Many a man falling sick in one of these boarding-houses or hotels has
been kindly watched and nursed; and by the memory of her own
sufferings and losses the lady at the head of such a house has done
all that a mother could do for a sick child, and the slumberless eye
of God sees and appreciates her sacrifices in behalf of the stranger.
Among the most marvelous cases of patience and Christian fidelity are
many of those who keep boarding-houses, enduring without resentment
the unreasonable demands of their guests for expensive food and
attentions for which they are not willing to pay an equivalent--a lot
of cranky men and women who are not worthy to tie the shoe of their
queenly caterer. The outrageous way in which boarders sometimes act to
their landlords and landladies show that these critical guests had bad
early rearing, and that in the making-up of their natures all that
constitutes the gentleman and lady were left out. Some of the most
princely men and some of the most elegant women that I know of to-day
keep hotels and boarding-houses.
But one of the great evils of this day is found in the fact that a
large population of our towns and cities are giving up and have given
up their homes and taken apartments, that they may have more freedom
from domestic duties and more time for social life, and because they
like the whirl of publicity better than the quiet and privacy of a
residence they can call their own. The lawful use of these hotels and
boarding-houses is for most people while they are in transitu: but as
a terminus they are in many cases demoralization, utter and complete.
That is the point at which families innumerable have begun to
disintegrate. There never has been a time when so many families,
healthy and abundantly able to support and direct homes of their own,
have struck tent and taken permanent abode in these public
establishments. It is an evil wide as Christendom, and by voice and
through the newspaper press I utter warning and burning protest, and
ask Almighty God to bless the word, whether in the hearing or reading.