St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-02-05
DOMESTIC HAPPINESS.
6ev. Dr.. Talmage Tells How It
May Best Be Secured.

she oid-Fashieasd Religion Of Jesu. Christ
WMs0ossth Macy Of tho Trinls, Per.
Paexities and Anxieties Of
the HoaseAeepeE.
Rev. I. Dewitt Talmage, in the fol-
lowing sermon, speaks directly to those
through whose daily efforts the home
1ife is made or marred. The text is:
Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister hath
aeN me TO serve alones bid her, therefore, tn ut
ehe help me-Luke T., -
Yonder is beautiful village homo
stead. The man Of the house is dead, and
hn widow il taking charge of the
premises. This is the widow Martha
OF bethany. Yes, will shc;sEou 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 q
good deal of excitement inside the
door. The disarranged furniture is
hastily put aside. and the hair is
orushed back, and the dresses are adj
1usted ~ well as in SO short q time
Mary and Martha can attend to these
matters. They did not keep Christ
standing at the door until they were
newly sppareled. or until they had
elaborately arranged their tresses,
then coming out with their affected
surprise rs though they had not
heeE the two or three previous
-xhockipgA saying: "Why. is that
your" No. They were ladies, and were
always presentable. although they
may not have always had on their best.
Tor none OF us always has on our best;
Il we did, our best would not be worth
having on. They throw open the door
and greet Christ They say: Good
morning, Master; como 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. Isuppose also the walk from
the city had been good appetizer.
The kitchen department that day was
. very important department., aud l
1sus pose that Martha had no sooner
greeted the guests than she fed to that
ROOM Mary had no worriment about
household affairs- She had full con-
Adence that Martha could get up the
best dinner in Bethany. She seems to
ssy: .sNow let Ms have division of
labor. Martha. you cook, and I'll sit
down and be good" So you have often
seen . great difference between two
sisters.
There il Martha, Woodworking,
painstaking, . good manager. ever in
ventive of some new pastry. or dis
covering something 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 = in the parlor with Christ
Martha = in the kitchen. 1t would
have been better if they had divided
tho work, and then they could have
divided the opportunity OF listening to
Jesus; but Mary monopolizes Christ
while Martha swelters at the fire. N
wss very important thing that they
should have good dinner that day.
Christ was hungry. and He did not
often have . luxurious entertainments
Alas me! if the duty had devolved upon
Mary, what q repast that would have
been! But something went wrong 10
the kitchen. Perhaps the fire would
hot burn, or the bread would not
bake, or Martha scalded her
hand. or something was burned
have been made brown; and Martha
lost her patience. and, forgetting the
proprieties of the occasion, with bo-
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:
s.Lord, dost Thou not care that my els
ter hath left me to serve aloosf"
Christ scolded not . word. II it wore
soolding. l should rather have His
soolding than anybody else's blesslag.
There was nothing acerb. lie knew
Martha had almost worked herself to
death to get Him something to eat and
20 He throws q 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 throws
open that kitchen door 1 look in and
$50 great many household pesplexi-
ties and anxieties-
First, there is the trial of nonappre-
ciatiou. That is what made Martha
20 mad with Mary. The younger sis
tAr had no estimate of her older eister's
fataQues.. As now. men bothered with
fhe anxieties of the store, and o0ace,
md shop, or coming from the stock
exchange. they say when thAg get
home: .'Oh, You ought to b r our
Factory . little while, you ought to
have to manage eight or ~, or
twenty subordinates, and The. you
,sould know what troubles ar snxi-
.ty arey Oh, SIR, the wife Snd the
,nother has to conduct at tt same
vine . university. clothing ostab-
ltshment : restaurant, a laoqdry, q
library. while she is health OR, po-
l,oe. and president of her realnl She
must do . thousand things, md do
Them well. Ia order to keep telpgs go
..ine smoothly; and so her beDan and
l,er nerves are taxed to til Utmost.
Z know there are houokeepers
,~ho are 20 fortunate - they
s,an sit in IN arm chair in Il library,
IL an the belated pillow. - throw
20 all the care upon subordiG who,
having large wages and Rs expe.
riencs, can attend to all the 6airs OF
,ha household. Those are p excep-
,;sns. am speaking of p great
- Of housekeepers-th omen to
,ghosn life l. struggle. an, .ho' 1t -
Seers Of ago, look q. tioug hey were
q. aud at 70 Is though Il were 80
IA at 20 - though they = o The
U0eAs k~1if,