The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-08-29
For THK ARKANsAw TRAvKLKR.
 NO IDEA OF FLIGHT.
B4 GUY TRANsoM.

story of the flight of the children of Israel
 from Egypt to the land of Canaan, and
 as flight" conveys to the mind some
 connection with speed, cannot see why
 tue word is used. Forty years marching
 under the most renowned generals of an-
 cient times, and under such guidance
 making no greater distance than a man
 in good health could make in as many
 days, does not convey much idea of flight.
 l say, under such guidance, for they could
 not go wrong, they had "pillar of fire
 by night, and pillar of cloud by day"
 Mama rained down upon them for food,
 with occasional flocks Of quail rendered
 it unnecessary for them to forage for pro-
 visions or even be delayed by commis-
 sary train. But then their accelerated
 motion after they had crossed the Jordan
 gives refreshing contrast, and makes
 pretty fair average travelling, as near as
 can make out from the data at hand. The
 city of Jericho had 2 wall seven miles in
 length, running along its north side, five
 and one-halt miles on the west, six miles
 on the south and five and one-half on the
 east, making distance of twenty. four
 miles in all. Around this wall these " chil-
 dren were commanded to march once
 each day for six days; as they could not
 very we'll hug the wall, they must have
 travelled at least twenty-eighs miles per
 day. Now that is what call getting
 down to their work, and when we consider
 that they had to be continually blowing
 rams horns" during the march, and
 the amount of wind this would necessar-
 lly consume, it is getting way down. Af-
 ter six days of this sort of gentle exercise they made the home-stretch, by making seven "round trips" oa the seventh day. There's gait that would suit the most exacting admirer of tall travelling" Let us see seven times twenty-eight makes one hdndred and ninety-six miles in one day, and keeping up an uninterrupted blast on their horns at the same time. | Sixteen and one-half miles per hour. do not suppose they all had horns to blow, but those who did have them, and l if only few were thus taxed and kept up the racket, the remainder had a picnic. But it is probable that they, too, got in their work by singing '' Hey git along, git along, Josey," or whatever tunes the horns played. Joshua, or whoever headed the procession, must have described at r least several hundred feet of a quarter circle in turning the corners, and if they were coupled together like a railway train, the tail end of the "host" would be slung by the laws of centrifugal mo- tion out into the corn-6elds, or vineyards of the adjoining counties. Come to think of it, Jericho was walled city, armed by a war-lke race, and it is possi- ble that if the "childrea marched with their charivari anywhere near the walls, the citizens of the various wards ad- joining would have hurled rotten eggs, if nothing more dangerous, down upon them. So it is likely that their circuit was enlarged even beyond the distance given. So that this really gets up to the dignity of "flight." If the title Of my book had been the "Flight of the Ch,l- dren of Israel around the walls of Jeri. cho," it would have been more appro- priate.
 In reading this book of mine, all my go out to old General Am ram. suppose they call him by his , fathers name. He was literally "turned adrift while sucking child. He led a stormy and dangerous life up to his re- 'ignation from Pharaoh's court. When he had led these kids of his to the shores of he Red sea, and there were six hundred thousand bearded fighting men among hem, they were about to stone him to death for getting them into such pros- oective difficulties. When the sea parted 1t his touch and destroyed their pursuers, them with military arms and gave them a good boost on their way, vhy they said Moses was bully boy, or expressions that conveyed to him that dea. When they discovered that their drinking water was then impure they oaded up with stones again and went cunning for Nose. He got out of this 'crape by showing them how to purify he water by agitating it. This made ,im solid once more. Then they got ( hungry and began to load up again, but { aere is where the quail and mama helped him out. By this time they had T moved on few hundred feet and got q nto township where water was scarce. . 50 they again began tearing up the pike } o boycott their chief Moses, in this