Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 May 1891 — TALMAGE’S BUSY WIFE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TALMAGE’S BUSY WIFE.

A Glimpse ot the Great Preacher’s Business Manager. Mrs. Talmage is distinctly her husband’s right hand, and all the detailsof his busy life are looked after by her, say 3 Edward W. Bok in the La<lies r Home Journal. She is a business woman, , having a rare executive ability, capable of easily handling a number of things at the same time. Much of Dr. Talmage’s daily work is planned and laid out by her. She makes his pastoral and social engagements, and all his lecturing interests are in her hands. She knows his capacities even better than he. Whenever a journey is to be made, it is she who lays out. the route, procures the tickets and staterooms, and attends to ail tho details. No public man, perhaps, ia saved so many annoyances as is Dr. Talmage by Ms wife’s foresight and ability. The rear apartment of the second floor is Mrs. Talmage’s working room. It is tastefully furnished, but more with an eye to utility than ornamentation. In this room Mrs. Talmage spends most of her time. Itis her “private den.” All the mail that is left at the house for Dr. Talmage is taken into this room and opened by her. It is not an unusual thing for the postman to deliver between one and two hundred letters a day, all of w'hich pass through Mrs. Talmage’s hands. Business letters are answered by her, and all letters that may be of an unpleasant or annoying personal nature are destroyed. Dr. Talmage never sees them. A day in Mrs. Talmage’s home would be a revelation to those who believe that the life of a public man’s wife is a succession of pleasures, dotted here with a pretty compliment and theie with some token of honor. While many people are yawning and preparing to break their night’s rest, Mrs. Talmage is already up, opening the first mail. Breakfast is promptly at 8 o’clock. Then the family separate and the wife begins to receive callers —which alone is a task/ It is a wellknown saying among the neighbors that “the Talmage bell is never still.* All kinds of people must be seen, innumerable appointments made and kept, the pastoral work of the largest church in America must be looked after, the details of a score or more missionary, church, literary societies

with which Mrs. Talmage, or her husband, is connected, have their demands, and, in addition to all these, are the household cares of a large house and a family of growing children. All the appointments of the Talmage home in Brooklyn reflect the woman who presides over it. Gaudiness in furniture or decorations is absent, and. instead, one sees a harmony of good taste on every hand. Mrs. Talmage is an excellent housekeeper and her home shows it.j

MRS. TALMAGE.