St. Paul daily globe., 1888-04-01
SARAH.

1t is sometimes the misfortune of
woman to be the wife Of great man.
Her individual Importance is apt to be
overshadowed by his fame. Such was
the case of SARAH, the wife of ABRA-
HAM, who was unquestionable most
extraordinary woman, and,aS the mother
of a great nation, would seem to deserve
a place in history that has not been ac-
corded her.
SARAH's record as Bible celebrity is
somewhat limited in comparison with that
of her husband, and while in some re-
spectS she is made to shine in disad
vantageous light, we still get sufficient
glimpse of her to justify the opinion
that she was most remarkable woman.
1t was in Bible times good deal as it is in
these days. Men wrote the history OF
the times, and that is the reason why
the women got such poor showing.
The male historian then, just as the
male historian now, would dwell long
enough in portraying the characteristics
of prominent women to publish their
weaknesses, but skipped over their
graces. So it is the weak points in
SARAH's character that are made to ap-
pear more conspicuous than the strong
ones.
The strong point in SARAH's char
acter was her SeIf-aSSertiOn. In all re-
spects a faithful, loving wife, yet if oc-
caSion ever required that she should get
on her ear, she generally got there.
ABRAHAM had a record for self-will
and imperiousness himself. But it was
a saying throughout all the land of Ca
naan that whenever SARAH entered the
ring to contest with her husband for the
championship, ABRAHAM would hand
the belt over to her without further par
ley. The HAGAR episode is striking
Illustration of this trait in SARAH's
character.
MOSES, who is popularly supposed to
beSARAH's s biographer, was meek above
all the men of the earth, and do MT
seem to have been inclined to bring out
his heroine's chief characteristics. He
didn't want to encourage women to be
strong minded, and that is probably the
reason why SARAH has suffered at the
hands of her historian
Notwithstanding her stromg-minded-
ness, SARAH still possessed some of the
weaknesses peculiar to her sex, and
these have been seized upon by the
biographer as fit subjects of ridicule,
with the probable intention of utilizing
them as warning to other women,
whereby they might be enabled to es-
cape the follies of which this great
mother of the Israelitish nation was
guilty of. Just like good many of our
modern girls, SARAH was afflicted with
foolish desire to have a poetic termi-
nation to her Christian name. She was
not satisfied with the good old honest
name of SARA, which her parents had
given her at baptism. She had to ring in
an extra ''i'' at the terminal, which in
Hebrew pronunciation has the sound of
Sc" The little love notes sent to
ABRAHAM before marriage were always
signed sForever and forever, your own
SARAI." SARAH's strong will and
power of self-assertion were illustrated
in the fact that she was ninety years old
before ABRAHAM could break her of this
silly fashion of writing her name. and
then he had to call an angel to help him.
1t was SARAH who gave origin to the
ancient proverb: ''There is no house
with roof big enough to shelter two
women at the same time" HAGAR
was as comely young woman as was
to be found in Jud&a, and of most
loYable nature. Like many good
wife of modern times, SARAH was as
guilelesS as an infant and didn't know