The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1899-09-22

men are sound asleep in our beds,
there will be light in yonder loft;
there will be groaning down the dark
alley; there will be cries of distress
in that cellar. Men will sleep, and
women will watch.
Again: woman has a special right
to take care of the poor. There are
hundreds and thousands of them all
over the land. There is a kind OF
work that men cannot do for the poor.
Here comes a group of little barefoot
children to the door of the Dorcas So
ciety. They need to be clothed and
provided for. Which of these directors
of banks would know how many yards
1t would take TO make that little girl
g dress? Which of these masculine
hands could fit hat to that little girls
head? Which of the wise men would
know how to tie on that new pair of
shoes? Man sometimes gives his char
ity in a rough way and it falls like
the fruit of a tree in the East, which
fruit comes down so heavily that II
breaks the skull of the man who is
trying TO gather it, But woman glides
so softly into the house of restitution,
and finds out all the sorrows OF the
place, and puts so quietly the donation
on the table, that all the family come
out on the front steps as she departs.
expecting that from under her shawl
she will thrust out two wings and go
right up toward heaven, from whence
she seems to have come down.
o, Christian young woman! If you
would make yourself happy, and win
the blessing Of Christ, go out among
the destitute. A loaf OF bread or a
bundle of socks may make a homely
load to carry, but the angels of God
will come out to watch, and the Lord
Almighty will give his messenger hosts
a charge, saying. Look after that
woman canopy her with your wings.
and shelter her from all HARM" and
while you are seated in the house Of
restitution and suffering. the little
ones around the room will whisper
who is she?" Amt she beautiful"
and If you will listen right sharply, you
will hear dripping down through the
leaky roof and rolling over the rotten
stairs, the angel chant that shook
Bethlehem: GLORY to God in the
highest, and on earth peace, good will
to men"
Again, have to tell you that 1t is a
woman's specific right to comfort IN
der the stress of dire disaster She is
called the weaker vessel; but ali pro-
fame as we'll as sacred history attests
that when the crisis comes she Is bet
ter prepared than man to meet the
emergency. How often have you seen
woman who seemed to be a disciple
OF frivolity and Incidence, who, uL-
der one stroke of calamity, changed 10
a heroine? oh, what great mistake
those business men make who never
tell their business troubles to their
wives! There comes some great loss
10 their store, or their companions in
business play them a sad trick, and
they carry the burden all alone. He is
asked in the household again and
again: What is the matter?" But
he believes 1t a sort of Christian duty
TO keep all that trouble within his
own soul. Oh, sir! your first duty was
to tell your wife all about 1t. She, per-
haps, might not have disentangled your
finances, or extended your credit, but
she would have helped you to bear
misfortune. You have no right to
carry on one shoulder that which is
intended for two. Business men
know what / mean. There came a
crisis in your affairs. You struggled
bravely and long; but after a while
there came a day when you said:
Here l shall have to stop" and you
called in your partners, and you called
in the most prominent men in your
employ, and you said; I'VE have got
to stop" You left the store suddenly
You could hardly make up your mind
to pass through the street and over
on the ferry boat. You felt everybody
would be looking at you, and blaming
you, and denouncing you. You hast
ened home. You told your wife all
about the affair. What did she say a.?
Did she play the butterfly? Did she
|
and the fashions? No. She came up
to the emergency. She quailed not
under the stroke. She offered to GO
out of the comfortable house into a
smaller one, and wear the old cloak
another winter. She was the one who
understood your affairs without blam-
ing you. You looked upon what you
thought was a thin, weak woman'f
arm holding you up; but while you
looked at that arm there came into
the feeble muscles of it the strength
of the eternal God. No Gliding; nc
fretting; no telling you about the
beautiful house of her father, from
which you brought her ten. twenty
or thirty years ago. You said: well
this is the happiest day of my life.
am glad l have got from under my
burden. My wife don't care-I dom
care" At the moment you were ex.
hausted God sent you Deborah tC
meet the host of Amalekites and scat
ter them like chaff over the plain