Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-08-13
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TAlMAcE. DID.
Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby.
terrain Church. Chicssso

chicago, Aug. 9.-fn this sermon tn,
preacher suggests new solution OF
the much vexed Servant question
which should appeal to housekeeper.
and heads Of families everywhere The
text is Psalm cxxiii, 2, "As the eyes
Of a maiden unto the hand of her mis-
tress"
Two weeks ago "The Privilege Of Be
ing Consecrated Domestic" was my
subject. Today preach from another
standpoint Of this vitality important
theme-namefy, The Relations of
Wives, Mothers and Housekeepcrs to
Their Servants" We would try To
show that the antagonisms and diff
culties and arrangements existing
between the parlor and the kitchen are
due to faults upon both sides. 1t is
easy enough for the complaining
housewife to 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 1t 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 we'll as the
servant can be negligent in her duty
there is no doubt. The psalmist. as a
spiritual diagnostician Of the hearts
weaknesses, asserts it. He figuratively
seems to place the mistress as a proto-
| type before her domestics. Then, as a
| young artist crosses the seas to study
at the feet of the old masters and sits
day in and day out copying a Raphaers
"Sistine Madonna" or Paul Nero-
nese's Last Supper or Rubens'
Descent From the Cross or a Michael
Angeles Last Judgment the psalm
list raises the mistress upon a 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.
interprcts 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 it in the same way" so may we cor
| rect some Of the evils found in the
kitchen by exposing the evils practiced
in the parlor. All virtues are not
clothed in broadcloth All feminine I'M
faithfulness and injustice do not warm
themselves near a kitchen stove or
center in stupid and stolid head with
waitress cap or nestle in the selfish
heart of the girl who, wearing
nurses apron, pushes the baby's car
riage along the avenue. If the head OF
the house wishes her servants to be
faithful and true to her then she must
first set an example of faithflllNrSs
She must be true and kind and loving
and Chrfstianlike to her servants and
to all the people wiz whom she comes
in contact in her domestice walk of
daily life.
IncuIcntc Honesty by Precept
The housekeeper IL her servants
model That implies that the mistress
must be honest if 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, at least for time He illus
trated this thought by the story Of the
tabled GyScs' ring. which could make
the false actions Of its wearer invisible
10 the naked eye. Thus wrote
Plato the Greek, the truly honest man
IS the one who would be honest at all
times when he could be dishonest and
his dishonesty never be found out" But
Is such contingency possible? Who
can ever he sure that his dishonesty
IS safely hidden? The eyes Of rivals.
of subortinates, of employees, are keen
and see more than we know. They
are apt to initiate, TOO. both the good
and the bad. so that one wrongdoer
may cause deterioration through
whole circles Of his social interiors In
the home, as in business, the example
OF dishonesty has always the tendency
to recoil on the wrongdoer The mer-
chant who connives at his clerks
cheating Of the customers in his in
terests must not be surprised If the
clerks cheat him in their own interest
II farmer knowingly sends false
weights to market, and when he IS
packing a barrel of apples places the
and lower grade of fruit beneath,
that farmer is teaching his farm hands
TO be deceitful in their rrla tons to 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 criminally
misplace the institution's trust funds,
there is likely to come n time when one
OF those bank employees will default
and in the emptied safe of that bank
the sins of that financial institution
will, like the proverbial chickens, come
home to roost.
A step further! II housewife will
bid her waiting maid answer the front
door bell and tell the would be caller
that she is out, when she Is Iii, that
mistress Is teaching her servant to be
liar in all things as well as in part
II wife Is false in her dealings with
her grocer and butcher and washer
woman and false in her financial deal
lngs with her servants, she need not
be surprised II the laundress steals
the stray handkerchiefs and collars
and the cook sinfully wastes the but
ter and flches the cupboard, and per-
haps goes so far as TO sell the potatoes
and the eggs. If housewife, to pro-
tect herself, is unjust to her servants,
and turns them off at a moments no
tice when she Is leaving for the coun-
try vacation. then she should not