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

uOH VI the hltCHeH. Oo oue W NA~
country and look over the epitaphs on
the tombstones. They are all beauti-
full and poetic, but If the tombstones
could tell the truth thousands OF them
would say: Here lies a woman who
was killed by too much mending and
sewing and baking and securing and
scrubbing," and the weapon with
which she was killed was broom or
a sewing machine or ladle.
The housewife rises in the morning
half rested At an irrevocable hour she
must have the morning repast ready.
What IL the fire will not burn? What
If the clock stop? What if the mar
keting has not been sent in? No mat
ter that; 1t must be ready at the ire
vocable hour. Then the children must
be got ready for school. But what IL
the garments be torn? What IL they
do not know their lessons? What IL the
hat or sash is lost? they must be got
ready. Then you have the duty OF
the day or perhaps several days to
plan out. But what if the butcher
sends meat unmasticable? What IL the
grocer furnishes you articles of food
adulterated? What if the piece of sill
yer be lost or a favorite chalice be
broken, or the roof leak, or the plumb
ing fail, or any one of a thousand
things occur? No matter Everything
must be ready. The spring is coming.
and there must be revolution in the
family wardrobe. or the autumn is at
| hnxN he
northern blast. But how if the moth
has preceded you to the chest? How
If the garments of the last year do
not fit the children now? What IL all
the fashions have changed?
AS Martha opens the door look in
and / also see the trial of severe econ
omy. Nine hundred and ninety-nine
households out of a thousand are sub
jected to it, either under the greater
or less stress of circumstances. 1t is
especially so when a man smokes eX
pensive cigars and dimes at costly res
taurants. He will be very apt to en-
join severe economy at home That is
what kills thousands of women-the
attempt to make five dollars do the
work of seven. 1t is amazing how some
men dole out money to the household.
If you have not got the money, say so.
If you have. be cheerful in the expen-
diture. Your wife will be reasonable.
How long does the honeymoon last? ?"
said a young woman about to enter
the married state, to her mother The
mother answered, THE honeymoon
aGtc
money" How much do you want?"
"A dollar" "A dollar Can't you get
along with fifty cents? You are always
wanting a dollar" This thirty years
war against high prices, this everlast-
ing attempt to bring the outgo within
the income has exhausted multitudes
of housekeepers. Let me say to such.
it is part OF the Divine discipline. II
it were best for you, all you would
have to do would be just to open the
front windows, and the ravens would
fly in with food. and after you had
baked fifty times from the barrel in
the pantry, like the barrel of Zarep-
hath, the barrel would be full, and the
children's shoes would last as long as
the shoes of the Israelites in the will
derness-forty years.
Romance and novelty may for lit
tie while seem to be a substitute. The
marriage day has only gone by, just
gone by, and all household cares are
atoned for by the joy Of being togeth-
er, and by the fact that when it is late
at night 1t is not necessary to discuss
ia t.
mishaps of the newly couple
in the way of household affairs are not
matters of anxiety or apprehension,
but merriment. The loaf of bread
turned into a geological specimen, the
slushy custards and jaundiced and
measly biscuits! oh, it is a very
bright sunlight that falls upon the cut
lery and mantel ornaments OF new
home! Romance and novelty will do
for little while. but after while
the romance is all gone and there is a
loaf to be made, loaf that cannot be
sweetened by any earthly condiments,
and cannot be favored with any earth
ly flavors, and cannot be baked in any
ordinary oven. 1t is the loaf Of do
nestle happiness. All the ingredients
from heaven. Fruit from the tree of
life and sweetened with the new wine
of the kingdom, and baked in the oven
of home trial. God only can make
that loaf. You can cut it, but 1t takes
God to make it.
Solomon wrote out of his own miser-
able experience-he had a wretched
home-no man can be happy with two
wives, much less with seven hundred
and out Of his wretched experience
he wrote: Better is a dinner of herbs
where love is, than stalled OK and
hatred Herewith" Oh, the RESPONSE
bilities of housekeepers! Kings, by
their indigestion, have lost empires,
and generals, through indigestion, have
lost battles. One of the great statis-
ticians says that out of thousand un-
married men thirty were criminals,
and out OF a thousand married men
only eighteen were criminals, showing
the power Of home. And, oh, the re-
sponsibility resting upon housekeep-
ers! BY the food they provide, by the
couch they spread, by the books they