The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1899-01-27
A NOBLE WOMANHOOD.
Dr.. Talmage Draws Lessons from an
Unnamed Bible Character.
lie Good Qualities Set Forth - The
uand ON the shuttle-Thc Greats
ness Of ChrJstinn Char-
acteristlcs
Copyright,
washington

BCt gwen DtcCIucs tHc s~HuJcCL CI Ut.
Talmage's sermon, in which he sets
forth the qualities Of good and noble
w~omanhood; text, Ii Kings AS, ELISHA
passed TO Shunem. where was q great
woman"
The hotel Of our time had no counter
part in amy entertainment OF olden
time. The vast majority OF travellers
must then be entertained at private
abode. Here comes Elisha, a servant
of the Lord, on n Divine mission, and lie
must find shelter. A balcony overlook
Ing the valley of Esdraeion is offered
him in a private house, and it Is cspe-
ciatiy furnished for his occupancy--a
CHAIR 10 sit on. u table from which TO
eat. a candlestick by which to read and
"a bed on which to slumber, the whole
establishment belonging to n great and
good oma Her husband, it seems,
twas a cody man, but he was entirely
o~vershadowed by his wife, eXccllences,
gust MS now you sometimes find in a
household the wife the center Of dig
nifty and influence and power, not by
any arrogance or presumption. but by
superior intellect and force OF moral
nature welding domestic affairs and az
the same time supervising all financial
business affairs. The wife's hard on
the shuttle. or the banking house, or
the worldly business.
You see hundreds Of men who are sue.
c~esSful only because there is a reason at
home why they are successful. If a man
marry n good. honest soul, he makes his
fortune. II he marry a fool, the LORD
help him! The wife may be the silent
partner in the firm, there may be only
masculine voices down en- exchange,
hut there oftentimes comes from. the
home circle potential and cleyating In
f'uence. This woman of my text was
the superior of her husband. lie ss far
as | can understand, was what we often
see 10 our day. a man of large fortune
ard only n modicum of brain, intensely
quiet, sitting a long while in the same
place, without moving hand or foot:if
you say "ics," responding "Yes;" IL
you say mo" responding "No"-inane,
eyes half shut, mouth wide open. main
,aining his position in society ouly be-
cause he has a large patrimcny. But
his wife. my text says, was a great
woman. Her name has no. come down
TO us. She belonged to that collection
Of people who need no name to dis
tinguish them. What would title of
duchess or princess or queen--what
would escntchcon or cleaning diaden,
BE TO this oma of my text, wao, by
her intelligence and her behavior. cha.-
acngcs the admiration of all ages? Long
after the brilliant women OF the court
of Louis Nv, have been forgotten, and
the brilliant women Of the court of
Spain have been forgotten. aud the bril-
liant woman who sat on the throne of
Russia have been forgotten, some
grandfather will put on his spcc!acles
and, holding the book the other side the
Hight, read to his grandchildren the
story Of this great woman OF Shunem
who was SO kind and courteous and
Christian TO the good prophet Elisha.
Yes, she was q great woman
w the frs, place, she was great in her
Inequalities, Cncivilized and barbar-
Gus nations lave this virtue. Jupiter
had the surname OF the Hospital BILE, and
h. was said especially to aveuge the
wrongs Of strangers. Homer extolIed
it in his verse, The Arabs are punc,ili-
ous on this subject, and among some OF
sheir tribes it Is not until the ninth day
of tarrying that the occupant has a
right to ask his guest: who and