St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-02-05

could get along with their toils il it
were not for sickness and trouble. The
fact is. one-half of the women of the
land are more or less invali,ls. The
mountain lass, who has never had an
ache or pain. may consider household
toll inconsiderable, and toward even
ing she may skip away miles to the
fields and drive home the cattle. and
she may until ten o'clock at night fill
the house with laughing racket; but
oh. to do the work of life with worm
out constitution, when whooping
cough has been raging for six
weeks in the household, making
the night as sleepless as the day
that il not 50 easy! Perhaps this
comes after the nerves have been
shattered BY some bereavement that
has left desolation in every room Of
the house, and set the crib in the
garret. because the occupant has been
hushed into u slunber which needs no
mothers lullaby. Oh, she could pro-
vide for the whole group q great deal
better than she can for part of the
group. now that the rest are gone!
Though you may tell her God is tax
ing care Of those who are gone, it is
mother-like to brood both fiocks; aud
one wing she puts over the flock in the
house. the other wing she puts over
the flock in the grave.
How great are the responsibilities of
housekeepers! Sometimes an indigesti-
BILE article of food, by its effect upon .
king, has overthr0wn an empire. A
distinguished statistician says of 1000
unmarried men there are 50 criminals,
aud of 1000 married men only IL are
criminals. Whats suggestion of home
Influences! Let the most be made of
them. Housekeepers. by the food they
provide, by the conches they spread,
by the books they introduce, by
the influences they bring around
the home, are dcciding the
physical, intellectual, moral. eternal
destiny of the race. You say
your life is one Of sacrifice. know it.
But. my sisters. that 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 il for
us to exercise it ourselves! When, in
Brooklyn. young DR.. Hutchinson, hav-
ing spent q whole night in q diphthe-
rite room for the relief of q patient,
became saturated with the poison aud
died, we all felt rs if we would like to
put garlands on his grave; everybody
appreciates that When, in the
burning hotel at st. Louis,
q young man on the fifth story broke
open tue door of the room where his
mother was sleeping and plunged in
amid smohe aud hre, crying: Mother,
where are you?" aud never came out,
our hearts spplauded that young man.
But how few of US have the Christlike
spirit-a willingness to suffer for 9TH
ers! A rough teacher in school
called upan q poor, half-stsrved lad
who had offended against the laws
of the school, and said: '"Take
off your coat directly, sir" The
boy refused to take it of, whereupon
the teacher said again, Take of your
coat. sir, ss he swung the whip
through the mir. The bov refused. 1t
was not because he was afraid of the
lash-he was used to that at home
but it was for shame-hs had no un-
dergarment; aud as ut the third COM
mand he pulled slowly OFF his coat.
there went u sob Though the school.
They saw t,en why he did not
want to remove mis- coat, and
they saw the shouIder-blades had
almost cut through the skin, and a
stout, healthy boy rose up and went 20
the teacher of the school, and said:
''Oh, sir. please don't hurt this poor
fellow; whip me-; see, he's nothing but
= poor chap; don't hurt him. he's poor;
whip me-" "Well" said the teacher.
Its going to be q severe whip
ping; l am willing to take you as u
"WeIl," said the boy,
Il don't care; you whip me.
if you will let this poor fellow
CO." The stout, healthy boy took the
without an utcry. "Bravo!"
says every man-"Bravow How many
of US are willing to take the scourglng.
and the suffering, aud the toll, and the
anxiety for other people! Beautiful
things to admire. but how little we
have OF that spirit! God give US that
spirit, 50 that whether we
are in humble spheres or in conspicu-
ous spheres we may perform our whole
this struggle will soon be
over.
One of the most affecting reminis.
cences of my mother Is my remen-
brance OF her rs Christian house
keeper. She worked very hard, and
when we would come in from summer
play, and sit down At the table 1t noon,
l remember how she used to come in
with beads of perspirstions along the
line of gray hair. aud how sometimes
she would sit down 1t the table and
put her head against her wri nkled
hand aud say: "Well. the fact is, I'm
too tired to eat" Long utter she might
have delegated this duty to others, she
would not be satisfied unless she ut
tended to the matter herself. In fact,
we xll preferred to have her do 80.
for somehow things tasted better
when she prepared them. Some
time ago. in m express train, shot
past that old Homestead. looked out
of the window, aud tried tO peer
through the darkness While was do
ing so. ono Of my old schoolmates,
whom had not seen for many years,
tapped me on the shoulder, and said:
'.DeWitt see you are looking out ut
the scenes Of your boyhood." ''Oh.
yes; l replied, Il was looking out
at the old place where my mother
lived and died" That night. in the
cars, the whole scene came back to me.
There WAS the country home. There
was the MONDAY table. There
were the children on either side
of tho table, most of them gone
never to come back. At one end of
the table, my father. with q smile that
never left his couutenance, even when
he lay in his coffio. It was IN S4-years'
smile-not the smile Of inanitiou, but Of
-. = n <~fC ~,