The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-09-29
ONE WOMAN'S IMMORTAL FAME
The International Sunday School Les.
son for October 4 is Christ Anoint-
cd for Burial."-Mark 14:1-1l.
WILLIAM r. J.IIIS

1t is almost uncanny the way this
Book, called the Bible. sheds new |
light on the latest problems of the
present time. Nowadays we have the
woman question perpleXing everybody, |
dividing thinkers into two camps, and
between them both the cause of wOm- |
an is made to suffer. In such a day
as this the Sunday schools have al
lotted. for the study of millions, a
story which reveals wildly the great
est gift and essential power Of
woman.
In shining d|istinctness it is pointed
out that the chief qualifications Of
woman is her spiritual intuition. She
- endowed with the ability to per-
Ceiye the real values Of life. Her ca
pacity and loyalty in love are but va
~riations of her ability to penetrate to
the core Of ali things involving spirit
tal values.
In this sense of relative worth,
which transcends all arithmetic. for
II is the divine mathematics Of love,
woman ia lowered above man. By
the exercise Of her powers of spiritual
intuition she is to attain her highest
service in the world.
The Fragrance That EnvelOps the
World.
This story is one OF the sweetest
III the repertory of the common peO-
ple The scene is laid at a large fam
iiy dinner in the town of Bethany, a
suburb Of Jerusalem, where Jesus and
his disciples were guests. The event
~ the occasion. which alone mad
the dinner noteworthy, was the action
Of Mary of Bethany, sister of Lazarus,
who broke an alabaster vessel of pure
nard-a S~uperlative perfume, worth a
Workingman'S wages for a year
upon the feet and head of the Mas
for xyhn had raSfnrc6 hnr hrOfhor 70
life, and who had been teacher and
friend to her family.
This was the very extravaganza Of
devotion. The guests gasped at the
royal offering which filled the house
where they sat. The amounting was a
cOnsummate token of lavish loyalty,
better understood in the perfume
towing Orient, than in our western
land. Yet the fragrance of hat Of
fering has for nineteen hundred
years been sweetening this old earth
of ours.
The thrifty. "practical' and unsen.
tmcntal guests were candalized by
such extravaganza. They were dis
pleased that the Guest of Honor
should c~ountenance such waste, and
their disapproval of Mary became in
Stantly clear to both her eyes anG
her ears. Chief among these pruden'
protecting neS was that keeper
of the money bags. Judas / scarlet
who thought always in terms of lucre
and who straightway, with apprais
ing eye. began to estimate the posi-
BILE uses Of the money represented b.
the gift. Outwardly he talked of Civ
ing it to the Dor really he wanted
it in his own money bags, where hi
avariciouS fingers could clutch it.
Poor Mary was shocked. embar
rassed and hur by the reception
which her act was accorded by tn
other guests. A sensitive. spiritua
personality. she qualied before thi
hostile criticism. Her one though
those who do not weigh n calcu
late consequences. To her it wa
clear that her Master was worthy c
her best; and that the highest use G
any possession of hers was to en-
ploy it in the service of love. Sh
knew instantly-and wondered VIII
the truth was not plain to e~verybod
thai when great loyaltieS noth
ing else matters.
n Gentleman to The Rescue.
True gentleman that he eve wa
Jesus came promptly to the reScu
OF Mary. bewildered by the carpin
criticisms of these small-sOuled di:
ciples. Only for an instant was Sf
permitted to suffer embarrassment {
rehuke: then she became covered wit
The embarrassment of eulogy.
Jesus not only received her offel
ing with gratitude-and nobody
his world will ever know what
comfort it was to the hunted ar
harried Nazarine to feel that SOM
body really understood II real
understood and really cared-but t
also publicly defended it as the mig
est use of money. All true dlSclpi
OF love are forever debted to Ma
for providing the occasion for the
words of Jesus of upon the SUPERB
tive worth OF love and all loves Q
ferings.
Audaciously it must have seem'
To His hearerS-although he hlmse
never betrayed any u Of his &c
pefs growth. Jesus promised 1mmo
tai fame to the deed Of Mary.
declared further that her wisdom w