Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-04-14


lecturing and preaching in sixteen cities,
and speaking at the Missouri University
and Central College, Mr.. T. De Witt Tai
mage, D. D., preached to-day in the Brook
lyn Tabernacle the thirteenth of the series
of sermons on s'The Marriage Ring" en-
titled ''The Trials of Housekeeping. The
hymn sung was:
"Glory 10 God on high,
Let heaven and earth rejoice"
After expounding an appropriate chapter
of Scripture the preacher took for his text
Luke X, 40: sLord, dost Thou not care that
my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid
her, therefore, that she help me-" Fol
lowing is the sermon in full:
Yonder is beautiful village homestead.
The man Of the house is dead, and his wild
ow is taking charge of the premises. This
is the widow Martha of Bethany. Yes, l
will show you also the pet of the house
hold. This is Mary, the younger sister,
with a book under her arm, and her face
having no appearance of anxiety or pertur-
baton. 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
apparelled, or until they had elaborately ar
ranged 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 We're ladies, and were always present.
able, 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 appe-
tiser. The kitchen department that day
was very important department, and
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
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, painstak-
ing, 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 ques-
Mary is in the parlor with Christ Martha
is in the kitchen 1t would have been better
if they had divided the work, and ,hen they
could have divided the opportunity of lis
tening to Jesus; but Mary monopolizes
Christ while Martha swelters at the fire. 1t
was a very important thing that they
should have good dinner that day. Christ
way hungry, and He did not often have
luxurious entertainment. Alas, me if the
duty had devolved upon Mary, what re-
past that would have been. But some
thing 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 on
ly to have been made brown. and Martha
lost her patience, and forgetting the pro-
prieties of the occasion, with bes weated
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, l
should rather have His scoding than any
body else's blessing. There was nothing
acerb. He knew Martha had almost work
ed herself to death to get Him something
to eat, and so He throws a world Of tender
ness into His information as He seems to
say: "My dear woman, do not worry; let
the dinner go; sit down on this ottoman be-
side Mary, your younger sister. Martha,
thou are careful and troubled about many
things, but one thing is needful." As Mar
tina throws open that kitchen door, look in
and see a great many household perplexi-
ties and anxieties.
First, there is the trial Of non-apprecia-
ton. That is what made Martha so mad
with Mary. The younger sister had no
estimate of the other sisters fatigues. AS
now, men bothered with the anxieties of
Stock Exchange, they say when they get
home: ooh, you oug int to 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 anx-
iety are p Oh, sir ! the wife and the moth
er has to conduct at the same time uni
versity, clothing establishment, a restau-
rant, laundry, library, while she is
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 SO fOrtu-
nate that they can sit in an armchair in the
library OF lie on the belated pillow, and
throw off all the care upon SubOrdinateS
who, having large wages and great expe-
rience, can attend to all of the all affairs of
the household. Those are the exceptions.
| am speaking this morning of the great
mass of housekeepers-the women to whom
life is a struggle, and who, at thirty years
of age, look as though they were forty, and
at forty look as though they were fifty, and
at fifty as though they were sixty. The
fallen at Chalons, and Austerlitz, and Get
tysburg, and Waterloo are small number
compared with the slain in the great Ar
mageddon 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: s'Here lies
a woman killed by too much mending, and
sewing, and baking, and scrubbing, and
securing; the weapon with which she was
Slain was q broom, or Sewlng-macnlne, or
a ladle." You think, oh man Of the
world, that you have all the cares and anx-
ieties. If the cares and anxieties of the
household should came upon you for one
week, you would be fit candidate for
Bloomingdale-I mean insane asylum. The
half-rested housekeeper arises in the morn
ing. She must have the morning repast
prepared at ali irrevocable hour. What if
the fire will not light; what if the market
ing did not come; what if the clock has
stopped-no matter, she must have the
morning repast at an irrevocable hour.
Then the children must be got off to school.
What if their garments are torn; what if
they do not know their lessons; what if
they have lost hat Or sash-they must be
ready. Then you have all the diet of the
day, and perhaps of several days, to plan,
but what if the butcher has sent meat uu-
masticable, or the grocer has sent articles
of food adulterated, and what if some piece
of silver be gone, or, some favorite chalice
be cracked, or the roof leak, or the
plumbing fail, or any one of a thousand
things occur-you must be ready. Spring
weather comes, and there must be revo-
luton in the family wardrobe; or autumn