The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1898-02-10
DOMESTIC HAPPINESS.
Rev. DR.. Talmago Tells How It
May Best Be Secured.
The Old-FashiOned Religion OF Jesus Christ
Will Smooth Many Of the Trials, Per-
plexities and Anxieties OF
the Housekeeper.

'
through whose daily efforts the home
life is made or marred. The text is:
Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister hath
l9ft me to serve alone: bid her, therefore, that
she help me.-Luke K, 40
Yonder is a beautiful village home
stead. The man of the house is dead, and
his widow is taking charge of the
premises. This is the widow, Martha
of Bethany. Yes, will show you also
the pet of the household. This is
Mary, the younger sister, with book
under her arm, and her face having no
appearance of anxiety or care. Com
pany has come. Christ stands outside
the door, and, of course, there is a
good deal of excitement inside the
door. The disarranged furniture is
hastily put aside, and the hair is
brushed back, and the dresses are ad-
justed as well as in SO short time
Mary and Martha can attend to these
matters. They did not keep Christ
standing at the door until they were
newly appareled, or until they had
elaborately arranged their tresses,
then coming out with their affected
surprise as though they had not
heard the two or three previous
kuockings, saying: "Why, is that
you?" No. They were ladies. and were
always presentable, although they
may not have always had on their best,
for none of us always has on our best;
if we did, our best would not be worth
having on. They throw open the door
and greet Christ. They say: Good
morning, Master; come in and be
seated" Christ did not come alone; He
had group of friends with Him. and
such an influx of city visitors would
throw any country home into pertur-
baton. l Isuppose also the walk from
the city had been a good appetizer.
The kitchen department that day was
very important department, and l
suppose that Martha had no sooner
greeted the guests than she fled to that
room. Mary had no worriment about
household affairs. She had full con-
tidence that Martha could get up the
best dinner in Bethany. She seems to
say: "Now let us have division of
labor. Martha, you cook, and FL sit
down and be good" So you have often
seen q great difference between two
sisters.
There is Martha, hard d-working,
painstaking, good manager, ever in
ventive of some new pastry, Or dis
covering some thing in the art of cook
cry and housekeeping. There is Mary,
also fond of conversation, literary, so
engaged in deep questions of ethics
she has no time to attend to the ques-
tions of household welfare. 1t is noon.
Mary is in the parlor with Christ.
Martha is in the kitchen. 1t would
have been better if they had divided
the work, and then they could have
Jesus; but Mary monopolizcs Christ
while Martha swelters at the fire. 1t
was a very important thing that they
should have good dinner that day.
Christ was hungry, and He did not
often have a luxuriouse entertainment.
Alas me! if the duty had devolved upon
Mary, what a repast that would have
been! But something went wrong in
the kitchen. Perhaps the fire would
not burn, or the bread would not
bake, or Martha scalded her
hand, or something was burned
black that ought only to
have been made brown; and Martha
lost her patience, and, forgetting the
proprieties of the occasion, with be-
sweated brow, and, perhaps, with
pitcher in one hand and tongs in the
other, she rushes out of the kitchen
into the presence of Christ, saying:
Lord, dost Thou not care that my sis
ter hath left Inc to serve alone?"
Christ scolded not a word. If it were
scolding, l should rather have His
scolding than anybody else's blessing
There was nothing acerb. He knew
Martha had almost worked herself to
death to get Him something to eat, and
so lie throws a world of tenderness
into His intonation as He seems to say:
MY dear woman, do not worry; let
the dinner go; sit down on this otto
man beside Mary. your younger sister.
Martha, Martha. thou art careful and
troubled about many things, but one
thing is needful." AS Martha thro ws
open that kitchen door l look in and
see great many household perplexi-
ties and anXieties.
First, there is the trial of nonappre-
citation. That is what made Martha
SO mad with Mary. The younger sis
ter had no estimate of her older sisters
fatlgues. As now, men bothered with
the anxieties of the store, and office,
and shop, or coming from the stock
exchange, they say when they get
home: 'Oh, you ought to be in our
factory little while; you ought to
have to manage eight, or ten, or
twenty subordinates, and then you
would know what troubles and anxi-
ETY. arew Oh, sir, the wife and the
mother has to conduct at the same
time university. a clothing estab-
lishment. a restaurant, a laundry, a
library, while she is health officer, po-
lice. and president of her realm! She
must do thousand things. and do
them well, in order to keep things GO
ing smoothly; and so her brain and
her nerves are taxed to the utmost.