Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1882-09-21
QUAILS.

Soon after the children of Israel passed
over the Red Sea they began to murmur,
Ind to long for the flesh pots of Egypt;
and tl.cy would gladly havo returned to
bondage if they had been permitted to do
so. They might have known that he who
delivered them from captivity by stipend
Gus miracle would be sure to provide for
them, but human faith was weak thirty.
four hundred years ago, as it is now. The
providence of Gcd, perhaps without mir
acle, brought the quuiIs und they settled
around the camp in such vast numbers rs to
supply the multitude cf people. So far as
we can learn from tho record, this supply
of food lasted only for one day. {Exodus
lG: l3) About month after this, us wo
learn FROM Numbers IL 4-35, there arose
another murmuring from the same cause;
they logged for more quals and God sent
them. This time they come in countless
millions, aud as the sequel showed, each
quail brought with it, rebuke from the
Lord. 1t is common to this day for cnor-
nous flights of quails to make their way
across Aratu. Those which fed the
lsraelitcs were somewhat out of their usual
course, but the "wind from the Lord"
which brought this about. though certainly
providential, that ia forcsccn and arranged
for, msy not have been miraculous; nor arc
We to suppose that extraordinary manifesta~
tons of divine power are ever made unless
they arc specially called for, or that what
we call tho supernatural will ever need
lessly take tho place of the natural. But
whether by miracle or not it was God who
sent the qua's lIc was displeascd with
tho people. not, We aro sure, because
they desired meat, but because they dis
trusted his providence, ond while he sup
piled their wants, he at tho samc time pun.
ishcd them for their distrust 10 a way
~ hich was wonderful then md is wonders
ful now At that time it was not known
that tho flesh Of quails, so delicious TO tho
taste at first, soon becomes rcpulsivo to tho
appetite and indeed disgusting The Lord
who made the quoiI, aud gave its flesh that
character, undiscovcrablo by the chemist,
which units it for long continued use as
food, said before the quail was scnt "Yc
shall not cat one day, nor two days, nor
five days, neither ten days, nor twenty
days, but even whole mouth, until it come
out ut your nostrils, and it be loathsome
unto you, because that ye have despscd
tho Lord which is among you and have
wept before him saying. why camo We out
of Egypt?'" Mum. l6: 10.
TO this doy the flesh of tho quail retains
the same popularity, and though considered
great dclicacy, can be eaten only at
intervals. 1t is even now common thing
among sporting men to mako bets that
man cannot eat quail dey for thirty
consecutive days. The silly exploit we
believe has been performed, though most of
these who have attempted it have failcd;
but tho testimony of all who have tried it
is that in few days this doicato ond ap-
parcntly wholesome food becomes loathsome
beyond endurance. The foolish men who
mako the experiment are little aware that
in their folly they become the indorsers of
tho Mosac record. The American quail,
or partridge as it called, is perhaps not Of
tho samo speccs as that of the Oriental
countries, but it is doubtless of tho Same
genus; certainly it has tho same mysterious
kind of flesh, appctizing ut first and for no
reason that VIC can ascertain, nauscating
afterwards. Before tho quail season was
over, and "whie tho flesh was yet between
their teeth, the wrath of the Lord was
kindlcd against them and he smoto them
with very great plague" Mum. IL: 33.
This, too, may have been providontial
visitation without miracle. Generaly that
which is unpleasant to the taste is injurious
to health, the palate being placed to stand
aard over tho stomach, and tho aosh Of