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Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene
When visitors come, as they frequently will, they should not be al-
lowed to absorb all the time and attention of the mother; her children’s
temporal and spiritual welfare should come first. Time should not be
used in preparing rich cakes, pies, and unhealthful viands for the table.
These are an extra expense, and many cannot afford it. But the greater
evil is in the example. Let the simplicity of the family be preserved.
Do not try to give the impression that you can sustain a style of living
which is really beyond your means. Do not try to appear what you
are not, either in your table preparations or in your manners. While
you should treat your visitors kindly, and make them feel at home,
you should ever remember that you are a teacher to the little ones God
has given you. They are watching you, and no course of yours should
direct their feet in a wrong way. Be to your visitors just what you are
to your family every day,—pleasant, considerate, and courteous. In
this way all can be educators, an example of good works. They testify
that there is something more essential than to keep the mind on what
they shall eat and drink, and wherewithal they shall be clothed.
Let the mother’s dress, also, be simple and neat. So may she
preserve her dignity and influence. If mothers allow themselves to
wear untidy garments at home, they are teaching their children to
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follow in the same slovenly way. Many mothers think that anything is
good enough for home wear, be it ever so soiled and shabby. But they
soon lose their influence in the family. The children draw comparisons
between their mother’s dress and that of others who dress neatly,
and their respect for her is weakened. Mothers, make yourselves as
attractive as possible, not by elaborate trimming, but by wearing clean,
well-fitting garments. Thus you will give to your children constant
lessons in neatness and purity. The love and respect of her children
should be of the highest value to every mother. Everything upon her
person should teach cleanliness and order, and should be associated
in their minds with purity. There is a sense of fitness, an idea of the
appropriateness of things, in the minds of even very young children;
and how can they be impressed with the desirability of purity and
holiness when their eyes daily rest on untidy dresses and disorderly
rooms? How can the heavenly guests, whose home is where all is pure
and holy, be invited into such a dwelling?
The word of God declares. “Know ye not that your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and