The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1898-02-10
NO. 50.

as much right to it as he has, How
the bills come in! The woman is the
banker of the household, she is the
president, the cashier, the teller. the
discount clerk; and there is panic
every few weeks! This thirty years.
war against high prices. this perpetual
study of economics, this lifelong at
tempt to keep the outgoes less than
the income, exhausts innumerable
housekeepers Oh, my sister, this is a
part of the Divine discipline. If it
were best for you, all you would have
to do would be to open the front win
dows and the ravens would fly in
with food; and after you had baked
50 times from the barrel in the
pantry, the barrel, like the one of
Zarepath, would be full; and the shoes
OF the children would last as long as
the shoes of the Israelites in the will
derness--4O years. Besides that, this
is going to make Heaven the more at
tractive in the contrast. They never
hunger there. and conse quently there
will be none of the nuisances of cater
ing for appetites. And in the land of
the white robe they never have to
mend anything, and the air in that
hill-country makes everybody we'll.
There are no rents to pay; every man
owns his own house, and mansion at
that. 1t will not be SO great change
for you to have chariot in Heaven il
you have been in the habit of riding in
this world. 1t will not be 80 great
change for you to sit down on the
banks of the River of Life, il
in this world you had a country
seat; but if you have walked with
tired feet in this world, what
q glorious change to mount celestial
equipage! And if your life on earth
was domestic martyrdom, oh, the Joy
of an eternity in which you shall have
nothing to do except what you choose
to do! Martha has had no drudgery for
IS centuries! l quarrel with the
theOlogians who want to distribute all
the thrones of Heaven among the John
Knoxes, and the Hugh Latimers, and
the Theban Legion. Some of the
brightest thrones of Heaven will be
kept for Christian housekeepers. Oh,
what change from here to there
from the time when they put down the
rolling-pin to when they take up the
scepter! If Chatsworth park and the
Vanderbilt mansion were to be lifted
into the Celestial City they would be
considered uninhabitable roolSeries,
and glorifed Lazarus would be
ashamed to be going in and out of
either of them.
There are many housekeepers who
could get along with their tolls if it
were not for sickness and trouble. The
fact is, one-half of the women of the
land are more Or less invaSids. 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 is not SO easy! Perhaps this
comes after the nerves have been
shattered by some bereavement that
has left desolation in every room OF
the house, aud set the crib in the
garret, because the occupant has been
hushed into a slumber which needs no
mothers lullaby. Oh, she could pro-
vide for the whole group great deal
better than she can for part of the
group, now that the rest are gone!
Though you may tell her God is talk
ing care of those who are gone, it il
mother-like to brood both hocks; and
one wing she puts over the flock ia the
house, the other wing she puts over
the flock in the grave.
One of the most affecting reminis-
cences of my mother is my remem-
brance of her as Christian house
keeper. She worked very hard, and
when we would come in from summer
play, and sit down at the table at noon,
l remember how she used to come in
with beads Of perspirations along the
line of gray hair. and how sometimes
she would sit down at the table and
put her head against her wrinkled
hand and say: ''Well. the fact is, I'm
too tired to eat" Long after she might
have delegated this duty to others, she
would not be satisfied unless she at
tended to the matter herself. In fact,
we all preferred to have her do SO,
for somehow things tasted better
when she prepared them. Some
time ago, in an express train, l shot
past that old homestead. l looked out
of the window, and tried to peer
through the darkness. While was do
ing so, one of my old schoolmates.
whom had not seen for many years,
tapped me on the shoulder, and said:
Dewitt, see you are looking out at
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 the table, most of them gone
never to come back At one end nf