The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1898-01-13

tifully poetic; but if those tombstones
would speak the truth, thousands OF
them would say: Here lies a woman
killed by too much mending, and sew
ing, and baking, and scrubbing, and
scouring;: the weapon with which she
was slain was broom, or sewing
machine, or ladle." You think, O
man of the world! that you have all the
cares and anxieties. If the cares and
anxieties of the household should come
upon you for one week, you would be
Mt Tor the insane asylum. The half
rested housekeerer arises in the morn
Ing. he must have the morning repast
prepared at an irrevocable hour. What
II the fire will not light; what if the
marketing did not come; what if the
CLOCK has stopped-no matter, she must
nave the morning repast at an irrevoc-
able hour. Then the children must be
got Off to school. What if their gar
ments are torn; what if they do not
Know their lessons; what if they have
lost hat or sash-they must be ready.
Ihen you have all the diet of the day,
and perhaps of several days, to plan;
put what if the butcher has sent meat
unmasticable, or the grocer has sent
artlcles of food adulterated, and what
II some piece of silver be gone, or some
1avorlte chalice be cracked, or the roof
leak, or the plumbing FAIL or any one
VI thousand things occur-you must
ne ready. pring weather comes, and
there must be a revolution in the fam
be ready. Spring weather comes, and
you must shut out the northern blast;
out what it the moth has preceded you
TO the chest; what if, during the year,
the children have outgrown the apparel
OF last year; what if the fashions have
changed. Your house must be an
apothecary's shop; it must be a dis
pensary; there must be medicines for
all sorts Of ailments to
loosen the Group, something to cool the
ourn, something to poultice the infiam-
nation, something to silence the jump
Ing tooth, something to soothe the ear
acne. You must be in nalf a dozen
places at the same time, or you must
attempt to be. If, under all this wear
ana tear OF life, Martha makes an i'm
patlent rush upon the library or draw
lng-room, be patient, be lenient! Oh,
woman, though I may fail to stir up an
appreciation in the souls of others in
regard to your household tolls, let me
assure you, from the kindness with
which Jesus Christ met Martha, that
ne appreciates all your work from gar
ret to cellar; and that the God of De-
Dorah, and Hannah, and Abigail, and
grandmother Lois, and Elizabeth Fry,
and Hannah More is the God of the
housekeeper! Jesus was never mar
rled, that he might be the especial
TREND and confidant of a whole world
OF troubled womanhood l blunder;
Christ was married. The Bible says
that the Church is the Lambs wife,
and that makes me know that all
Christian women have a right to go
to Christ and tell him of their annoy
ances and troubles, since by his oath
OF conjugal fidelity he is sworn to SYM
pathize. George Herbert, the Christian
poet, wrote two or three verses on this
subject:
The servant by this clause
Makes drudgery divine:
Who sweeps room, as for Thy laws,
Makes this the. action fine"
A young woman of brilliant educa-
ton and prosperous circumstances was
called downstairs to help in the kitch-
en- in the absence of the servants. The
door-bell ringing, she went to open it
and found gentleman friend who
said as he came in: Il thought I heard
music; was it on this piano or on this
harp?" She answered: mo; I was
playing on grid-iron, with frying-pan
accompaniment. The servants are
gone, and I am learning how to do
this work." Well done! When will
women in all circles find out that it is
honorable to do anything that ought
to be done?
How great are the responsibilities op
housekeepers! Sometimes an indiges-
tible article of food, by it's effect unon
king, has overthrown an empire.
distinguished statistician says Of one
thousand unmarried men there are
thirty-eight criminals, and of ooe
thousand married men only eighteen
are criminals. What a suggestion Of
home Influences! Let the most he
made of them. Housekeepers bv The
food they provide, by the couches thew
spread, by the books they Introduce. bv
the influences they bring around their
home, are deciding the physical, INTEL
lectual, moral, eternal destiny of the
race. You say your life is one of sac
rifice. I know it. But, my sisters, thai
is the only life worth living. That was
Florence Nightingale's life; that was
Payson's life; that was Christ's life.
We admire it in Others; but how very
hard it is for us to exercise it our
selves! When in Brooklyn, young DR..
Hutchinson, having spent a whole
night in diphtheritic room for the re-
lief of patient, became saturated with
the poison and died, we all felt as if
we would like to put garlands on his