The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-21
GREAT WOMAN OF SRUNEM.
He1 Husband was The Silent Partner
Of The Firm.

of HOHn1LaA1ENs > btAAAA9 an a %NN1
Broolllvn. Aug. 2O.-Rev. DIR. Talmage
chose for his subject to-day one of special
interest 10 the geutler sex, the announced
topic sbeinr "A Great Woman and
the text II. Kings 4 $, and it fell on
dav that Elisha passed to Shunem, where
was a great woman
The hotel of our time had no counter
mart i'm any entertainment Of olden time
The vast majority of travellers must then
be entertained at private abode. Here
comes Elisha. a servant Of the Lord on
divine mission. and he must find shelter
A balcony overlooking the valley Of
Fsdraelon is offered him, in a private
house. and it is especially furnished for
his occupancy-a chair to sit on, table
from which to eat, a caudlestick by
which to read. and a bed on which TO
slumber. the whole establishment belong
ing to a great and good woman.
Her husband it seems was a cody man,
but he was entirely overshadowed by his
Nyife's eXCellenCies; lust as now you some
times find in a household the wife the
centre of dignity and influence and pow
er, not by any arrogance or presumption,
but by superior intellect and force OF
moral nature welding domestic AFFAIRS,
and at the same time supervising all imam
ciaI ahd business affairs. The wife's hand
on the shuttle, on the banking house, on
the worldly business. You see hundreds
of men who are successful only because
there is a reason at home why they are
successful.
IfEa man marry a good, honest soul,
he makes his fortune. If he marry
fool. the Lord help him! The wife may
Ill WIN in n there
may be only masculine voices down on eX-
change. but there oftentime comes from
the home circle a potential and elevating
influence.
This woman of my text was the supe
r1or of her husband. He, as far asI can
understand, was what we often see IN our
day, a man of large fortune and only a
modicum of brain, intensely quiet, sitting
a long time in the same place without
moving hand or foOt-if you say yes,
respon ding ''yes''-if you say mo- re-
spending "no'-inane, eyes half shut,
mouth wide open, maintaining his posi-
ton in society only because he has large
patrimony. But his wife, my text says,
was a great woman.
Her name has not come down to us.
She belonged 10 that collection of people
who need no name to distinguish them.
WHAT would title of duchess, or princess,
or oueen-what would escutcheon or
cleaning diadem be to this woman of my
text. who BY her intelligence and her be-
haviOr challenges the admiration of all
agesl Long after the brilliant women of
the court Of Louis XIV have been forgot
ten. and the brilliant women of the court
of Spain have been forgotten, and the
brilliant women who sat on mighty
thrones have been forgotten, some grand
father viii put on his spectacles and hold
ing the book the other side the light, read
to his grandchildren the story of this
great woman of Shunem who was so kind
and courteous and Christisn 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 a right to
ask his guest; ''Who, and whence art
thouP' 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
grudgingl
OF course, I do not mean under this
cover to give any idea that / approve of
that vagrant class who 90 around from
place TO place ranging their whole life
time, perhaps under the auspices of some
benevolent or philanthrOpic society, quar-
tering themselves on Christian families
with great pile of trunks in the hall
and carpet-bag portentous of tarrying.
There is many a country parsonage that
looks out week by week upon the omi-
nous arrival of wagon with creaking
wheel and lank horse and dilapidated
driver, come under the auspices of some
charitable institution to spend a few
weeks and canvass the nelghbOrhood
Let no such religious tramps take adj
vantage of this beautiful virtue Of Christ
ian 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 informality
of your reception, the reiteration by
grasp and by look and by thousand at
tentiOns, insignificant attentions, of your
earnestness of welcome. There will be
high appreciation of your welcome al
though you have nothing but the brazen
candlestick and the plain chair to offer
Elisha when he comes to Shunem.
Most beautiful is this grace of hospi-
> u
am thankful that l am pastor of a chuIch
where strangers are always welcome, and
there is not a state of the Union in which
] have not heard the affabilitY of the
ushers of our church complimented But
j 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
apologize air, entered it, while the occu-
pants glared on him with d look which
seemed to say: well, if must, must"
Away with such accused indecency from
the house of God Let every church that
would maintain large Christian influence
in community, culture Sabbath by Sab
bath 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 AZ a cabin. He
saw firearms along the beams of the cab
in and he felt alarmed. He did not know
but that he had fallen into den oil
thieves. He sat there greatly perturbed
After a while the man of the house came
home with gun on his shoulder and set
1t down in a corner. The stranger was
still more alarmed After a while the
man of the house whispered with hi,
wife and the stranger thought his de
struction was being planned. Then the
man Of the house came forward and SAID
TO the stranger: stranger, we are a