Connecticut western news., 1893-08-24
WIFELY INFLUENCE.
IT MAKES OR MARS THE FORTUNES
 OF MANY MEN.


 Interesting subject-A Great Woman of
 the Days of Elisha-Christian Fortitude
 and Resignation.
 BROOKLYN, Aug. 2O.-Rev. Dr. Tal- mage chose for his subject today one of special interest to the gentler sex, the announced topic being "A Great Wom- an," and the text II Kings iv, s, And it fell on day that Elisha passed to Shu- nem, where was a great woman."
 The hotel of our time had no counter part ill any entertainment of olden time. The vast majority of travellers must then be entertained at private abode. Here comes Elisha, servant of the Lord, on divine mission, and he must find shelter. A balcony overlooking the valley of Esdraelon is offered him in private house, and it is especially fur nished for his occupancy-a chair to sit on, table from which to eat, candle stick by which to read and a bed on which to slulnber-the whole establish ment belonging to a great and good wo- man.
 Her husband 1t, seems, was a godly man, but he was entirely overshadowed by his wife's excellencies, just as now you sometimes find in Q household the wife the center of dignity and influence and power, not by any arrogance or pre- sumption, but by superior intellect and force of moral nature yielding domestic affairs and at the same time supervising all financial and business affairs, the wife's hand on the shuttle, on the bank ing house, on the worldly business. You see hundreds of men who are successful only because there is reason at home why they are successful.
 If 8 man marry q good, honest soul, he makes his fortune. If he marry a fool, the Lord help him! The wife may be the silent partner in the firm, there may be only masculine voices down on ex- change, but there oftentime comes from the home circle potential and elevating influence.
 A SUPERIOR WOMAN.
 This woman of my text was the su- perior of her husband. He, as far as I can understand, was what we often see in our day-a man of large fortune and only a modicum of brain, intensely quiet, sitting long while in the same place without moving hand or foot-if you say ives" responding ''yes;" if you say ''no," responding "no"-inane, eyes half shut, mouth wide open, maintaining his position in society only because he has large patrimony. But his wife, my text says, was great woman.
 Her name has not come down to us. She belonged to that collection of people who need no name to distinguish them. What would title of duchess or princess or queen-what would escutcheon or gleaming diadem-be to this woman of my text, who, by her intelligence and her behavior, challenges the admiration of all ages? Long after the brilliant women of the court of Louis XIV have been forgotten, and the brilliant women of the court of Spain have been forgot ten, and the brilliant women who sat on mighty thrones have been forgotten. some grandfather will put on his spec tacles, and holding the book the other side the light read to his grandchildren the story of this great woman of Shu- nem who was so kind and courteous and Christian to the good prophet Elisha. Yes, she was great woman.
 In the first place, she was great in her Inequalities. Uncivilized and barbarous nations honor this virtue. Jupiter had the surname of the hospitable, and he was said especially to avenge the wrongs of strangers. Homer extolled it in his verse. The Arabs are punctilious upon this subject, and among some of their tribes it is not until the ninth day of tarrying that the occupant has right to ask his guest, "Who and whence art thou?" If this virtue is SO honored even among barbarians, how ought it to be honored among those of us who believe in the Bible, which commands us to use hospitality one toward another without grudging?
 Of course I do not mean under this cover to give any idea that I approve of that vagrant class who go around from place to place ranging their whole life time perhaps under the auspices of some benevolent or philanthropic socie- ty, quartering themselves on Christian families, with great pile of trunks in the hall and carpetbag portentous of tarrying, There is many country par sonage that looks out week by week
 
 creaking wheel and lank horse and di- lapidated driver, come under the aus pices of some charitable institution to spend few weeks and canvass the neighborhood. Let no such religious tramps take advantage of this beautiful virtue of Christian hospitality.
 GARAGES OF HOSPITALITY.
 Not SO much the sumptuousness of your diet and the regality of your abode will impress the friend or the stranger that steps across your threshold as the warmth of your greeting, the informal ity of your reception, the reiteration by grasp and by look and by thousand attentions, insignificant attentions, of your earnestness of welcome. There will be high appreciation of your well come, although you have nothing but the brazen candlestick and the plain char to offer Elisha when he comes to Shunem.
 Most beautiful is this grace of hospital ity when shown in the house of God. am thankful that am pastor of church where strangers are always welcome, and there Is not state in the Union in which I have not heard the affability of the ushers of our church complimented But have entered churches where there was no hospitality. A stranger would stand in the vestibule for awhile and then make pilgrimage up the long aisle. No door opened to him until, flushed and excited and embarrassed, he started back again, and coming to some half filled pew with apologetic air entered 1t, while the occupants glared on him with a look which seemed to say, Well, if I must, I must" Away with such accursed in- decency from the house of God! Let every church that would maintain large Christian influence ill community cul- ture Sabbath by Sabbath this beautiful grace of Christian hospitality.
 A good man travelling in the far west, in the wilderness, was overtaken by night and storm, and he put in at a cabin. Hesaw firearms along the beams of the cabin, and he felt alarmed. He