g did not
come; what if the clock has stopped--no matter, she must have the
morning repast at an irrevocable hour. Then the children must be got
off to school. What if their garments are torn; what if they do not
know their lessons; what if they have lost a hat or sash--they must be
ready. Then you have all the diet of the day, and perhaps of several
days, to plan; but what if the butcher has sent meat unmasticable, or
the grocer has sent articles of food adulterated, and what if some
piece of silver be gone, or some favorite chalice be cracked, or the
roof leak, or the plumbing fail, or any one of a thousand things
occur--you must be ready.

Spring weather comes, and there must be a revolution in the family
wardrobe, or autumn comes, and you must shut out the northern blast;
but what if the moth has preceded you to the chest; what if, during
the year, the children have outgrown the apparel of last year; what if
the fashions have changed. Your house must be an apothecary's shop; it
must be a dispensary; there must be medicines for all sorts of
ailments--something to loosen the croup, something to cool the burn,
something to poultice the inflammation, something to silence the
jumping tooth, something to soothe the ear-ache. You must be in half a
dozen places at the same time, or you must attempt to be.

ASSURED SYMPATHY.

If, under all this wear and tear of life, Martha makes an impatient
rush upon the library or drawing room, be patient, be lenient. Oh,
woman, though I may fail to stir up an appreciation in the souls of
others in regard to your household toils let me assure you, from the
kindliness with which Jesus Christ met Martha, that he appreciates all
your work from garret to cellar; and that the God of Deborah, and
Hannah, and Abigail and Grandmother Lois, and Elizabeth Fry, and
Hannah More is the God of the housekeeper.

Jesus was never married that he might be the especial friend and
confidante of a whole world of troubled womanhood. I blunder; Christ
was married. The Bible says that the Church is the Lamb's wife, and
that makes me know that all Christian women have a right to go to
Christ and tell Him of their annoyances and troubles, since by His
oath of conjugal fidelity He is sworn to sympathize. George Herbert,
the Christian poet, wrote two or three verses on this subject:

"The servant by this clause
Makes drudgery divine;
Who sweeps a room, as for Thy laws,
Makes this and th