The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-03-01


within the income, has exhausted multi.
tudes OF housekeepers. Let me say to
such, 1t is part of the divine discipline.
II 1t were best for you, all you would have
to do would be just to open the front win
dows 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 Zarephath, the barrel would be
full, and the children's shoes would last as
lcng as the shoes Of the Israelites in the
wilderness-forty years.
fatlgues OF home life are to prepare you
for heaven, for they will make that the
brighter in the contrastl A dying soldier
was asked by a friend, "Have you anv
message to send to your father?" eyes,"
said he; "tell him I have gone home"
"Well," said the friend, "have you any
message to send to your wife2" eyes; tell
her have gone home." "You have other
friends. Wouldyou like to send message
to them2" eyes; give them the same mes
sage. They will understand 1t. Tell them
I have gone home" And that heavenly
home will compensate, will fully atone, for
all the hardships and the trials and the
annoyances and the vexatlons of the
earthly home. In that land they never
hunger, and consequ emily there will be no
uuloduC0 VI dpPSlllos LII Iudt
land OF the white robes they have mend.
ing to do, and the air OF that billy country
makes them all we'll. No rent to pay there.
Every man owns his own house, and a
mansion at that. It will not be so great a
change to step into the chariot OF the skies
II on earth you rode. It will not be go
great q change II on earth you had all
lu1uries and. satisfactions. 1t will not be
80 great change for you to sit down on
the banks Of the river OF life II on earth
you had q country seat. p,
But oh, the Joy OF the weary feet whom
they step into the celestial equippa9e, and,
oh, for the Joy Of those to whom home was
o martyrdom on earth when they so into
that home where they will never have to
do anything they do not wsnt.to dor What
a change from the time she put down the
rolling pin to the time she took up the
derbilt mansion were fitted into the celes-
tial city, they would be looked at as unin-
habitable rookeries, and Lazarus himself
would be ashamed to be seen going in and
out OF them, so great are the palaces
awaiting Gods dear children, and so much
grander the heavenly architecture than
the earthly. It Is often not only the toll
Of the b housekeeping, but 1t Is the sickness
and the sorrow that 90 along. It Is SIM
pie fact that one.half OF the women OF the
land are invalids. The mountain lass who
has never had an ache or pain may con.
slider household work OF no very great
weariness, and at the eventide may
skip out to the fields and drive the cat
tie home, and until 10 o'clock at night
may Oil the cabin with laughing racket
but, oh, to do the hard work Of the house.
hold with a shattered constltution-afteI
cf ruooHot rphnnnfpD onn0h hod rana6 In
the household, making the nights as sleep.
less as the days-then 1t Is not so easy!
And then this work OF the house has often
to be undertaken when the nerves are
shattered with some bereavement that has
put desolation In every room OF the house
and sent the crib into the garret because
its occupant has been hushed into slum.
Der that needs no mothers lullaby. Oh, It
was a great deal easier for her to brood
the whole flock than to- brood part OF
them now that the rest have gone! You
may tell her that her departed children are
in the bosom of a loving God, but, mother
like, she will brood both focks, putting
one wing of care over the flock in the
house, putting the other wing OF care over
the flock in the grave. Nothing but the
old fashioned religion OF Jesus Christ can
take woman happily through home trials.
All these modern religions amount to moth
ing. They do not help.
solomon wrote out OF his own miserable
experience-he had a wretched home; no
man can be happy with two wives, much
less with 700, and out OF his wretehed e2per-
fence he wrote-"Better is a dinner Of
herbs where love Is than stalled OK and
hatred Herewith" Oh, the responsibilities
of fhousekeepers! Kings by their tndiges-
tion have lost empires and generals
through Indigestion have lost battles. One
Of the great statisticians says that out Of
1000 unmarried men thirty were criminals,
and out OF 1000 married men only eighteen
we're criminals, showing the power Of home.
And, oh, the responsibility resting upon
housekeepers By the food they provide,
by the couch they spread, by the books
they introduce, by the influence they bring
around the home, they are helping to de-
eide the physical, the intellectual, the
moral, the eternal welfare Of the human
race. Oh, the responsibility!
That woman sits In the house OF God to-
day perhaps entirely unappreoiated. She
Is the banker Of her home, the president,
and ever and anon there is q panic. God
knows the anxieties and the cares, and he
knows that this is not n useless sermon,
but that there are multitudes OF hearts
waiting for the distillation OF the divine
mercy and solace In their hour Of trials
and their home duties and their own IA
tigues. The world hears nothing about
them. They never speak about them. You
could not with the agencies OF On jnquisi-
tion bring the truth out OF them. They
keep It still. They say nothing. They en-
dure and will until God and the judgment
right their wrongs.
1t is the self sacrificing people tat are
happy, for God pays so largely, so glori..
ously, so msgniflcently, in the deep and
eternal satisfactions of the soul. Self So
crilice! We all admire it In others. How
little we exercise Of tt! How much would
we endure? How much would We risk for
others? A very rough schoolmaster had
poor lad that had offended the laws OF the
school, and he ordered him to come up,
"Now," he said, "you take of your coat
instantly and receive this whip" The boy
declined, and more vehemently the teacher
said, "I tell you, now, take or your coat.
Take 1t off Instantly" The boy again de.
clined. 1t was not because he was afraid
OF the lash; he was used to that In his cruel
home. But it was for shame. He had no un-
dergarments, and when at last he removed
his coat there went up sob OF emotion all
through the school as they saw why he did
not wish to remove his coat. and as they
saw the shoulder blades almost cutting
through the skin. As the schoolmaster
lifted his whip to strike roseate, healthy
boy leaped up and said: stop school.
master; whip me. He is only q poor chap:
lie can't stand It. Whip me-" "Oh," snid
the teacher, "it's going to be very severe
But II you want to take the
position Of substitute, you can do it."
The boy said: II don't care; whip me-
I'll take it; he's only o poor chap.
Don't you see the bones almost come
through the flesh? Whip me-" And
when the blows came down on the boys
shoulders, this healthy, robust lad made
no outcry; he endured it oil luncomplaintng-
ly. We oil say "Bravo!" for that lad.
Bravo! That is the spirit OF Christ! Splen-
didl BOW much scourginG, how much