Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1899-02-16

4
and his widow has charge of the prem
Uses. 1t is Widow Martha of Bethany.
Yes, l will show you also the pet of
the household. 1t is Mary, the young
er sister, with a book under her arm,
and in her face no sign of care or
anxiety about anything. Company has
come. Christ appearing at the out
side of the door makes some excite
ment inside the door. The sisters set
back the disarranged furniture. ar
range their hair. and in flash pre-
pare to open the door. They do not
keep Christ waiting outside until they
have newly apparelled themselves or
deliberately arranged their tresses, and
then, with affected surprise, come out,
and pretending not to have heard the
two or three previous knockings, say:
why, is that you?" No, they were
ladies, and always presentable, al
though perhaps they had not on their
best. None of us always have on our
best; otherwise very soon 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 brought
company of friends with him, and
the influx of so many city visitors, you
do not wonder, threw the country
home into some perturbation. l sup
pose the walk from the city had been
keen appetizer. The kitchen depart
ment that day was a very important
department, and / think as soon as
Martha had greeted her guests she
went to that room. Mary had no anx-
iety about the dinner. She had full
confidence that her sister Martha
could get up the best dinner in
Bethany, and she practically said,
Now, let us have a division OF labor.
Martha, you cook, and I'll sit down
and learn"
The same difference you now some
times see between sisters. There is
Martha, Industrious, painstaking,
good manager, ever inventive of some
new pastry, discovering something in
household affairs Here is Mary, fond
of conversation, literary, so full OF
questions of ethics she has no time
to discuss questions of household well
fare. 1t is noon. Mary is in the par
lor. Martha is in the kitchen. 1t would
have been better for them to have
divided the toll and then they could
have divided the opportunity OF listen
ing to Christ. But Mary monopolizes
Christ. while Martha swelters before
the fire.
1t was very important that they have
a good dinner that day, for Christ was
hungry, and he did not often have
luxurious entertainment. Alas! me! IL
all the responsibility of that entertain
ment had rested with Mary. What a
repast they would have had! But some
thing went wrong in the kitchen.
Either the fire would not burn, or the
bread would not bake, or something
was turned black that ought to have
been only turned brown, or Martha
scalded herself, and, forgetting all the
proprieties of the occasion, with be-
sweated brow she rushed out of the
kitchen into the parlor, perhaps with
tongs in one hand and pitcher in the
other, and she cried out, Lord, dost
thou not care that my sister has left
me to serve alone? Bid her therefore
that she help me?" Christ scolded not
a word. If it were scolding l would
rather have him scold me than any
body else bless me. There was moth
ing acerb in the Saviour's reply He
knew that Martha had been working
herself almost to death to get him
something TO eat, and he appreciated
her kindness, and he practically said:
my dear woman, do not worry, let
the dinner go; sit down here on this
couch beside your younger sister,
Mary; let us talk about something
else Martha, Martha, thou art careful
and troubled about many things; but
one thing is needful."
AS Martha throws open the door,
look in today, and l see a great many
household anxieties, perplexities, IA
tigues, and trials, and about them
am going to speak, IL the Lord of Mary
and Martha and Lazarus will help me
by his grace.
As l look into that door, in the first
place, / see the trial of non-apprecia-
ton. That was what made Martha so
vexed at Mary. Mary, the younger
sister, had no proper estimate of the
elder sisters fatigue. Just as now,
men having annoyances of store and
factory and shop, or at the stock ex-
change, come home at night and hear
of some household annoyance and they
say, "Oh, that's nothing; you ought to
be in factory day and have ten or
fifteen or twenty or a hundred subor-
dinates. Then you would know some
thing about annoyance and trouble"
o man, let me tell you that wife and
a mother has to conduct at the same
time university, clothing establish
ment, a restaurant. a laundry, a libra
ry, and has to be health officer, police,
and president of the whole realm! She
has to do thousand things, and to do
them well, in order to make things go
smoothly, and that is what puts the
awful tax on a woman's nerves and a
woman's brain. / know there are ex-
ceptions to the rule. Sometimes you
will find a woman who can sit In the
arm chair of the library all day with
| out anv anxiety or tarry on the he