Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-21

HIS father. The boy had done the
plalner work at the shop while His
rather had put on the finishing touches
OF the work. The boy also cleared away
the chips and blocks and shavings He
nelped hold the different pieces of work
while the father joined them. In our
DAY we have all kinds of mechanics and
the u work is divided up among them.
put to be carpenter in Christ's boy
mood days meant to make plows, yokes,
houses, and almost everything that was
made. Fortunate was it that the boy
mad learned the trade, for, when the
head of the family dies, it is grand
thing to have the child able to take care
OF himself and help take care of others.
NOW that Joseph, His father, is dead and
the responsibility of family support
comes down on this boy, I hear from
morning to night His hammer pounding,
HIS saw vacillating, His OK descending,
His gimlets boring, and standing amid
the dust and.debris of the shop find the
perspiration gathering on His temples
and notice the fatigue of His arm, and
as he stops moment to rest l see Him
painting, His hand on His side, from the
exhaustion. Now He goes forth in the
morning loaded with implements of
work heavier than any modern kit of
tiers. Lifting, pulling, adjusting, cleav-
ing, splitting all day long. At night
fall He goes homes to the plain supper
provided by His mother and sits down
too tired to talk. Work! work! work! You
cannot tell Christ anything now about
bllstered hands or aching ankles Or
bruised fingers or stiff joints or rising
In the morning as tired as when you
laid down. While yet boy He knew
it all, He felt it all, He suffered it all.
The boy carpenter! The boy wagon
maker! The boy house builder! o
Christ, we have seen Thee when full
grown in Pilates police court room. we
have seen Thee when full grown Thou
vert assassinated on Golgotha, but, O
Christ, let all the weary artisans and
mechanics of the earth see while yet un-
dersized and arms not yet muscularized
and with the undeveloped strength of
Juvenescence trying to take Thy fathers
place in gaining the livelihood for the
family.
But, having seen Christ the boy of
the fields and the boy in the mechanics
shop, show you more marvellous
scene, Christ the smooth browed lad
among the long bearded, white haired,
high foreheaded ecclesiastics of the
Temple. Hundreds of thousands of
strangers had come to Jerusalem to
keep great religious festival. After
the hospitable homes were crowded with
visitors, the tents were spread all around
the city to shelter immense throngs of
strangers. 1t was very easy among the
vast throngs coming and going to lose
q child. More than two million people
have been known to gather at Jerusalem
for that national feast. You must not
think OF those regions as sparsely set
, tied. The ancient historian Josephus
says there were in Galilee two hundred
cities, the smallest of them containing
} fifteen thousand people. No wonder
that amid the crowds at the time spoken
of Jesus the boy was lost. His parents,
knowing that He was mature enough
and agile enough to take care of him
self, are on their way home without any
} anxiety, supposing that their boy is
! coming with some of the groups. But
after while they suspect He is lost and
with flushed cheek and q terrorized loob
, they rush this way and that, saying
Have you seen anything of my boy
He is twelve years OF age, of fair com.
plexion and has blue eyes and auburn
i hair. Have you seen Him since we left
u the city," Back they go in hot haste, il
S and out the streets, in and out the pri
D yate houses and among the surrounding
. hills. For three days they search an
1 inquire, wondering if He has bee
: tranpled under foot of some of tn
3 thongs OF has ventured on the cliffs O
: fallen off a precipice. Send through al
: the streets and lanes of the city ant
: among all the surrounding hill
t that most dismal sound, "a lost child
o A lost child!" And 10, after thre,
: days they discover Him in the grea
: Temple, seated among the mightiest re
!, ligionists of all the world. The wall
J. of no other building ever looked dow
!. on such scene. A child IL years oil,
n surrounded by septuagenarians, He ask
t ing His own questions and answerrn!
9 theirs. Let me introduce you to som,
of these ecclesiastics. This is the grea
S Rabbin Simeon! This is the venerable
s Hillel This is the famous Shammai
t Betirah. What can this twelve year lac
t teach them, or what questions can HI
: ask worthy their cogitation? All, tn
t first time in all their lives these relig
t ionists have found their match and NOR,
: than their match. Though so young
t He knew all about that famous Tempt,
S under whose roof they held that mos
f wonderful discussion of all history. H,
S knew the meaning of every altar, O.
every sacrifice, of every golden candle
f stick, of every embroidered curtain, OF
b every crumb of shew bread. of ever,
' drop of oil in that sacred edifce. He
+ knew all about God. He knew all about
man. He knew all about Heaven, fol
| He came from it. He knew all about
: this world, for He made it. He knew
l all worlds, for they were only the spark
l ling morning dewdrops on the lawn in
front of his Heavenly Palace. Put
$ these seven Bible words in q wreath
of emphasis: Both hearing them