The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-02-17

1erIOO are Sl0dil mum uef III cOlnpaf-
ison with those who have gone down
under the Armageddon Of lhe kitchen.
Go out TO the country and look over
he epitaphs on the mbstones. They
are all beautiful and poetic. but If the
tombstones could tell the ruth thou
| sands of them would say: Here lies
a woman who was killed by TOO much
Inending and sewing ard baking and
securing and scrubbing." and the weap-
on with which she was Killed was a
! broom or sewing machine or ladle.
The housewife rises in the morning
half rested. At an irrevocable hour she
must have the morning repast ready.
What if the fire will not burn? What
if the clock stop? What if the mar
keting has not been sent in? No mat
ter that; it must be ready at the ir-
revocable hour. Then the children
must begot ready for school. But what
if the garments be torn? What if they
do not know their lessons? What if
the hat or sash is lost? They must
be ready. Then you have the duty of
the day or perhaps several days 10 plan
| out. But what if the butcher sends
meat unmasticable? What if the gro
Ger furnishes you articles Of food adul-
/ terated? What if the piece of silver be
lost, or a favorite chalice be broken,
or the roof leak, or the plumbing fail,
or any one of a thousand things Oc-
cur? No matter. Everything must be
ready. The spring is coming, and there
must be revolution in the family ward
robe, or the autumn is at hand, and you
must shut out the 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 if all the fashions have changed?
The house must be an eXtempOIized
apothecary' shopor dispensary. There
must be relief for ali styles Of ailments
something to loosen the Group, some
thing to cool the burn, something TO
poultice the Inflammation. something
to silence the jumping tooth, some
thing o soothe the earache. o man Of
business. if you had as many cares as
that you would be fit candidate for
an insane asylum! If Martha make un-
der such circumstances an impatient
rush on the library or the drawing
room, be patient, be lenient. Oh. my
sister, though my words may not
arouse in many souls any appreciation
of your toll, let me assure you from the
kindliness with which Jesus Christ met
Martha that he appreciates all your
trials from garret to cellar, and the God
Of Deborah and Miriam and Abigail is
the God of the housekeepers! Christ
never married, that He might be the
especial friend and confidant of a whole
world Of troubled womanhood. blum
dercd. Christ was married. I he Bible
says the church is "the Bride, the
Lambs wife" and that makes me know
that Il woman has a right to go to
Christ with all her annoyances and per-
pleNities and fatigues, for by his oath
of conjugaI fidelity He hath sworn to
sympathize. George Herbert put the
thought in three or four verses, quaint
and peculiar but strong, and in one
verse saying:
Thy servant by this clause makes drudgery
divine;
Who sweeps room as for thy laws makes
this and the action fine.
A young woman of brilliant educa-
ton and prosperous surroundings was
called downstairs to help in the alb
sence of the servant, and there was a
ring at the bell, and she went 10 the
door, and an admirer entered. He said:
"[ thought I heard music in the house.
Was it on the piano or the harp?' She
said: Neither; it was a frying pan
accompaniment TO a gridiron! In
other words, L was called downstairs
10 help. ! suppose some time shall
have to learn, and 1 have begun now"
When will the world learn that every
kind of work that is right is honor
able?
But, oh, the joy for the weary feet
when they step into the celestial equip
age, and, oh, the JOY of those to whom
home was a martyrdom on earth when
they go into that home where they will
never have to do anything that they do
not want to do! What a change from
the time she put down the rolling pin
to the time she took up the scepter!
If Chatsworth park and the Vanderbilt
mansion were lifted into the Celestial
City, they would be looked at as unin-
habitable rookeries, and Lazarus him
self would be ashamed to be seen going
in or out of them, so great are the pal
aces awaiting all Gods dear children,
and so much grander the Heavenly
architecture than the earthly. 1t is
often not only the toll of the house
keeping, but it is the sickness and the
sorrow that go along. 1t is simple
fact that one-half of the women of the
land are invalids. The mountain lass
who has never had an ache nor pain
may consider household work of no
very great WEAKNESS, and at the even
tide may skip out to the fields and
drive the cattle home, and until ten
o'clock at night may fill the cabin with
laughing racket, but, oh, to do the hard
work of the household with shattered
onstitution--after six weeks whoop-
ing cough has ragged in the household,
making the nights as sleepless as the
days, then it is not so easy. And then
this work of the house has often to be
undertaken when the nerves are shat
tered 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 sIumber that needs no mothers
lullaby. Oh, it was great deal easier
for her to brood the whole flock than
TO brood a part of them, now hat the
rest have gone! You may tell her that
her departed children are in the bosom
of a loving God, but, motherlike, she
will brood hofh dOcks DuftjuU one
wing of care over the flock in the house,