The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1895-06-29
WOMAN'S MISSION.
A Companion Sermon to "Woman's
Opportunity"


Opportunity"
DR.. Talmage Paints . Picture Familiar to
Suffering Humanity-Trus Sisters OF
Charity in Christian Work
Their Heavenly Reward
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, who has
been visiting the west, recently
preached at Beatrice. Neb., upon a sub
ject calculated to awaken the. sympa-
thies Of all lovers Of humanity, viz:
"Sisters of Charity" The text select
ed was Acts, tx. SO: ''This woman was
full of good works and almsdeeds
which she did" Following is the ser
mon
Starting now where l left off last
Sabbath in reciting woman's oppor-
tunities, l have to say that woman has
the special and superlative right of
blessing and comforting the sick.
What land, what street, what house,
has o felt the shifting of disease.
Tens of thousands of sick-beds! What
shall we do with them? Shall man,
with his rough hand and heavy foot, and
impatient bearing, minister? No. He
cannot soothe the pain. He cannot quiet
the nerves He knows not where to
set the light. His hand is not steady
enough to pour out the drops. He is
not wakeful enough to be a watcher.
The Lord God who e Miss Dix into
the Virginia hospitals, and the Maid of
Saragossa to appease the wounds OF
the battlefield, has equipped wife,
mother and daughter for this delicate
but tremendous mission. You have
known men who have despised WON.
an, but the moment disease fell upon
them they did not send for their
friends at the bank, or their partners
in business, or their worldly associates;
their first cry was: Take me to my
wife" The dissipated young man at
the college SCOTS at the idea of being
blast Of the typhoid fever on his cheek
he says: where is mother?" Walter
Scott wrote partly in satire and partly
in compliment when he said:
20. woman. in our hour Of ease,
Uncertain, coy and hard TO please;
When pain and anguish wiring the brow,
A ministertng angel thou"
think the most pathetic passage in
ell the Bible is the description Of the
lad who went out ia the harvest field
Of Shunem and got spnstruck-throw-
ing his hands IN his head and crying
out: 20. my headi my headr" and they
said: "Carry him to his mother" And
then the record is: He sat on her
knees till noon and then died" 1t Is
IN awful thing to be i'll away from
home In . strange hotel, once In .
while men coming to look at you, bold
ing their baud over their mouth for
fear that they will catch tho contsgiop.
How roughly they turn you IN bsdl
How loudly they talk! How you long
for the ministries Of home! I knew
one such who went away from one of
the brightest Of homes tor ssv.
eral weeks business absence at the
west. A telegram came at midnight
that he was on his death-bed, far away
from home. BY express train the wife
and daughters went westward; but
they went too late. He feared not to
die, but he was in an agony To live
until his family got there. He tried To
bribo the doctor to make him live 3
little while longer, He said, y" am
| willing to die. but not alone" Rpt thu
pulse fluttered, the. eyes closed and
the heart stopped. The express trains
met In the midnight; wife and dspgh-
tcrs going westward-lifeless remains
Of husband and father coming esst'
ward. o, It was Q sad, pttiful. over.
whelming spectacle! When we are sick
we want to be sick at home. When
the time comes for us to die we want to
| die At home. The room may be very
humble and the faces that look into
ours may be very plain, but who cares
for that? Loving hands to bathe the
temples. Loving voioes to speak good
cheer. Loving lips to read the COM
forting promises OF Jesus
In our last dreadful war men cast
the cannon; men fashioned the muskst.
march," men hurled their battslions
ON the sharp edges Of the enemy, cry
ing: "Chargel charged" but woman
scraped the lint; woman administered
the cordialsi woman watched by the
dying couch, woman wrote the last
message to the home circle, woMsE
wept at the solitary burial attended
by herself and four men with . spade
We greeted the general home with
brass bands and triumphal arches. and
wild huzzas; but the story is too good
to be written anywhere W. II
the chronicles of Heaven, of Mrs
Brady, who came down among
the sick In the swamps of the Chicka
hominy; Of AMAZE Rass, In the cooper
shop hospital; of Margaret Rrsoki4
ridge, who came to men who had beer
for weeks with their wounds undresset
some Of them frozen to the ground
and when she turned them over thosl
that had an arm left waved II sni
filed the air with their 'hurrahi'-o
Mrs. Hodge, who came from -Chicag'
with blankets and pillows until thu
men shouted: Three cheers for tn,
lLChyisttsp commissionl God bless tn,
women ut hpme." then sitting down t,
take tbs last message, hTell my wifi
not to frat about me, bAt TO meet 4i
In Heaven; tell her to train w tn
boys whom We have loved so WE'LL tel
her to pear my loss like the Christian
wife of q Christian soldiers" and o
Mrs. Shelton, into whose face the con
valescent soldier looked and said
"Your grapes and cologne cured me-"
Men did their work with shot AM
shell, and carbine and howitzer; womel
did their work with socks, and slipper
and bandsges, and warm drinks, an
Scripture texts. and gentle stroking
Of the hot temples, and stories OF tina
land where they never have any pain
Men kpelt down over the wounded
end said; ION which side did you fight?
Womsn kpelt down over the woande
and said: "Whsys are you hurt? Whs
nice thing can I make for yo4 to eat
What makes you cry7" ForRign'
while we men are sound asleep In on
beds, there will be a light in yonde
Loft; there will be grooming in tha
dark alley; there will be cries Of di.
treas In that cellar. Men will slee
and women will watch.
Again, woman has q superlative rigt
to take care of the poor. There al
hundreds and thousands Of them in a
our cities. There is q kind of wor
that men cannot do for the poor. HeI
comes . group of little barefoot chi
dren to the door Of the Dorcas societ,
They need to be clothed and provide
%, With 90 xhaoa d;,aot.a - ha-1