The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-04
MARTYRS OF The NEEDLE.
Talmage breaches on the Famous
Biblical Metaphor.


of the Sewing Woman's Needle-In-
dustry Important For Woman's
Safety and Happiness Monev Not
the Best Legacy For Children.
Brooklyn, June Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage, who is now on his round-the-world
Journey, has chosen as the subject for to-
day. Martyrs of the Needle" the text
being Matt. 10: "A, 1T is easier for
q camel to go through the eye of
needle"
Whether this "eye of the needle be
the small gate at the side of the big gate
at the entrance of the wall of the ancient
city, as is generally interpreted, or the
eye of a needle such as is now handled
in sewing a garment, I do not say. In
either case it would be a tight thing for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
But there are whole caravans of fatigues
and hardships going through the eye of
the sewing woman's needle.
Very long ago the needle was busy. 1t
was considered honorable for women to
toll in olden time Alexander the Great
stood in his palace showing garments
made by his own mother. The finest
tapestries at Bayeux were made by the
Queen of William the Conqueror. Angus
tus the Emperor would not wear any gar
ments except those that were fashioned
by some member of his royal family. So
let the toiler everywhere be respected!
The greatest blessing that could have
happened to our first parents was being
turned out of Eden after they had done
wrong. Adam and Eve. in their perfect
state, might have got along without work,
or only such slight employment as per-
feet garden. with no weeds in it, demand
ed. But, as soon as they had sinned, the
best thing for them was TO be turned out
where they would have to work
We know what whitening
thing it IS for a man to have moth
ing to do. Good old Ashbel Green. at
four-score years, when asked why he
kept or working, said, Il do so to keep
out of mischief" We see that a man
who has large amount of money to start
with has no chance. OF the thousand
prosperous and honorable men that you
know, nine hundred and ninety-nine had
to work vigorously at the beginning.
But am now to tell you that industry
is Just as important for womans safety
and happiness. The most unhappy women
in our communities to-day are those who
have no engagements to call them up in
the morning who, once having risen and
bre3kfasted lounge through the dull
forenoon in slippers down at the heel and
with disheveled hair, reading the last
novel; and who, having dragged through
a wretched forenoon and taken their
afternoon sleep, and having spent an hour
and a-hRlf at their toilet, pick up their
card-case and go out to make calls: and
who pass their evenings waiting for some
body TO come in and break up the monotOny
Arabella Stuart never was Imprisoned in
so dark dungeon as that.
There is no happiness in an idle woman.
II may be with hand, il NAV be with
t,RsoSr mn no Nrrff h rreH
must, or be wretched forever. The little
girls Of our families must be started with
that idea. The curse of of American So
ciety is that our young women are
taught that the first, second. third
fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh tenth, if
tieth, thousandth thing in their life is TO
get somebody to take care of them In
stead of that, the first lesson should be,
how, under God, they may take care
of themselves. The simple fact is that a
majority of them do have to take care of
themselves, and that, too. after having,
through the false notion of their parents
wasted the years in which they ought to
have learned how successfully to maintain
themselves. We now and here declare the
inhumanity, cruelty, an outrage of that
father and mother, who pass their
daughters into wOmanhoOd, having given
them no facility for earning their liveli-
hood. Madame de Stael said 1T is not
these writings that I am proud of, but
the fact that have facility in ten oc-
equations, in any one of which 7 could
make livelihood"
You say you have a fortune to leave
them. o, man and woman, have youtnot
learned that like vultures. like hawks,
like eagles, riches have wings and hy
away Though you should be successful
In leaving a competency behind you, the
trlckery OF executors may swamp il in a
night: or some elders or deacons of our
churches may get up a fictitious company
ana induce your orphans 10 put their
money into it, and if it be lost. prove to
them that it was eUernally decreed that
that was the way they were to lose il,
and that it went in the most orthodox
and heavenly style. o, the damnable
schemes that professed Christians will
engage in until God puts his fingers into
the collar Of the hypocrites robe and rips
II clear down to the bottom You have
no right, because you are well of, to con-
clude that your children are going to be
as well of. A man died, leaving a large
fortune. His son fell dead in q Philadel-
phia grog shop. His old comrades came
IN and said, as they bent over his corpse:
What IS the matter with you, Boggsey2"
The surgeon, standing over him, said /:
Hush up He is dead "Ah, he is
dead ~ they said. Come, boys, let Us go
and take drink in memory of poor
Boggsey!'
Have you nothing better than money to
leave your children If you have not, but
send your oaugh tiers into the world with
empty brain and unskilled hand, you are
guiltyof assassination, homicide, regicide,
infanticide. There are women toiling in
our cities for three and four dollars per
week, who were the daughters of mer-
chant princes. These suffering ones now
would be glad to have the crumbs that
once fell from their fathers table. That
WORKOUT, broken shoe that She wears is
the lineal descendant of the twelve-d dollar
CATERS in which her mother walked. and
that torn and faded calico had ancestry of
magnificent brocade that swept Broadway
clean without any expense to the street
commissioners. Though you live in an
elegant residence, and fare sumptuously
every day, let your daughters feel it is a
disgrace TO them not to know how to
work. / denounce the idea, prevalent in
society, that though our young women
may embroider slippers, and crochet, and
make mats for lamps to stand on. with
out disgrace, the idea of doing anything
for a livelihood is dishonorable II is a
shame for young woman. belonging in
large family to be Inefficient when the
father tolls his life away for her sup
port. II is a shame for a daughter to be
idle while her mother tolls at the wash
tub. II is as honorable to sweep house,