St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-04-05
A Word Picture of the Trials Of the House
keeper Drawn by the Rev. DR..
Talmage.
The 0ld-FasbiOned Religion of Jesus Christ
Urged as Panacea for Home
Life's Ills.
An Insight Into the Many Tribula-
tions of the Banker of the
Household.
ing-Pin to the Sceptre of the Ce-
lestial City.
DR.. Talmage's Sermon.

preached to-day on The Trials of House
keeping, taking as his text Luke X, 40:
Lord dOSt thou not care that my sister
hath left me to serve alone? Bid her,
therefore, that she help me-" DR.. Talmage
said: Yonder is beautiful village home
stead. 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
sister, with a 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 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 elabOrately
arranged their treSseS, then coming ont
with their affected surprise as though they
had not heard the two or three previous
knockings, saying: ''Why, is that yOU?"
No. They were ladies, and were always
preseDtable. 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 pertur-
baton. / suppose also the walk from the
city had been good appetizer. The kitchen
department that day was a very important
department, and l suppose that Martha
had no sooner greeted the guests than she
fed to that room. Mary had no anxiety
about household affairs. She had full con-
fidence that Martha could get up the best
dinner in Bethany. She seems to say:
''NOw let us have a division 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, painstaking, good
manager, ever inventive of some new
pastry, or discovering something in the art
of cooking and housekeeping. There is
Mary, also. fond of conversation, literary,
so engaged in deep questions 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 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 en-
tertainment. Alas. me! if the duty had de-
volved upon Mary. what a repaSt that
would have been. But something went
WRONG IN TIE 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 brown;
and Martha lost her patience, and forget
ting the proprieties of the occasion, 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 hath left me to serve
alOne?" Christ scolded not word. If it
were Scolding 1 should rather have his
seolding than anybody elSe's blessing.
He knew Martha had almost worked
herself to death to get Him something
to eat, aud SO He throws a world
of tenderness into His intonation 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 about many things. but one
thing is needful." AS Martha throws open
that kitchen door look in and see a great
many household perpleXities and anxietes.
First there is the trial of non-GppTeciatiOn.
That is what made Martha So mad with
Mary. The younger sister had no estimate
of her older sisters fatigueS- As now, men
bothered with the anXieties of The store,
and Office, and shop, or coming from the
stock exchange, they say when they get
home; ''Oh, you ought 10 be
IN OUR FACTORY
a little while; you ought to have to manage
eight or ten, or twenty subOrdinates, and
then YOU would know what trouble and
anxiety arel'' Oh. sir! the wife and the
mother has to conduct at the same time
university, a clothing establishment, a
restaurant. laundry, library. while she
is health Ofileer. police and president of her
realm. She must do a 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 so fortunate that they
can sit in an armchair in the library, or lie
on the belated pillow. and throw off all the
care upon subordinates who, having large
wages and great experience, can attend to
all of the affairs of the household. Those
are the exception. / am speaking this
morning of the great mass OF hOusekeepers
the women to whom life is a struggle,
| and who at 80 years of age look as though
they were 40, and at 40 look as though they
were so, and at 90 look as though they were
60. There is the trial of severe economy.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine households
out of the thousand are subjected to it
some under more and some under less
stress of circumstances. Especially if a
man smoke very expensive cigars and take
very costly dinners at the restaurants he
will be severe in demanding domestic
economies. This is what kills
| TENS OF TIL NDS
| of women-attempting to make S5 do the
work of 81. How the bills come ini
| The woman is the banker of the household;
| she is the president, the cashier, the teller
| the discount clerk: and there is a panic
| every few weeks! This thirty years war
against high prices, this perpetual study of
economies, this lifelong attempt 70 keep
| the outgo less than the income exhausts
millions Of housekeepers. o. my sister.
this is a part of the divine discipline. If 1t
were best for you. all you would have to
| do would be to open the front windows and
the ravens would fly in with food; and
after you had baked fifty times from the
barrel in the pantry. the barrel. like the
one of Zarepath, would be full; and the
shoes of the children would last as long as
the shoes of the Israelites in the wilderness
forty years. Beside that, this is going to
make heaven the more attractive in the
contrast. They never hunger there, and
consequently there will be none of the
nuisances of catering for appetites. And
| in the land of the white robe they never
have to mend anything and the air in that
I II ,,-orx-bOIx- wall