Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-08-14
TALMAGE
SERMON
BY Kew
FRANK DE WITT ThLMAGE. DID,.
- Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church. CHICAGO


the much vexed servant question"
which should appeal to housekeepers
and heads OF families everyw here. The
text is Psalm cxxiii, 2, GAS the eyes
of a maiden unto the hand of her mis-
tress.r
Two weeks ago 1.-THE Privilege OF Be
ing a Consecrated Domestic" was my
subject Today preach from another
standpoint OF this vitality important
theme-namely, 1.-The Relations OF
Wives, Mothers and Housekeepers TO
Their Servants" We would try TO
show that the antagonisms and diff
culties ard arrangements existing
between the parlor and the kitchen are
due TO faults upon both sides. 1t Is
easy enough for the complaining
housewife 10 develop such keenness OF
censorious vision that she can see in
Vulnerable imperfections in her serv-
ants life, but when plucking the
notes from out OF her humble sisters
eyes IL is not always so easy for the
mistress to perceive the beam, the
huge destructive beam. projecting from
under her own overarching eyebrows.
That the housekeeper as well as the
servant can be negligent in her duty
there is no doubt. The psalmist. as u
spiritual diagnostician of the hearts
weaknesses, asserts ii. He figuratively
seems 10 place the mistress as proto-
type before her domeStics. Then, as n
young artist crosses the seas to study
mt the feet of the old masters and sits
day in and day out copying n Raphaers
''Sistine Madonna" or a Paul Vero-
Dese's Last supper or a Rubens'
Descent From the Cross" or n Michael
Angeles Last Judgment" the psalm
list raises the mistress upon pedestal
as model for her servants. Day in
and day out the actions of the, parlor
are being duplicated in the kitchen.
Adam Clark. the great commentator,
interprets these words OF my text in
the following way: "As servants look
TO their masters and mistresses TO see
how they do their work. that they may
do II in the same way" SO may we cor
rect some of the evils found in the
kitchen by exposing the evils practiced
I'm the parlor. All virtues are not
clothed in broadcloth. All feminine I'M
faithfulness and injustice do not warm
themselves near kitchen stove or
center in stupid and stolid head with
a waitress cap or nestle in the selfish
heart of the girl who, wearing a
nurses apron, pushes the baby's car
riage along the avenue. II the head OF
the house wishes her servants TO be
faithful and true to her then she must
fret set an example OF faithfulness.
She must be true and kind and loving
and Christianlike TO her servants and
to all the people with whom she comes
in contact in her domestice walk of
daily life.
Inculcnte Honesty by Precept.
The housekeeper is her servants
model That implies that the mistress
must be honest IL she wants her serv-
ants to be honest. Plato, the philoso-
pher. once tried TO convey the idea
that an evil mans deeds could be con-
cealed. ut least for time. He illus
trated this thought by the story of the
tabled Gyges' ring. which could make
the false actions or its wearer invisible
TO the naked eye Thus" wrote
Plato the Greek. "the truly honest man
is the one who would be honest mt all
times when he could be dishonest and
his dishonesty never be found out" But
Is such contingency possible? Who
can ever be sure that his dishonesty
Is safely hidden? The eyes OF rivals,
OF subordinates, OF employees, are keen
and see more than we know. They
ore apt to initiate. too, both the good
l..tI
may cause deterioration through
whole circles OF his social interiors. In
the home. as in business, the example
or dishonesty has always the tendency
TO recoil on the wrongloer. The mer-
chant who connives ar his clerks
cheating OF the customers I'm his In
terests must not be surprised IL the
clerks cheat him in their own interest.
TX farmer knowingly sends false
weights 10 market, and when he Is
packing barrel OF apples places the
good apples upon the top OF the barrel
and n lower grade OF fruit beneath,
that farmer is teaching his farm hands
TO be deceitful in their relations 10 him
when they are gathering the fruit. He
is teaching his men TO lie as he has
lied and be dishonest as he was dis
honest. II the bank officials crimfnally
misplace the institutions trust funds.
there is likely 20 come n time when one
or those bank employees will default
and in the emptied safe of that bank
the sins of that financial institution
VIII, like the proverbial chickens, come
home TO rooSt
4 step further. If housewife will
bid her waiting maid answer the front
door bell and tell the would be caller
that she is out, when she is in, that
mistress is teaching her servant to be
n liar in all things as well as In part.
III wife is false in her dealings with
her grocer and butcher and washer
woman ana false in her financial deal
ings with her servants, she need not
be surprised If the laundress steals
the stray handkerchiefS and collars
and the cook sinfully wastes the but
ter and filches the cupboard, and per-
haps goes so far as to sell the potatoes
and the eggs. II housewife, 10 pro-
tect herself, is unjust to her servants,
ana turns them off at a moments no
tice when she is leaving for the coun-
try vacation, then she should not
A--a->A->->.A---..-H-~
grumbie If her servants treat her In
the same way.
Dishonesty In Contagious.
Dishonesty IL contagious. Disnon-
esty Is an immoral germ which Is apt
10 spread through whole family as
the diphtherla germ often In the olden
times used to destroy all the children
or one household. The sinful plague
or dishonesty and untruthfulness and
Gnfaithfulness does not always enter
a home by the back door. 1t is some
times comfortably installed in the
boudoir long before 1t appears in the
servants quarters, and its first nap in
a household is taken upon the parlor
sofa and not by resting in a kitchen
chair. The mistress. in spite OF her
self, Is an exemplar to the domestic.
Very often when the housewife IS find
Ing fault with her servant she is de-
nouncing the malformed results of her