Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1890-11-29

| cymbais and q blare of trumphets
danced in glee, upon which thousands of
/ spectators gaZed. But no dance since
/ the world stood ever broke up in such Il
] strange way as the one the Bible de-
scribes. One night while by the light of
the lamp and torches these
gayeties went on, 200 Benjamities, who
had been hidden behind the rocks and
among the trees, dashed upon the
/ scene. They came not to injure or de-
Stroy, but wishing to set up households
OF their own, the women of their own
land having been slain in battle, by pre-
concerted arrangement each one of the
200 BenjaminiteS seized the one whom he
chose for the queen of his home, and
carried her away to a large estate and
| beautiful residence, for these 200 Benjam-
| mites had inherited the wealth of ma
ton.
AS to-day near Shiloh we look at the
meadow of the Feast where the
madens danced that night and at the
mountain gorge up which the Benjamin
| ties carried their brides, we bethnk
| ourselves of the better land and the bet
ter times in which we live, when such
! scenes are an utter impOssibility, and
amid orderly groups and with prayer
and benediction. and breath of orange
blossoms and the roll of the wedding
march, marriage is solemniZed, and with
oath recorded in heaven two immortals
start arm in arm on journey to last
until death do them part. Upon every
such marriage altar may there come the
blessing of Him ''who setteth the solitary
in famlies.'' Side by side on the path of
life. Side by side in their graves! Side
by side in Heaven!
But we must this afternoon. our last
day before reaching Nazareth, pitch our
tent on the most famous battlefield of
all time-the plain of Esdraelon. What
must have been the feelings Of the Prince
of Peace as he crossed it on the way
| from Jerusalem to Nazareth? Not
t flower blooms there but has in it's veins
| the Inherited blood of flowers that drank
| the blood of fallen armies. Hardly
| foot OF the ground that has not at some
time been quilted with war chariOts or
trampled with the hoofs of cavalry. 1t
is a plain reaching from the Mediter-
ranean to the Jordan. Upon it look
down the mountains of Tabor and Gilboa
and Carmel. Through it RACES at certain
seasons the river Kishon, which swept
down the armies of Sisera, the battle oc-
| curing in November when there is al
most always shower of meteOrs so that
! ''the stars in their courses were said to
| have fought against Sisera.
! Through this plain drove Jehu, and
| the iron chariots of the Canaanites,
Scythed at the hubs of the wheels, hew-
ing down their awful sWaths of death,
| thousands in a minute. The Syrian ar
mics, the Turkish armies, the Egyptian
| armies again and again trampled it.
! There they career against it, David and
Joshua and Godfrey and Richard C9ur
| de Lion and Baldwin and Saladin-a
plain not only famous for the past but
famous because the Bible says the great
| decisive battle of the world will be
! fought there the battle of ArmageddOn.
| To me the plain was the more absorb
/ ing because of the desperate battles here
and in regions round in which the holy
cross, the very two pieces OF wood on
which Jesus was supposed to have been
| crucifed, was carried as a standard at
| the head of the Christian host; and that
! night, closing my eyes in my tent on the
| plain of EsdraelOn-for there are some
| things we can see better with eyes shut
! than open-the scenes OF that ancient
! war came before me. The Twelfth CEN
| fury was closing, and Saladln, at the
| head of $4,000 mounted troops, were
! CRYING: '.Ho for Jerusalem! Ho for all
Palestiner' and before them everything
went down, but not without unparalleled
! resistance. In one place 1870 Christians
| were surrounded by many thousands of
! furious Mohammedahs. For one whole
! day the 100 held out against these
| thousa nds.
! Tenneyson'ss six hundred when ''some
>r.,I hXi
these 1870 fighting for the holy cross.
| They took hold of the lances which had
pierced them with death wounds, and
| pulling them out of their own breasts
and sides hurled them back again at the
enemy. On went the fight when all but
one Christian had fallen, and he, mounted
ON the last horse, welded his battle-axe
right and left till his horse fell under the
{ plunge Of the javelin, and the rider, MAX
ing the sign of the cross toward, the sky,
gave up his life on the point of score OF
| spears But soon after the last battle
came History portrays it, poetry chants
| it. painting colors it, and all ages admire
that last struggle to keep in possession
| the wooden cross on which Jesus was
! said to have expired. 1t was battle in
which mingled the fury of devils and the
granduer of angels Thousands OF
dead Christians on this side Thousands
| of dead MohammedanS on the other side.
The battle was hottest close around
the wooden cross upheld by the Bishop
of Ptolemais. himself wounded and dy-
ing. And when the Bishop of Ptolemais
dropped dead the Bishop of LYDIA seized
| the cross and again lifted it, carrying it
! onward into wilder and fercer fight,
| and sword against javelin, and battle-aNe