Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-02-16

tCopyright, 1892 by American Press Asso-
cation.l
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12.-This discourse
ut DR.. Talmage seems to open all tho doors
of homo life and rouses appreciation of
work not ordinarily rccognzcd; text,
Luke X, 40: Lord, dost thou not care
that my sister hath left me to serve alone?
Sid her therefore that she help me"
Yondcs is a beautiful village home
stead. The man of the house is dead and
his widow has charge of the premises. 1t
is Widow Martha of Bethany Yes, will
show you also tho pet of the household,
1t Is Mary, the younger sister, with n
book under her arm, and in her Ease no
sign of care or anxiety about anything.
Company has come Christ appearing at
the outside Of the door makes some excite
ment inside the door The sisters set back
the disarranged furniture, arrange their
hair and in flash prepare to open the
door They do not keep Christ waiting
outside until they have newly apparelcd
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 prcScntablc, although perhaps
they had not on their best None of us
always have on our best. Otherwise very
80 N our best would not be worth having
o. They throw open the door and greet
Christ They say: Good morning, Mas
trr Come in and be seated Christ
'rought n company of friends with him.
I'D the influx of so many city visitors
on do not wonder, threw the country
lome into some perturbation. l suppose
the walk from the city had been keen
appetizer The kitchen department that
day was very important department,
and | think as soon as Martha had
greeted her guests she went to that room.
Mary had no anxiety about the dinner.
She had ful; confidence that he. sister
Martha could get up the best dinner in
Bethany, and she practically said: Now,
let us have division of labor. Martha,
you cook, and III sit down and learn"
Two sisters Differ.
The same difference you now sometimes
see between sisters. There is Martha,
industrious, pninstaking, good manager,
ever inventive of some new pastry, dis
covering something in household affairs
Here is Mary, fond Of conversation, liter
airy. so full of questions of ethics she has
10 time to discuss questions of household
welfare. 1t is noon. Mary is in the parl1r
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 listening to Christ. But
Mary monopolzcs Christ while Martha
swelters before the fire. II was very i'm
portant that they have n good dinner that
day, for Christ was hungry, and he did
not often have luxurious entertainment.
Alas. me if all the responsibility of that
entertainment had rested with Mary, what
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, OF Martha scalded herself and
forgetting all the propreties of the occa-
sion. with beswcated 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 scoded not a word. If
it were scolding, 1 would rather have him
scold me than anybody else bless me.
There was nothing accrb in the Saviour :
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
scar woman, do NOT worry. Let the din
Ner go Sit down here on this couch be-
,ide your younger sister Mary. Let us
ialk about something else. Martha,
Martha, thou art careful and troubled
ybout many things, but one thing is need
gul -
As Martha throws open the door / look
~ today, and | see a great many house
bold anxicties, perplexitics, fatigues and
brials, and about them l am going TO
speak if the Lord of Mary and Martha
sind Lazarus will help me by his grace.
Annoyances of Home Life.
AS lcok into that door, in the first
place / sec the trial of nonappreciation
That was What made Martha so vcxed al
Mary. Mary, the younger sister, had nc
proper estimate of the elder sister fati que
Just as now men having annoyances Of
store and factory and shop or at the STOCK
Exchange come homo at night and heal
of some household annoyance and they
say ooh, that's nothing You ought tt
be in factory day and have 10 or 10 OF
20 or 100 subordinates. Then you would
know something about annoyance ant
trouble" . man, let me tell you that
wife and o mother has to conduct at tn,
same time university, "a clothing estah
lishment, Il restaurant, n laundry,
library, and has TO be health officer polio,
and president of the whole realm Sh,
has TO do thousand things, and TO d'
them WELL in order to make things ~
smoothly, and that is what puts the awfu
tax on woman's nerves and woman
brain. l know there are exceptions to TIL
rule Sometimes you will find "a woman
who can sit in the armchair of the librar,
all day without any anxiety or tarry OF
the belated pillow, and all the cares of tn
household are thrown upon servants VIII
have large wages and great experience
but that is the exception, | speak of tn
great masses Of housekeepers, to whom lif
is a struggle, and who at 80 years of ag
look as though they We're 40 The fallcl
at Chalons and Austcrlita and Gottysbur
and Waterloo are small number in com
parison with those who have gone dow
under the Armageddon of the kitchen
Go out to the country and look over tn
epitaphs on the tombstones They are al
beautiful and poetic but if the tombstone
could sell the truth thousands of then
would say, "Here lies woman who wa
killed by too much mendinR and SEWN
and baking and securing and scrubbing,
and the weapon with which she wa
killed was broom or sewing machin
or ladle.
The housewife rises in the morning haI
rested At an irrevocable hour she mus
have the morning repast ready. What
the fire win not burn? What If the cloc
Il.