The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-08-01

fight, they had been defeated but now
they are going to take it by ambuscade
Gen. Joshua has two divisions IN his
army-the one division the battle-wOrn
commander will lead himself, the
other division he sends off to en-
camp in an ambush on the west side
of the City OF Al. No torches, no lanterns.
no sound OF heavy battalions, but $4,000
swarthy warriors moving in silence,
speaking only in whisper; no clicking
of swords against shields, lest the watch
men of ii discover it and the stratagem
be a failure. If roistering soldier in the
Israelitish army forgets himself, all
along the line the word is Hush!
Joshua takes the other division, the one
with which he is to march, and puts it on
the north side OF the city OF Al, and then
spends the night in accommodating in the
valley. There he is, thinking over the
fortunes of the coming day, when some
thing of the feeling OF Wellington the
night before Waterloo, or OF Meade and
Lee the night before Gettysburg. There
he stands in the night, and says TO him.
self:
"Yonder is the division in ambush on
the the west side Of Al. Here is the di
vision have under my especial command
on the north side OF Al. There is the old
city slumbering in its sin. Tomorrow
will be the battle. Look the morning
already begins to tip the hills"
The military officers OF III look out In
the morning very early, and while they
do not see the division in ambush, they
behold the other division OF Joshua, and
the cry, TO arms to arms" rings through
all the streets OF the old town, and every
sword, whether hacked and bent or newly
welded, is brought out, and all the in
habitants of the city of Al pour through
the gates, an infuriated torrent, and their
cry is: "Come-we'n make quick work
with Joshua and his troops!" No sooner
had these people of Al come out against
the troops of Joshua than Joshua gave
such a command as he seldom gave:
Fall backw Why. they could not believe
their own ears. Is Joshua's courage fail
ing him?
The retreat is beaten and the Israelltes
are flying, throwing blankets and canteens
on every side under this worse than Bull
Run defeat. And you ought to hear the
soldiers of Al cheer, and cheer. But they
huZza too soon. The men lying in am
bush are straining their vision to get some
signal from Joshua that they may know
what time to drop upon the city. Joshua
takes his FURNISHED spear, glittering in the
sun like a shaft of doom, and points it to-
ward the city, and when the men up
yOnder in the ambush see it, with hawk
like swoop they drop upon Al, and with
out stroke of sword or stab of spear take
the city and put it to the torch. So much
for the division that was in am
bush. How about the division I'M
der Joshua's command? No sooner
does Joshua stop in the flight than all his
men stop with him, and as he wheels they
wheel, for in voice of thunder he cried:
'Halt!' One strong arm driving back a
torrent OF flying troops. And then, as he
points his spear through the golden light
toward that fatal city, his troops know
that they are to start for it. What scene
it was when the division in ambush which
had taken the city marched down against
the men of Al on the one side and the
troops under Joshua doubled up their
enemies from the other side, and the men
of Al were caught between these two hur-
ricanes of Israelitish courage, thrust before
and behind, stabbed in breast and back,
ground between the upper and neither
millstones of Gods indignation. Woe to
the city OF Al Cheer for the triumphs of
Israel!
Lesson the first: There is such thing
as victorious retreat. Joshua's falling
back was the first chapter in his success
your life when the best thing you can do
is to run. You were once the victim of
strong drink. The demijohn and the de-
canter were your fierce foes. They came
down upon you with greater fury than
the men of All upon the men of Joshua.
Your only safety is to get away from
them. Your dissipating companions will
come around for your overthrow. Run
for your life! Fall back Fall back from
the drinking saloon. Fall back from the
wine party. Your flight is your advance.
Your retreat is your victory. There
is a saloon down on the next
street that has almost been the ruin of
your soul. Then, why do you go along
that street? Why do you not pass
through some other street rather than by
the place of your calamity? A spoonful
of brandy taken for medicinal purposes
by man who twenty years before had
been reformed from drunkenness. hurlc!