The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-08-20

all absorbing right that every woman
has, and that is to make home happy.
That realm no one has ever disputed with
her. Men may come home at noon or
at night, and they tarry q comparatively
little while, but she all day long governs
it, beauties it, sanctiies it. 1t is with
in her power to make it the most attrac-
tive place on earth. 1t is the only calm
harbor in this world. You know as well
as 1 do that this outside world and the
business world is a long scene of jostle
and contention. The man who has O dol
lar struggles to keep it; the man who
has it not struggles to get it. Prices up.
Prices down. Losses. Gains. Misrep-
reservations. Gougings. Underselling.
Buyers depreciating; statesmen e~xaggerat-
ing. Tenants seeking less rent; landlords
demanding more. Gold fdgety. Struggles
about Office. Men who are in trying
to keep in; men out trying to get in.
Slips. Tumbles. Defalcations. Panics.
Catastrophes. o woman, thank God you
have a home, n that you may be
queen in it. Better be there than wear
q queens coronet. Better be there than
carry the purse of a princess. Your
abode may be humble, but you can by
your faith in God and your c~heerfulness
of demeanor gid it with splendors such
as an upholsterer's hand never yet kindled.
There are abodes in the city-humble.
two stories, four plain, u%npapered rooms;
undesirable neighborhood. and yet there
is a man here today who would die on the
threshold rather han surrender it. Why?
1t is home. Whenever he thinks of it he
sees angels of God lowering around it.
The ladders of heaven are let down to
this house. Over the child's rough crib
there are the chantings Of angels, as
those that sounded over Bethlehem. 1t is
home. These children may come up after
awhile, and they may win high position,
and they may have an affiuent residence,
but they will not until their dying day
forget that humble roof under which
| their father rested and their mother sang
and their sisters played. Oh, if you woul
gather up all tender memories, all the
lights and shades of the heart. all ban
quetings and reunions, all flial. fraternal.
paternal and c~onjugal affections, and you
had only just four letters to spell out that
height and depth and length and breadth
and magnitude and eternity of meaning,
you would. with streaming eyes and
trembling voice and agitated hand, write
it out in those four living capitals,
HOME.
What right does woman want that is
grander than to be queen in such u
realm? Why, the eagles of heaven can
not fly across that dominion. Horses.
painting and with lathered TANKS. are not
swift enough to run 10 the outpost OF
that realm. They say that the sun never
sets upon the English empire, but ! nave
to tell you that on this realm of woman's
influence eternity never marks any
bound. Isabella fled from the Spanish
throne pursued by the nations anathc-
ma, but she who is queen in a homo will
never lose her throne. and death itself
will only be the annexation Of heavenly
principalities.
The Most QueenIy Woman.
When you want to get your grandest
idea of a queen. you do not think of
Catherine of Russia. or of Anne of Eng
land, or Maria Theresa of Austria. but
when you want to get your grandest
idea of a queen you think of the plain
woman who sat opposite your father at
the table, CT walked with him arm in
arm down life's pathway. sometimes to
the thanksgiving banquet. sometimes, to
the grave, but always together-sooth-
ing your petty griefs, correcting your
childish waywardness. joining in your
infantile sports, listening to your even
ing prayers, toiling for you with needle,
or at the spinning wheel, and on cold
nights wrapping you up snug and warm.
AMI then at last, on hat day when she
lay in the back room dying, and you saw
her take those thin hands with which
she toiled for you so long and put them
together in a dying prayer that COM
mended you to God, whom she had taught
you to trust-oh. she was the queen!
The chariots of God came down to fetch
her, and as she went in all heaven rose
up. You cannot think of her now with
out a rush of tenderness that stirs the
deep foundations of your soul. and you
feel as much a child again as when you
cried on her lap, and if you could bring
her back again to speak just once more
your name as tenderly as she used to
speak it you would be willing to throw
yourself on the ground and kiss the sod
that covers Der, crying. Mother,
mother!' All. she was the queen-she
was the queenl
Now, can you tell me how many thou
sand miles q woman like that would have
to travel down before she got to the ballot
box? Compared with this work of training
kings and queens for God and eternity,
how insignificant seems all this work of
voting for aldermen and common council
men and sherifs and constables and
mayors and presidents. To make one
such grand woman as, / nave described
how many thousand would you want Of
those people who go in the round of god
l~essness and fashion and dissipation. dis
torting their body and going as far to-
ward disgraceful apparel as they dare go
so as not to be arrested of the police,
their behavior a sorrow to the good and a
caricature of the vicious and an insult
to that God who made them women and
not gorgons. and tramping on. down
through a frivolous and d~issipated life, to
temporal and eternal destruction. Oh.
woman with tie lightning of your soul
strike dead at your feet all these allure
ments to dissipation and to fashion.
Your immortal soul cannot be fed upon
such garbage God calls you up 10 en-
pire and dominion. VIII you have il?
Oh, give To- God your heart. give to God
your best energies. give tn God all your
culture, give TO God all your refinement.
give v01rSolf RI him for this world opI