The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-05-19
MRS. WILCOX TALKS
TO OUR WOMEN
She Gives Good Advice to the Wo-
man Who Goes to Church and
Comes Home and Scolds Her Hus-

Comes Home and Scolds Her Hus-
band.
There is a good deal of complaint
made by clergymen that our churches
are not we'll filed.
The bicycle has been called a foe to
religion, because it took people out
doors to the temples of Nature, in
stead of into church pews, on Sunday.
Again, the irreverent tendency of the
times has been referred to as cause
! for sparsely filled houses of worship.
But the times are not irreverent. Peo-
pie are thinking more of spiritual mat
tiers than for many decades.
They are thinking on broader and
more individual lines, however.
These are active vital times, full OF
| import and purpose. What people want
from the pulpit is help and courage and
| guidance to meet the daily duties of
life.
They want to be braced for the con-
| f1ict with petty worries and trials, and
strengthened to go through the ordeals
| of temptation which aSsail every soul
| every day in one way or another. The
temptation to be ill-natured, selfish, in
dolent, jealous, revengeful or fault
finding are quite as dangerous to our
peace of mind and to the happiness
of others around us as the larger temp
tations to commit sins which are of
! rarer occurrence.
If clergymen talked more to people
about their home lives, and said less
about the future life, the later would
| take care of itself.
The man who makes a good husband
and father and citizen will make a good
angel when his time comes.
The woman who renders her home
the most peaceful and lovely place on
earth will adorn heaven when she
reaches there, and it's gates will be
wide open to receive her.
1t does not matter whether we believe
with the Hottentots, the Mohamme-
dams ar the Christians, so long as we
| love our Creator and follow the simple
rule of Christ "to love one another in
our dealings with our kind.
The world has grown beyond that
narrow, bigoted period when the "belief
not the life or the conduct" was re-
sponsible for salvation.
OF course, there are still followers of
that old, antiquated idea. A woman
who makes her home a hell on six days
of the week and who is strictly devout
on Sundays can be found in every COM
munity. A man who cheats his neigh
bors in business and is devoid of chart
ty or kindness to his unfortunate broth
,ers, but who prays much and is scru-
pulous in his observance of one-day-a
week piety, is no stranger to any of us.
I have heard of a man who nagged
his wife into nervous pTostration by MS
petty tyranny and his disagreeable
moods, yet he wept tears of shame and
sorrow when member of his family
desecrated the Sabbath day by taking
a sail on Gods sea, and he fell upon
his knees and prayed God to forgive
the sin and help the sinner to repent.
These are the people who help to
make atheists and unbelievers of the
superficial.
But only the shallow mind is turned
from a principle by the failure of one
or two individuals to illustrate its
truth.
Thinking minds of today are more
reverent toward the unknown than
ever before, because it is an intelligent
not a superstitious reverence. The
wonders which science and electricity
are revealing day by day but increase
the intelligent mans reverence for the
cause which underlies it all. Individ-
uals are thinking more for themselves
than of aid, and if our clergymen wouR1
obtain listeners they must put them
selves in touch with the people and talk
of the things which interest them.
The public has reached a place where
it will not be forced into church pews
to listen to uninteresting orations on
worn-out dogmas or impractical theo-
ries.
People no longer like to be told what
to believe. They want to be helped to
live. There is a great work for clergy
men in impressing upon men and
women the necessity to control temper
and criticism and selfishness-the three
things which destroy happiness in a
home and which would destroy it in
heaven.
And happy home is the foyer to
heaven.
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
FASHION ITEMS.