The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-16
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
sY THE REV. FRANK DE WITT rALMAeE. D. D.

oE WITT TALMAeE. D. D.
 esty and untruthfulness and unfaithful- ness does not always enter home by the back door. It Is sometimes comfort ably 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 kitchen chair. The mistress, in spite Of herself. Is an exemplar to the domestic. Very often when the housewife is finding fault with her servant she is denouncing the malformed results Of her own evil life
 The housekeeper Is the domestics mod el also in the matter of sympathy If she wishes the servants to be sympathet ic with her troubles, then the house. keeper must be sympathetic with theirs, Her knowledge of her servants ought not to be limited to their service. She should take an interest in .heir personal con cerns and give them counsel and help in their difficulties. Trials are the common lot of our race. The trials Of the house. hold will be all the easier to eca' If the housekeeper and her servant meet them with clasped hands, each calling the oth- CT her sister.
 Servants sometimes .cm to have no sympathy with the wear and tear and the sorrows and the s'ckuesss5 of their housekeepers life. They seem to be for eigners dwelling for a little while under the roof of a home with nothing in com mon between themselves and their mis- tress. MT. Beecher once described summer jaunt through Germany. He said that it was one of the strangest ex- periences that he ever had, because up to that time he had never placed his foot upon European soil All about lIaa were men and women living a distinct life of their own. They bought and they sold' travelled in railroad trains and ate m hotels. These people lived alongside o, him. Yet he was a thousani l miles away from them. He could not speak their language. He had nothing with wh-ch to draw him and them together. So some of our servants living unCef our roofs seem to speak foreign tongue. They never seem to become 'famillzod' They do not care what happens to Us in any way. If death comes, or slcHress comes, or great trouble comes, they will heart lessly leave us at morents notice ard let us get along the best way we can.
 Mutual Sympathy.
 But, housekeepers. why should you expect your domestiss 70 sy.npathize with you in your time of tro1oie2 You say that your cook left you during that awful crisis when vou' husband was lowering between life and death on &C., count of typhoid fever. But have you ever sympathized with your servant in her sickness? Tell me frankly, have you ever stopped for Che moment to reaDZe that you had a human bei1g, an immor- tai soul working for you in the kitchen or have you regal dcd her cnly as little cog in the domestic machinery, which can be thrown away as soon as # is useless? Your eyes have been Ted with weeping from sitting en your hahy's crlb Did you thlnk to ask whv yrur chamber maids eyes were red with weeping On the day after she rdtetvel that letter with the foreign postmarkp You have had a hard financial struggle to get along and make ends meat. You have complained again and az lin because the female help is 60 wastefu,. You say; 'They will let the furnace go cut, and thor you .nrrt start 1t up again with extra coal and wool Thy will mt tufn down the gas n the dining rnuIn and the parlor and in the halls, and they GO not care if the sills run un They will throw away good meat, because they are too indolent to cool. It in another fcrn.' But. my sister, i'd you ever stop to sym pathize with your servants fnancial struggle? Some If those girls are fum- ble heroines. Ne thlalS If d heroine as a Grace Darling, rowing away frcm her fathers lighth use, in the to"th oi an awful storm, to nava shipwrecked crew. ChGe tli- lain dress O! yrur humble domestic there may he beating as brave heart as that of the famous Eng fish girl. Why ia she working ard so carefully economizingc Tor herself? Oh no. She is perhaps sending home all her wages to support hnr oln parents nr tn help educate her orphaned brothers ard sisters. If you were to go into your ser wants room today perhlOS You would find they did not have sufficient clothes to keep them warrn. Why shoul1 your servants sympa:hize with your trcrt les if you are so little for theirs"
 Duty of the Housekeeper.
 Sympathy, God given, practical synpa- thy can break down many a barrier which today separates the kitchen from the parlor. Christopher Columbus life proves what well directed sympathy can do. After the great Genoese mariner had returned from his voyages of discov- cry jealousies arose. He was thrown in- to prisons and manacled with irons. The effects of these prosecutions was to make Columbus heart as dead as stone. popular writer of that day described the new world and stole away its rightful name. The two continents which should bear the title of Columbia are called traitor. Columbus said nothing But enemies lied about him and called him traitor. Columbus sadi nothing. But one day he was brought before the Span ish throne. He came into the royal pal ace stern faced man. He looked up and saw the eyes of Queen Isabella wet with sympathetic tears. At once this strong and sulen hero wavered. He knelt before the throne and buried his face in his hands and wept until his frame shook with emotion Sympathy, God givenAsympathy, placed Columbus at Isabellas feet not the chains, not the prosecutions, not the upbraidings, not the indifferences. So, my sister, If you expect your servants to be sympathetic with you, be as Queen Isabella. who sym pathized with Columbus troubles. You must ssmpathse with theirs.
 The housekeeper Is the servants model