The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1890-11-14
ton Of body, mind and soul indescrib.

ton of body, mind and soul indescrib
able.
WHEN ISRAEL WAS IN ANARCHY.
And now, like Ezekiel In my text,
lift up mine eyes the way toward the
north. Near here was one of the worst
tragedies of the ages mentioned in the
Bible. A hospitable old man coming
home at eventide from his work in the
fields finds two strangers, a husband
and wife, proposing to lodge in the
street because no shelter is offered
them, and invites them to come In and
spend the night in his home. During
the night the ruffians of the neighbor-
hood conspired together, and sur
rounded the house, and left the woman
dead on the doorstep, and the nus
band, to rally in revenge the twelve
tribes cut the corpse of the woman
into twelve parts and sent a twelfth OF
it to each tribe, and the fury of the
nation was reused, and perem2tory
demand was made for the surrender OF
the assassins, and, the demand refused.
in one day twenty thousand people
were left dead on the field and the
next day eighteen thousand. Wher
ever our horse today plants his foot in
those ancient times a corpse lay, and
the roads were crossed by red rivulets
of carnage.
Now we pass on where seven youths
were put to death and their bodie-
gibbeted or hung in chains, not for
anything they had themselves done
but as reparation for what their fa
Their and grandfather, Saul, had done
Burial was denied these youths from
May until November. Rizpah, the
mother of two of those dead boys, ap
points herself as sentinel to guard the
seven corpses from bcak of raven and
tooth of wolf and paw of lion. She
pitches black tent on the rock close
by the gibbets. Rizpah by day sits on
the ground in front of her tent, and
when vulture begins to lower out OF
the MONDAY sky seeking its prey among
the gibbets Rizpah rises, her long hair
flying in the wind, md, swinging her
arms wildly about, Shoes away the
bird of prey until it retreats to its
eyrie. At night she rests under the
shallow of her tent and sometimes falls
into a drowsiness or half sleep. But
the step of a jackal among the dry
leaves or the painting of a hyena
arouses her, and with the fury of a
maniac she rushes out upon the rock
crying, "Away! Away!'' and then, ex-
amining the gibbets to see that they
still keep their burden, returns again
to her tent till some swooping wing
from the midnight sky or some growl-
ing monster on the rock again wakes
her.
THE LONE WATCH OF RIZPAH.
A mother watching her dead children
through May, June, July. August, Sep
TENDER and October! What vigil.
Painters have tried to put upon canvas
the scene, and they succeeded in sketch
ing the hawks in the sky and the pan
theirs crawling out from the jungle, but
they fail to give the wanness, the ear
nestness, the supernatural courage, the
infinite self sacrifice of Rizpah, the
mother. A mother in the quiet home
watching by the casket of dead child
for one night exerts the artist to his
utmost; but who is sufficient to put
upon canvas mother for six months
of midnights guarding her whole family
dead and gibbeted upon the mountains
Go home, Rizpah! You must be
awfully tired. You are sacrificing your
reason and your life for those whom
you can never bring back again to your
bosom. AS say that from the darkest
midnight of the century Rizpah turns
upon me and cries: "How dare you
tell me to go home9 l am a mother.
l am not tired. You might as we'll ex
pect God to get tired as for mother
to get tired. cared for those boys
when they lay on my breast in infancy
and will not forse ke them now that
they are dead. Interrupt me not
There stoopsa an eagle that l must drive
back with my agonized cry There is
a panther must beat back with my
club"
Do you know what that scene by our
roadside in Palestine makes ME think
of? It is no unusual scene. Right
here in these three cities by the Ameri
ran sea coast there are a thousand
cases this moment worse than that.
Mothers watching boys that the rum
saloon, that annex of hell, has glib
beted in a living death. Boys hung in
chains of evil habit they cannot break
The father may go to sleep after wait
ng until twelve o'clock at night for the
'uined boy to come home and, giving it
Up, he may say: Mother, come to
bed; there's no use sitting up any
onger" But mother will not go to
bed. 1t is one o'clock in the morning
It is half-past one. 1t is two o'clock
It is half-past two when he comes stag
,ering through the hall.
Do you say that young man is yet |
alive9 No; he is dead. Dead to his
,ather's entreaties. Dead to his moth
sr's prayers. Dead to the family altar
ubora ba uoc roo,<l no,J IL III a.