The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-07-18

struggled for him. He must know
at first hand what the daily pinch
and problem are, and then he shall
speak with authority concerning the
right conduct of life.
Why, l know minister who says
that the best sermon he ever wrote
was accomplished while he held his
little year-old daughter in his
lap; while she played with the
things" in half open drawer of
his desk, he wrote. And his text
was apt:
FINALLY, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things
are honest, whatsoever things are just,
whatsoever things are pure, whatso-
ever things are lovely, whatsoever
things are OF good report =.
think on these things"
How could he help thinking on
these things, and to some high pur-
pose, in such companionship2 Surely
to him the promise was fulfilled, "a
little child shall lead"
If he had persisted in this method
of preparation for preaching he
might have been by now presiding
elder, who knows? If only he had
been in the right denomination for
such honors. But then there are
drawbacks in being presiding elder.
One forms habit of presiding, and
at last comes to wear an air of finality
as if one were always presiding and
making decisions from which there
is no appeal, and that spoils one for
general society. But this is digres-
sion.
l know minister's wife who at the
time of her marriage cherished an
ideal of her duty to the man of God
similar in many respects to the one
outlined above, and as the man she
married was a semi-invalid her anx-
iety was somewhat exaggerated to
be that rare thing, "a perfect woman,
nobly planned" according to the
theological standard. She began by
rubbing her husband down after
every pulpit effort, and reading him
the silliest books, like "Helen's
Babies" to bring his mind down
gently from its exhausting flight;
she followed him around with cups
of hot milk before preaching and
with beaten eggs after preaching,
and in these she sometimes dropped
a little old whisky, though this went
sorely against her conscience. She
studied medical treatises of every
description to find. out what was the
matter with him and how to cure it;
and whenever she got clue-or
thought she had one-she followed
it up so faithfully that after ten years
there remained no system of gym
nastics known to science, and no
drug known to the medical world
which she had not tried upon him.
She gave him the spare room be-
cause the baby walked him at night
(for if he was once walked she knew
he never would sleep AGAIN., and she
asked him show he felt now," about
once an hour during the first dozen
years of her married life. At the end
of that time, in spite of these perse-
vering attentions, he was hopeless
invalid and had to resign his charge.
At this juncture the woman,
through force of circumstances, for
sock him Tin fgure), and lo the
Lord took him up; and today he is
happy, healthy man, preaching an
all-round Gospel to all-round sinners.
She had time for no more medical
study, she gave no more doses, pre-
scribed no more gymnastics, and for
got to ask after his feelings. He went
into business, kept the wolf from
the door with pale face but deter
mined arm for several years, and is
! now restored to his rightful place in
| the great congregation.
Too much helpmeet is what ails a
good many ministers. No, brethren,
it is not more coddling, but less, that
you need. Face the bore, the butch
er and the baby, with your wives
and then preach, and you will find
yourselves on the right road to those
"honors" for which the unsanctified
among you sigh, and your wives may
have time to win few little "hon-
ors" themselves so that they may
have the pleasure of laying them at
your feet. Here the vision faded
away, and / rose to write.-The hide
pendent.
ELMIRA, N. Y.