The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1903-11-27
SERVANT QUESTION.
Or. Talmage Suggests a New
Solution of the Problem.
The Eminent Divine Says There Is
Fault In the ParlOr as Well
as In the Kitchen The
Value of Kindness.


CHICAGO, Aug. 9.-In this sermon
the preacher suggests new solution Of
the much vexed Servant question"
which should appeal to housekeepers
and heads Of families everywhere. The
text is Psalm cxxiii, 2, "As the eyes
Of a maiden unto the hand Of her mis-
trcss."
TWO weeks ago "The Privilege Of Be
ing a Consecrated Domestic" was my
subject Today preach from another
standpoint of this vitally important
theme namely, "The Relations Of
Wives, Mothers and Housekeepers 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
consorious 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 it 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 a
spiritual diagnostician Of the hearts
weaknesses, asserts it. lie figuratively
seems TO place the mistress as prOto-
type before her domestics. Then, as
young artist crosses the seas to study
at the feet Of the old masters and sits
day in and day out copying a Baphaels
"Slstine Madonna" or a Paul Nero-
nese's LAST Supper or a Rubens'
Descent From the Cross" or Michael
Angeles last Judgment" the psalm
ist 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,
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 It in the same way" so may we cor
rect some Of the evils found in the
kitchen by exposing the evils practced
in the parlor. All virtues are not
clothed in broadcloth. All feminine un-
.faithfulness and injustice do not warm
themselves near a kitchen stove or
center in a 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. If the head or
the house wishes her servants to be
faithful and true to her then she must
first set an example Of faithfulness.
She must be true and kind and loving
and Chrlstlanlike to her servants and
10 all the people with whom she comes
in contact in her domestice walk Of
daily life.
The housekeeper IS 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 a time. He Illus
trated this thought by the story Of the
tabled Gyges' 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 a 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
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
10 rec0il 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 a farmer knowingly sends false
weights TO market, and when he IS
packing n barrel Of apples places the
good apples upon the top of the barrel
and lower grade Of fruit beneath,
that farmer Is teaching his farm hands
to be deceitful in their relations to him
when they are gathering the fruit.
A 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
a liar I'm all things as well as in part
III a wife IS false in her dealings with
her grocer and butcher and washer
woman and false I'm her financial deal
ings with her servants, she need not
be surprised II the laundress steals
the stray handkerchiefs and collars
and the cook sinfully wastes the 6ut-
Ter and filches the cupboard, and per-
haps goes so far as TO sell the potatoes
and the eggs. If a housewife, to pro-
tect herself, IS unjust to her servants,
and turns them Off at moments no
tice when she Is leaving for the coun-
try vacation. then she should not
grumble II her servants treat her in
the same way.
Dishonesty Is contagious. Dishon-
esty Is an immoral germ which IS apt
10 spread through a whole family as
the diphtherla germ often in the olden
times used to destroy all the children
of one household The sinful plague
Of dishonesty and untruthfulness and
unfaithfulness does not always enter
a home by the back door. 1t Is some
times comfortably installed in the
boudoir long before it appears in the