Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-04-15
TRIALS OF HOUSEKEEPING.
DR.. Talmage Talks to HIS Brook
lyn Congregation on the Above
Interesting Theme.
Martha Of Old Taken % Q Text for the
Thirteenth Sermon OF the ssMar.
riage Ring" Series. y

T. .N|' sH D. Hrf
After going as far as st. Louis and Kan
sss City, and lecturing and preaching in
sixteen cities, and speaking at The Missouri
University and Central College, DR.. t. De
Wit Talmage preached in the Brooklyn
tabernacle the thirteenth Of the series of
sermons on "The Marriage Ring entitled
"The Trials of Housekeeping" The
preacher took for his text: 'a sir
Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister
hath left me TO serve alonei Bid her,
therefore, that she help me.-Luke K, 40.
Following is the sermon:
Yonder is o 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 the pet of the
household. This is Mary, the younger sis
ter, with q book under her arm, and her
face having no appearance of anxiety or
perturbation. Company has come. Christ
stands outside the door, and, of course,
there is q 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 we'll
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
elaborately arranged their tresses, then
coming out with their affected surprise, as
though they had not heard the two or three
previous knockings, saying: aWhy, is that
your" No. They were Indies and al
ways 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 be seated"
; Christ did not come alone; He had group
I 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 had been a good APP
petizer. The kitchen department that day
was very important department, and I
suppose that Martha had no sooner greeted
the guests than she fed to tha, room. Mary
had no anxiety about household affairs.
She had full confidence that Martha could
get up the best dinner in Bethany. She
seems TO say: snow let us have division
of labor. Martha, you cook and I'll sit
down and be good" So you have often
seen great difference BETWEEN tw, sisters.
There is Martha, hard working, painstak-
ing, a good manager, ever inventive of
some new pastry. or discovering something
in the art OF cooking and housekeeping.
There is Mary, also, fond Of con-
versation, literary, SO engaged in deep
questions of ethics she has no time to at
tend to the question of household welfare.
: 1t is noon. Mary is in the parlor with
Christ. Martha is in the kitchen. Itwould
have been better if they had divided the
work, and then they could have divided
their opportunity of listening to Jesus, but
Mary monopolizes Christ while Martha
swelters at the fire. 1t was very import
ant thing that they should have good
dinner that day. Christ was hungry, and
he did not often have luxurious enter
tainment. Alas, mel if the duty had de-
volved upon Mary, what repast that
would have been. Butsomething went wrong
in the kitchen. Perhaps the fire would not
burn. or the bread would not bake, or
Martha scalded her hand, or something was
burned black that ought only to have been
made b own; and Martha lost her patience.
and, forgetting the proprieties of the oc-
casion. with besweated brow, and perhaps
with pitcher in one hand and, tongs
in the other, she, rushes out of the
kitchen into the presence of Christ,
saying: "Lord, dost Thou not care
that my sister nath left me to serve alone?"
Christ scolded not word. If it were
soolding, should rather have His ecolding
than anybody else's blessing. There was
nothing acerb. He knew Martha had al
most 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 go; sit down on this
ottoman beside Mary, your younger sister.
Martha, Martha, thou art careful and
troubled abont many things, but enc thing
is needful." AS Martha throws open that
kitchen door look in and see a great many
household perplexities and anxieties.,.; d,
First. there is the trial Of non-apprecia-
ton. That is what made Martha SO mad
wi Mary. The younger sister had no
estimate of her elder sisters fatigues. As
new, men bothered with the anxieties of
the store, and Office, and shop, or coming
from the stock exchange, they say when
they get home: 'Qh, yon, ought to be in
our factory a little while; you ought to have
to manage eight, or ten, or twenty subordi-
mates, and then you would know what
trouble and anxiety are!" oh, sir! the
WAho ahuS Inc iuotueT uHS " Couuuct NJ
the same time q university, q clothing
establishment, a restaurant, a laundry,
library, while she is health officer, police.
AMI r~hsiaen4 ~ hap ri.s3 rnr1st
do . thousand things, and do tAem we'll, j
in order 10 keep things going smoothly;
and so her brain and her nerves are taxed
10 the utmost. know there are house,
keepers who are 30 fortunate that, they can
sit in an aEm-chair in the library, or lie on
the belated pillow, and throw of all the
care upon subordinates, who, having large
wages and great experience, can attend to
all Of the affairs Of the household. Those
Aret the exceptions. I am speaking this
f-T-the women to whom life il o struggle,
and who at 80 years Of age look az though
they we're 40, and at 40 look as though they
q were so, and at 50 look as though they were
i go. The fallen at Chalons, and Austerlitz,
and Gettysburg, and Waterloo are small
number compared with the slain in the
great Armageddon Of the Kitchen You go
cut to the cemetery and you will see that
the tombstones all read beautifully poetic;
z zbnt il those tombstones would speak the
truth, thousands Of them would say: Here
lies woman killed by TOO much insnding,
and sewing, and baking. and scrubbing,
and securing; the weapon with which she
was slain was broom. or q sewing,ma,
chine, or ladle." You, think. o man of
the world, that you have all the cares and
anxieties. III theieares and anxieties Of the
household should come upon you for one
week You wonld be q ft candidate for
Bloomingdale-I mean insane asylum.
The half-rested housekeeper arises in the
morning. She must have, the morning re.