Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-10-17

Is burnt out world now. dead world now.
! an extinct world now, a corpse laid out in
! state in the heavens, waiting for the judg-
! ment day to bury it. But On the day Of
| which 1 speak the moon was probably a liv-
ing world, yet It halted at the wave Of JOSH
uas finger, "Saand thou stillr' Do not bulge
an inch until Joshua finishes those five kings.
who are there tumhling over the rocks, sword
! sky pelhng them
! And there is the cavern III Makkelah,
! where they fed for safety, and where they
| were afterward locked in and from which
/ they were taken out TO be slain and in which
I they were afterward buried, and you do
well to examine that cavern, for within a
! few hours it became three things which no
| other cave ever was-fortress prison,
! sepulcher.
Now we pass the place where once lived
one of the greatest robbers of the country,
Abou Gosh by name From this point you
/ see he could look over the surrounding coun-
try, and long before the travellers came up to
him the plan for taking of their money or
their life, or both, was cOnSumated. He one
| day found a company of monks who would
not pay, and he smothered them to death III
hot oven. In his last days he lived hero
! like an oriental prince, and had attendants
and admirers to whom he told his stories of
! brlgandage and assassination. So late as
when our eminent and beloved American,
! William c. Prime, passed through, Abou
Gosh, the scoundrelly Bedouin, sat at his
| doorway smoking his pipe. His descendants
| live in this village, and probably are no NOR
honest than their distinguished ancestor: but
maraudIng ana murder are not as safe a
business now as when all this route to
Jerusalem was subjected to o0trages pam
demOniac.
Here we pass the village of Latrun, home
Of the penitent tt ief, the village, few stray
CLING houses on steep hills, rising from the
valley Of Ajalon. Up these steep hills in his
earlier days the thief had carried the spoils
of arson and burglary, and down them he
had born the heavier burden of guilty
heart. But higher than these hills he
mounted after he had repented, from the
transfxed posture on the cross to the bosom
of forgiving God.
Now we come to the brook Elah, from
which little David took the smooth stones
with which he Frustrated Goliath. There is
bridge spanning the ravine but at the sea-
son we crossed there is not drop of water
in the brook. We went down into the ravine
and walked amid the pebbles that had been
washed smooth, Yer 7 smooth, by the rush Of
the waters through all the ages. There is
where David armed himself. He walked
around and picked up five of these polished
pebbles. He got them Of just the right size.
He prepared himself for five volleys, so that
if the giant escaped the first he will not es-
cape the whole five. The Topography of the
place SO corresponds with the Bible story
that [ could see the memorable fight 60 on.
1t is the only fight ever did watch.
Pugilisn abhor; but here were two cham
pions-the one God appointed, the other
Satan appointed, and deciding the destiny Of
nation, the destiny Of a world. It was a
Marathon, an Arbela, Waterloo, a Blen-
helm. Sedan. concentrated into two right
arms. Here are TWO ridges or mountains 500
feet high the Philistines on one ridge, the Is
raelites on the other ridge. The fight is in
the valley between, at that season shaded
and sweet with terebinth and acacia, David
the champion for the Israelites Goliath the
champion for the Philistines David under
sized and almost efeminate, only mouth
tul for Goliath who was nearly ten feet high.
They advance to meet each other. but the
Bible says that David made the first step
| forward. Nearer and nearer they come,
but I do not think David will wait until he
comes within reach Of Goliaths sword, for
that would be fatal and David has weapon
with which he can fight at long range.
Closer and closer they come. but David ad-
vances the more rapidly. ''Come to me-"
said the giant, land will give thy flesh
unto the fowls of the air and to the beasts
of the field" You see Goliath going to
give David for banquet to tina vulture
and j2ckal. He the mountain of flesh, will
fall over on that little hillock. hear him
| laugh through the mouthpiece of his he'll
met. He will toast the little whiffet on the
top of his long sword He will call all the
crows for breakfast. ''Come to me, you
contemplate little fellow, and I will make
| quick work with you. The idea that five
tooter should dare to coma ont AGAINST q
ten-footer! Let the two armies looking down
from the ridges watch mer David respond
ed, II come to thee in the name of the
Lord of Hostsy Aha that is the RICH:
kind of battle shout. ''In the name of the
! Lord of Hostsp'
How that cry rings through the Wadyes-
| Sumpt He who fights in that spirit wins
the day. The almost Israelitish dwarf en-
larges into onnipotent proportions. The
moment to strike has come David takes
his sling, with a. stone in it, and whirls it
round MS mead until he has put the weapon
into sufficient momentum, and then, taking
sure aim, hurls it. The giant throws up his
hands and reels back and falls. The stone
sank into his forehead. That was the only
available point Of attack But how about
the helmet on his head? Did the stone that
| David flung crush through the helmet? No.
| An old rabbi says he thinks that when Co.
Hath scoffed at David the giant so suddenly
and contemptuously jerked up his head that
! the helmet fell off. That is like enough.
! David saw the bare forehead, a foot high, and
| aimed at the centre OF it. and the skill
| cracked and broke in like an eggshelI, and
| the ground shook as this great oak of mill
| tary chieftain struck it. Huzza for David!
! But we must hasten on, for the DANCE now
| is that night will be upon US before we reach
Jerusalem. Oh! we must see it before sun
! down. We are climbing the hills which are
| terraced with olive groves uplands rising
| above uplands. until we come to an immen-
| sity of barrenness, gray rocks above gray
rocks, where neither tree, nor leaf, nor bush.
nor grass blade can grow. The horses STUN
! BILE, and slip and pull, till it seems the har-
ness must break. SOlemnity and awe take
| possession of US. Though vivacious party.
! and during part Of the day POPULARITY had
/ 70