Fair to Look Upon | Page 5

said: "Thy maid is in thy hands; do unto her as it pleaseth thee." And
"Sarah dealt hardly with her, and she fled from her face." But she came
back, because you remember she met an angel in the wilderness, and he
told her to return. Nice advice from an angel, wasn't it?
[Illustration: (Abraham entertaining the three angels.)]
The next scene in which the lovely Sarah distinguishes herself, and
nobly sustains her record for disobedience and a determination to
follow the dictates of her own sweet will, was when Abraham
entertained the three angels.
Now hobnobbing with angels wasn't an every-day affair, even in that
age when angels were more plentiful than they are now.
And Abraham was naturally a little excited, and he "hastened into the
tent unto Sarah," and said: "Make ready quickly three measures of fine
meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth;" and he gave orders to
a young man to kill a calf, etc. And after a while the supper was served,
with all the delicacies the rich and great could afford, and everything
appeared that he had ordered--except Sarah's cakes. They were simply
and inexplicably non est.
Of course it was a pretty shabby thing for a woman to go back on her

husband in his hour of need, and when there were angels in the house
too; but she did it, thereby sustaining her reputation for crookedness
and general contrariness as a wife.
And yet it has always been preached to us that we should obey our
husbands "even as Sarah obeyed Abraham." Well, we're willing, since
all she had to do was to look pretty, be agreeable, and do exactly as she
pleased.
But the very fact that Sarah has been held up as an example for us to
follow proves that the men had not read up her record intelligently, or
else in their extremity they were presuming on our ignorance while
trying to enforce order and submission.
But that was not the worst of it. When she heard the angel tell Abraham
that she should have a son she ridiculed the idea.
She had the germ of the infidel in her heart, and lacked Abraham's
credulity, and would not believe anything, even if an angel did say so,
unless it was backed up by reason and common sense, and so she
laughed behind their backs.
Now it appears that angels object to being ridiculed as well as other
folk, and when they heard her giggling they demanded to know the
reason of Abraham. It was exceedingly naughty for her to place her
husband in such a predicament, and when she found she was getting the
whole family into an uproar she denied the charge, which shows that to
her other charming and wifely qualities she added the art of
equivocating.
[Illustration: (And he sent Hagar and Ishmael out into the wilderness.)]
After that Abraham "sojourned in Gerar," and again the seductive Sarah
charmed the great king, and again the Lord had to interfere and settle
the affair.
When Isaac was born Sarah was more exacting and jealous than ever of
Hagar, and said to Abraham: "Cast out this bond-woman and her son;

for the son of this bond-woman shall not be heir with my son."
[Illustration: (And Abraham went down to Egypt.)]
"And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight," but he
"hearkened unto the voice of his wife," like the dutiful and obedient
husband he was, and he sent Hagar and Ishmael out into the wilderness.
And even to this day the women who are guilty of Hagar's crime are
remorselessly sent out into the wilderness of desertion, despair and
disgrace--and it is right and just!
We are told that "fashions change;" but Sarah inaugurated a fashion
that wives have followed to this day, and will follow till the ocean of
eternity shall sweep the island of Time into oblivion.
And so endeth the chapter of the second prominent woman of "Holy
Writ."
And Abraham was always "obedient," and "hearkened unto the voice of
his wife;" and Sarah was a lawless, crafty, coquettish--but never
obedient woman.

ISAAC'S WIFE.

ISAAC'S WIFE.
And Abraham said unto his servant, "Thou shalt go unto my country
and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac."
But the servant, who was evidently a student of female character and
knew
"That when a woman will, she will, You may depend on it; And when
she won't, she won't, And there's an end on it;"
said: "Peradventure, the woman will not be willing to follow me unto

this land."
Then Abraham, who was a connoisseur in feminine ethics (as he
naturally would be, having had such able instructors as Sarah and
Hagar) and realized the utter futility of attempting to