Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1899-05-24
Awake, glad soul, awake. awake, 4
Thy Lord hath risen long!"
The chorus responded jOyOusly:
20 let thy life through all Its ways


One long Thanksgiving bel"
The pulpit ministration was deyout
and earnest; yet there was heaviness in
the pews. The eyes of Martha and her
sisters looked as weary as did those of
the men who had jaded in business
early and late the whole week long.
The good women were worn In the
worthy cause of serving delicious sup
per the evening before to increase the
church revenue.
That Martha's spirit should be heavy
at time when it was her right to be
glad, reused the wish that in public
work more direct and less expensive
route from the pocketb0Ok to its bene-
ficiaries might be established. 1t like
wise awakened the query whether it
was really needful for Martha herself to
fly so much. in order to
Give every flying minute
Something to keep in store"
sometimes supplied excellent lading for
passed from sight had furnished an in
stance in point. Her habit of self -control
and moderation of desires, of making
joy duty and love law, Of punctuat-
ing diligence with frequent pauses to lis
ten, and of leaving to Heaven the rest,
had not, 1t is true developed providence
to q wide humanity; but it had developed
serene presence strong to uplift and
to Danish unrest; it had made plain
home a shrine whence came offerings
of love and whence went courage and
discretion; it had secured blessing from
q goodly posterity and reverence from
acquaintances; it had smoothed the
way of extreme age through the slop.
ing valley, and finally gilded the receiv.
ing shadows.
And the evangel of quietude, of rest,
seems Martha's need to 60 along with
the divine mission of work which she
has taken up 80 earnestly: the rest
which adjusts and oils bearings and re.
stores elasticity; the rest which reveals
relations obscured before, shows ways
through tangles, and the ladder leading
upward and away from the pillow Of
stones. In short, the rest which clari-
fies the mind, refreshes hope, preserves
freedom and multiplies efficiency.
Men appreciate relaxation and the
most successful of them appropriate it.
A Norwegian farmer who has retired
with competence, said to me the
other day, "F0r twenty years after l
came to this country drudged and did
not get ahead. Then said to my wife,
I've kept my face to the ground long
enough. I'm going to hold up my head,
work less and think more. Since then
I've made money" Said millionaire,
"The road to my fortune flashed upon
me as woke from nap one Sunday
afternoon on the bank of the lake
Gen. Grant slept in brief intervals of
battle, even. Fancy him using such
precious time in sewing on buttons or
blacking his boots.
some women appreciate rest. A rud.
dy German mother of large family be-
ing asked the secret Of her wholesome
freshness and serenity, replied,
at is my little nap. / fail not daily
to shut myself in my small room and
sleep bit"
"But how can you get away from
work and interruptions?'
30, but l do"
"What if something should happen
to the childrenY'
Nothing is likely to happen to them
so bad as for me to lose my rest"
Clara Barton. who has witnessed
more suffering than any other woman
in the world, named as the key to her
great endurance, II don't putter.
When am moi doing the one thing
that is my very life / rest or am enter
tanned"
Il Martha is director of numerous de-
partments as well as executor of de-
tails; her manifold offices demand
} steady nerves serenity. She needs
serenity to secure to her babes the right
to be we'll born. She needs it to pro-
tect the BARNS she "cuddles door" from
both the thoughtlessness and the fussi-
ness of those who care for them; from
too much home ambition and outside
zeal; from the evil of ill-conditioned
school rooms; from the worry by day
and the haunting by night of the strain
ed ambition to pass; from the ten
. dency to adapt children to school
courses; to substitute mess of pottage
in the shape of text books, for the birth
right of wholesome home duties, and
the sweet influence of birds and bees, of
flocks and brooks and green things
growing. In fact she needs the clear
head, the steady hand, to hold, inspire
and steer her young pilgrims all along
the noble road.
"But there's no place to STOP" re-
monstrated Martha who had carried
the work of the day into the late even
ing. "You are greedy" was the pa
at the root of much of Martha's hard
shfp-longing for so much to be cared
for? II will make unto myself no new
necessities" is q motto as practical for
the household as 1t was for st. Paul.
II only little Of the wholesome sim.