Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-07-23

Yes Dr.. Talmage Says Her Industry, Her
IateIligenoe and Her Christian Devotion
Refined Her For Heaven-A Plea For
Our Mothers
WASHINGTON, July t9.-This radical dis
course will no doubt have its practical re-
suit in many homesteads throughout
Christendom- The text was Samuel ii,
10, Moreover his mother made him lit
tie coat and brought 1t to him from year
to year when she came up with her hus-
band to offer the yearly sacrifice"
The stories of Deborah and Abigail are
very apt to discourage q .woman's soul
She says within herself, "It Is impossible
that ever achieve any such grandeur of
character, and don't mean to try" as
though q child should refuse to play the
eight notes because he cannot execute O
"William Tell" This Hannah of the text
differs from the persons 1 just named. She
was an ordinary woman, with ordinary
intellectual capacity, placed in ordinary
circumstances, and yet by extraordinary
piety standing out before all the ages to
come the model Christian mother Han
nah was the wife of Elkanah, who was a
and plain, never having fought battle or
been the subject Of a marvellous escape.
Neither of them would have been called
genius just what you and might be,
that was Elkanah and Hannah. The
brightest time in all the history of that
family was the birth of Samuel Although
no star ran along the heavens pointing
down to his birthplace, think the angels
of God stopped at the coming of so Won
derful prophet AS Samuel had been
given in answer to prayer, Elkanah and
all his family, save Hannah, started up to
Shiloh to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving
The cradle where the child slept was altar
enough for Hannah's grateful heart, but
when the boy was old enough she took him
to Shiloh and took three bullocks and an
ephah of -four and bottle of wine and
made offering of sacrifice unto the Lord,
and there, according to o previous VOW,
she left him, for there he was to stay all
the days of his life and minister in the
sanctuary.
Years rolled on, and every year Hannah
made with her own hand q garment for
Samuel and took it over to him. The lad
would have got along well without that
garment, for suppose he was well clad by
the ministry Of the temple, but Hannah
could not be oontented unless she was all
the time doing something for her darling
boy. Moreover his mother made him a
little coat and brought it to him from year
to year when she came up with her hus-
band to offer the yearly sacrifice"
Hannah's Industry.
Hannah stands before you, then, today,
in the first place, as an Industrious moth
er. There was no need that she work.
Elkanah, her husband, was far from poor.
He belonged to O distinguished family, for
the Bible tells US that he was the son of
Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of
Tohu, the son of Zuph. "Who We're they9"
you say. I do not know, but they were
distinguished people, no doubt, or their
names would not have been mentioned.
Hannah might have seated herself in her
family, and, with folded arms and di-
sheveled hair, read novels, from year to
year, If there had been any to read. But
when 1 see her making that garment and
taking 1t over to Samuel, know she is in
dustrious from principle as we'll as from
pleasure. God would not have mother
become drudge or slave; he would have
her employ all the helps possible in this
day in the rearing of her children. But
Hannah ought never to be ashamed to be
found making a coat for Samuel Most
mothers need no counsel in this direction
The wrinkles on their brow, the pallor on
their cheek, the thimble mark on their fin
ger, attest that they are faithful in their
maternal duties The bloom and the
brightness and the vivacity of girlhood
have given place to the grander dignity
and usefulness and industry of mother
hood But there is heathenish idea get
ting abroad in some of the families of
Americans There are mothers who Danish
themselves from the home circle For
three-fourths of their maternal duties they
prove themselves incompetent They art
ignorant Of what their children wear, and
what their children eat, and what their
children read. They intrust to irresponsi-
BILE persons these young immortals and al
low them to be under influences which
may cripple their bodies, or taint their
purity, or spoil their manners, or destroy
their souls. From the awkward cut Of
Salnuel's coat you know his mother Han
nah did not make It,
Out from under flaming chandeliers,
and off from imported carpets, and down
the granite stairs there is coming great
crowd of children in this day unframed,
saucy, incompetent for all the practical
duties Of life, ready to be caught in the
first whirl Of crime and sensuality. Indo-
lent and unfaithful mothers will make in
dolent and unfaithful children. You can
not expect neatness and order in any house
where the daughters see nothing but slat-
ternliness and upside downativeness in
their parents. Let Hannah be idle, and
most certainly Samuel will grow up idle.
Who are the industrious men in oil our oc-
cupations and professions? Who are they
managing tho merchandise of the world,
building the walls, thinning the roofs, weav-
ing the carpets, making the laws, govern
ing the nations making the earth to quake
and heave and roar and rattle with the
tread Of gigantic enterprisesp Who are
theyp For tho most part they descended
from industrious mothers, who in the old
homestead used to spin their own yarn
and weave their own carpets and plait
their own doormats and flag their own
chairs and do their own work. The stall
wart men and the influential women of
this day, 90 out of 100 of them, came from
such an illustrious ancestry of hard knuc-
kles and homespun. And who are these
people in society-light as froth, blown ev-
cry whittier of temptation and fashion
the peddlers of filthy stories, the dancing
jacks of political parties, the scum Of
society, the tavern lounging, store infest-
ing, the men of low wink and filthy chuc-
kle and brass breastpin and rotten asso-
eiationsP For the most part they came
from mothers idle and disgusting, the
scandal mongers of society, going from
house to house attending to everybody's s
business but their own, believing in
witches and ghosts, and horseshoes to keep
the devil out of the churn, and by god
less life setting their children on the very
verge of hell The mothers of Samuel
johnson, and of Alfred the Great, and of
Isaac Newton, and of st. Augustine, and |
of Richard Caci1 apd of D,ac;5oyt III |