The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1891-03-18
A SERMON ON MUD.

upon the community so much mud. Hel
words ran something hike this: INC
matter how much / may clean. my house
is continually tracked with mud; my
porchcs are Kept in filthy condition
my carpets arc filed with dust that spoils
them and / can't keep my house neat
It's nothing but mud, mud, mudf' When
She had finished several other of the good
ladies present gave voice TO fcrveni
''AInensT' But before the meeting was
dismissed the pastor rose and remarked
ii cannot close this meeting without
saying that God is not responsible for the
mud Ii there were no men there would
be no mud, and there need be none even
now that there are men. In Portland.
Ore, where it ruins six months in the
year. there is no mud. for the simple
reason that,themen who live there know
enough to use tho intelligence God has
given them in building good roads"
That pastor was right. 1t is man and
not God that makes the mud The sooner
the women whose houses arc kept in q
filthy condition and whose backs always
ache from constant but futile efforts to
keep those houses tidy, realize this fact
the sooner VIII the remedy be applied.
If the wives, instead of asking the Lord
at the Wednesday night prayer meetings
to dry up the mind. would hold u little
meeting in tine family sitting room every
night, and preach u short sermon to their
husbands on Tho necessities of road i'm
provcment and tie evils of mud, results
would soon begin to appear. The Lord
helps those who help themselves!
Mud "grinded in the carpets does
more to wear those carpets out than the
patter of u dozen generations of tiny
feet. And it wears out the patience and
health of tho housewife quicker than it
does tho carpets. She may sweep and
brush and scrub until she sweeps holes
in the carpets. scrubs the paint Off the
floors, and nl;ssl sweeps and brushes and
scrubs the bloom of her cheeks, the
brightness out OF her eyes and the hap
piness out of her heart, but she Will
never get that mud out of the carpet I'M
til she puts II shovel into her husbands
hands and makes him go and use it on
the roads, AID 10y intelligent work strike
at the root OF the evil by making them
so hard and smooth that they won't gen
crate the mud in the first place.
Nor Is tho house the only place where
mud cngulfs the happiness of the farm
ers wife. She is rs much interested
in its adjustment from the roads rs she
is IN its exile from tho parlor, and would
be, even If tho two werc not connected
by an endless chin of footsteps. For
four months in tho year n woman living
in the country might Us well be locked
in u prison with her family, so far rs
seeing new faces or having any social
intercourse Is concerned" said one And
it is true. Who is the jailer? Mud.
What woman. after trying days work
ut the countless things which keep the
country housewife busy, would not be
glad fer an opportunity to drive to a
ncighbor's or to an entertainment in tho
nearest village. It would certainly be q
welcome relaxation and Il beneficial va
ration of the grinding Inonotony of life in
q farm house kitchen. But what woman
would not rather do without the relax:l-
ton and allow the I2onotony to 80 I'M
broken than to feel that when she asked
her husband to crafty her wish she was
asking him to undertake a really forIni-
dable task.
To "ha-ness up" and drive for o mile
or two on u pleasant spring evening over
clean. hard roads woul1 DO pleasure to
both husband ani wife. But when the
roads AFRO so muddy that the jaded horses
can barely pull tho wagon along; when
with every step tho horses take their
hoofs go splash into II river of mud and
send ElotchcS of il flying over everything
in the vicinity, including the people tley
are drawing with so much difficulty, and
when = drive of few miles means an
hour or two on the road instead of u few
minutes, then tho experience is robbed
of its pleasure. The chances are that
by the time the farmer and his wife
have arrived at their destination they
will be cxnsperated with the roads, with
themselves and with life. Tho con.
versation with host and hostess will
be half hearted. When tho time comes
to return home, and tho farmer thinks
of tho half hour or hour he will
have to spend rubbing tho dir. off his
horses before no can go to bed, and the
wife, more tired than cheered by the
visit, thinks of her life in u sea of mud. it
is moro than probable that they who re-
ally love and honor each other will not
try very hard to keep back the i'll natnrcd
words suggested by their general deprcs.
sion. Mud is great promoter of family
jars.
But il instead of quarreling with each
other because the roads wero muddy, the
farmer and his wife would logically look
into the situation, they would soon see
the real state of affairs They would see
that If tho money and labor expended on
the roads to make them muddy were in.
telligently applied, with tho object In
view of making them dry. the object
could be very easily accomplished and
the quarrels avoided. And they would
see that not only would the quarrels be
avoided. but that the farmer would be
able to haul moro produce to market with
fewer horses and les wear and tear on
wagons and harness; that tho farm could
be better worked with fewer lnen, and
that it would therefore increase rapidly
in value; that social evening calls and
trips to the nearby village or city would
be easy and pleasurable. instead of hard
and tiresome. In short, they would see
that good roads would change the whole
complexion of life in the rural districts,
and change it decidedly and undoubted-
| ly for the better.
| And they yyould see moreover tbot