,
e SO fortunate that they can sit in an
'm-chair in the library, or lie on the be- I
ar ali | :