Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-29

came to a standstill. Men, women and chill
dren all fixed their eyes and pointed with
hands, sticks and crooks to the same spot
for there. before them, q strange and novel
spectacle attracted their gaze. A shout of
amazement and delight broke from their
parched and weary lips which had long
ceased to stir for speech; it rapidly spread
from one division to the next, from tribe to
tribe, to the lepers that closed the train and
/ the vanguard beyond. One and another
elboved his neighbor and whispered name
familiar to them all-that Of the HOLY
Mountain where the Lord had promised
to Moses that He would lead His people
into good and pleasant land, flowing with
milk and honey. None had told the weary
multitude that this was the place, and vet
they knew that they beheld Horeb and the
peak of Sinai, the most sacred summit Of
this mass of granite.
Although but mountain, vet was 1t the
throne of the Almighty God Of their fathers!
AT this hour the whole sacred hill seemed,
like the burning bush out of which He had
there spoken to His chosen servant, to be
stepped in fire. Its seven-peaked
crown lowered from afar, high above the
hills and vales that surrounded it, burning
like an enormous ruby lighted up by
blaze of glory in the clouds.
gotten thirst and exhaustion in watching
the inspiring spectacle. But ere long their
high enthusiasm was turned to the deepest
discouragement, for when night fell, and
after short march they reached the wells
Of Alush, it was discovered that the desert
tribe which had encamped- here yester-
day had cheked the spring. which
at best was but brackish, with
stones and rubbish.
All the water they had carried with them
had been used before reaching Dophka. and
the exhausted spring at the mines had not
suficed to fill the skins. Thirst, which at
first had only dried their gums, now began
to burn their vitals. Their scorched tbroats
could not swallow the solid food of which
they had abundance. On every side there
was nothing to be seen but heart-broken
looks, and pitieble or disgracefuI scenes
Men and women storming, cursing, Weep
ing, and groaning, or else sunk in morose
despair. Some, whose wailing infants
clamored for water, had gathered round the
choked wall and were fighting for spot on
the ground where they hoped to collect a
few drops of the precious fluid in a sherd,
And the beasts lowed and bleated so
miserably that it cut their drivers to the
heart like reproach.
Very few cared to exert themselves to
pitch tent. The night was 50 warm. and
the sooner they went forward the better,
for Moses had promised to join them
again at spot but a few hours
further on. He alone could help
them; it was his bounden duty to save man
and beast from perishing Of drought.
IF the God who had promised them such
great things left them to perish in the
wilderness with all their little ones. then
the man in whose guidance they had put
their trust was deciver, and the God whose
power and mercy be was never weary of
preaching to them was falser and feebler
than the idols with heads OF men and beasts
whom they had worshiped in Egypt. Bias
phemy and curses were mingled with
threats, and when Aaron came forth to
comfort the thirsty pilgrims with werds of
hope, many clenched fist was shaken at
him.
Soon after midnight Joshua, after hold
ing council with the elders, bid the trumpets
sound to call the fighting men together.
He set them in ranks under the starlit sky.
appointed leader to each division, and inn
pressed on each the hearing of the word of
command be was to obey.
They came at the call, half perishing
with thirst; but the fresh efforts to which
their captain exhorted them wonderfully
revived their fainting energies; as well as
the hope Of victory and precious reward,
9 plot Of land, namely, at the foot Of the
Holy Mountain, rich in wells and palms.
Among the youths came Ephraim, giving
life to the Others by his own vigOr. And |
now, when the Captain, to whom God had |
already proved that He thought him worthy
of the help which his name promised, adj |
dressed the men, bidding them put their
trust in the Lord Almighty, it had quite q |
different effect from that produced by Aaron,
whose aomoniticns they had hearkened 70 /
every day since they set OFT
When Joshua had sndsb 9 iubilant shout