The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1886-04-14

st. Louis and Kansas City, and lecturing and
preaching in sixteen cities. and speaking at
the Missouri University and Central College,
Rev. DR.. De Witt Talmage preached to-day
in the Brooklyn Tabernacle the thirteenth
of the series of sermons on THE Marriage
Ring" entitled The Trials of Housekeep-
ing" The hymn sung was:
GLORY TO God on high.
Let heaven and earth rejoice"
After e1pounding an appropriate chapter
OF scripture, the preacher took for his text,
Luke 4, 10: lord, dost Thou not care that
my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid
her. therefore that she help me-" Following
is the sermon in full:
MARTHA AND MARY.
Yonder is beautiful village homestead.
The man of the house is dead, and his widow
is taking charge of the premises. This is the
widow Martha, of Bethany. Yes, will show
you also thepet of the household. This IS
Mary, the younger sister, with a book unde,
her arm and her face having no appearances
of anxiety or perturbation. Company has
come. Christ stands outside the door, and
of course, there is good deal of excite
ment inside the door. The disarranged fur
niture is hastily put aside and the hair is
brushed back and the dresses are ad-
justed as we'll as, in short time, Mary and
Martha can attend 10 these matters. They
did not keep Christ standing at the door I'M
til they were newly appareled, or until they
had elabOretely arranged their tresses, then
coming out with their affected surprise, as
though they had not heard the two or three
previous knockings, saying: why, is that
your No. They were ladies, and were al
ways pTesentable 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
be 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. l suppose
also the walk from the city had been good
appetizer. The kitchen department that
day was very important department, and /
suppose that Martha had no sooner greeted
the guests THAN she fled 10 that room. Mary
had no anxiety about household affairs.
She was confident that Martha could get up
the best dinner in Bethany. She seems 10
say: Now let US have division of labor.
Martha, you cook and I'll sit down and be
good" So you have often seen a great dill
ference between two sisters. There is Mar
tina, hard working, painStaking, good man.
ager, ever inventive OF some new pastry, or
discovering something in the art OF cooking
and housekeeping. There is Mary, also,
fond of conversation, literary, 30 engaged in
deep questions of ethics, she has no time to
attend to the questions of hOuseld 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
opportunity of listening to Jesus; but Mary
monopolizes Christ while Martha swelters at
the fire. 1t was very important thing that
they should have good dinner that day.
Christ was hungry, and he did not often have
a luxurious entertainment. 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, or the bread would not bake
Martha SCalded her hand, or something was
burned black that ought only to have been
made brown, and Martha lost her patience,
and forgetting the prophecies of the coca
sion, with besweated brow and perhaps with
pitcher in one hand and tongs in the other,
she Tushes out OF the kitchen into the pres
ence of Christ saying: Lord, dost Thou not
care that my sister hath left me to serve
alone?' Christ scolded not a word. If il
were scolding / should rather have His
scolding than anybody else's blessing. There
was nothing acerb. He knew Martha had
almost worked herself to death to get Him
something to eat, and so He throws world
OF tenderness into His information as He seems
to say: my dear woman do not worry. Let
the dinner 60 Sit down on this ottoman be-
",
Martha, thou art careful and troubled about
many things, but one thing IS needful." As
Martha throws ocen that kitchen door, look
in and see a great many household perplexi-
ties and anxieties.
First, there is
THE TRIAL OF MULTIPLICATION.
That IS what made Martha so mad with
Mary. The younger sister had no estimate
of the older sister fatigues. As now, men
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and Office, and shop, or, coming from the
Stock Exchange, they say when they get
home: 'Oh, you ought to be in our factory
a li:tle while; you ought to have to manage
eight, or ten, or twenty Subordlnates, and
then you would know what trouble and
anxiety are' Oh. sir the wife and mother
has TO conduct at the same time university,
a clothing establishment, a restaurant, a
laundry, library while she j. health officer,
police and president of her realm! She
must do thousand things, and do them
well in order to keep things going smoothly;
and so her brain and her nerves are taxed to
the utmost. know there are housekeepers
who are 50 fortunate that they can sit in
armchair in the library, or lie on the belated
pillow and throw off all the care on subOr-
dinates, who, having large wages and great
expenses can attend to all of the affairs of
the household. These are the exception.
am spea king this morning of the great mass
is struggle, and vino, at thirty years of age,
look a. though they were forty, and at forty
a though they were fifty, and at fifty
though they were sixty. The fallen at
CbslOns, and Austerlitz, and Gettysburg
and Waterloo, are a small number compared
with the slain in the great Armagedden of
the kitchen. You go out to the cemetery
and you will see that the tombstones all read
beautifully poetic; but if those tombstones
would speak the truth, thousands of them
would say: Here lies a woman killed by
too much mending. and sewing and baking,
and securing; the weapon with which sue
was slain was broom, or sewing machine.
or lsdle" You think oh man of the world,
that you have all the cares and aExieties. IL
the cares and anxieties of the household
should come upon you for one week, you
would be fit candidate for Bloomingdale-
mean insane asylum. The half-rested house
keeper arises in the morning. She must have
the morning repast prepared at an irrevoci-
BILE hour. What if the fire will not light;
what if the marketing did not come; what
if the clock has stopped-no matter, she
must have the morning repast at an irrevoca-
bic hour. Then the children must be got
off to school. What if their garments were
torn; what if they do not know their les
sons; what if they have lost sash-they
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