The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-11-20

CROWNS overhang IT, In one place the
roof is broken through. Large stones
embank the wall on all sides,
Our dragoman took pebbles and
dropped them in, and from the time
they left his hand to the instant they
clicked on the bottom you could hear
1t was deep, through not as deep as
once, for every day travellers are APP
plying the same test, and though in the
time of Maundrell, the traveller, the well
was hundred and sixty-flve feet deep,
now L is only seventy-fve So great is
the curiosity of the world to know
about that well that during the dry
season Capt. Anderson descended
into this well, at one place the sides so
close he had to put his hands over his
head in order to get through and then
he tainted away, and lay at the bottom
of the well as though dead until, hours
after his recovery, he came to the sur
face.
1t is not like other wells, digged down
to a fountain that fills it, but reser-
voir to catch the falling rains and to
that Christ refers when speaking to the
Samaritan woman about n spiritual
supply he said that he would, IL asked.
have given her Giving water" that is,
water from a flowing spring in dis
tinction from the water of that well
which was rain water. But why did
Ja1Sb make reservoir there when
there is plenty of water all around and
abundance of springs and fountains
and seemingly no need of that reser-
voir? Why did Jacob go to the vast
expense of boring and digging a well
perhaps two hundred feet deep as first
completed when, by going little way
OIL, he could have water from other
fountains at little or no expense. All,
jacob was wisel He wanted his own
we'll Quarrels and wars might arise
with other tribes and the supply of
water might be cut off, so the shovels
and pickaxes and boring instruments
were ordered and the well of nearly
four thousand years ago was sunk
through the solid rock.
SEEK YE FOR LIVING WATERS.
When Jacob thus wisely insisted on
having his own well he taught us not
to be unnecessarily dependent on 9TH
ers. Independence of business charac-
ter. Independence of moral character
Independence of religious character.
Have your own well of grace, your own
well of courage, your own well of di-
vine supply. If you are an invalid you
have right to be dependent on others
But if God has given you good health,
common sense and two eyes and two
ears and two hands and two feet, he
equipped you for independence of all
the universe except himself. If he had
meant you to be dependent on others
you would have been built with a cord
around your waist to tie fast to some
body else. No; you are built with
common sense to fashion your own
opinions, with eyes to find your own
way, with ears to select your own mu-
sic, with hands to fight your own bat
ties There is only one being in the
universe whose advice you need, and
that is God. Have your own well
and the Lord will fill it. Dig it if need
be through two hundred feet of solid
rock. Dig it with your pen, or dig it
with your yardstick, or dig it with
vour shovel, or dig it with your Bible.
LII my small way never accom-
plished anything for God, or the church,
or the world, or my family, or myself
except in contradiction to human ad-
vice and in obedience to divine coun-
sci. God knows everything, and what
is the use of going for advice to human
beings who know SO little that no one
but the all seeing God can realize how
little it isl suppose that when Jacob
began to dig this well on which we are
sitting this noontime people gathered
around and said, What :. useless ex-
pensc you are going to, when rolling
down from yonder Mount Gerizim and
down from yonder Mount Ebal and
out yonder in the valley is plenty of
waterr oh" replied Jacob, that
is all true; but suppose my neighbors
should get angered against me, and cut
off my supply of mountain beverage,
what would l do, and what would my
family do, and what would my flocks
and herds do2 Forward, ye brigade
of pickaxes and crowbars, and go down
into the depths of these rocks, and
make me independent of all except him
who fills the bottles of the clouds! l
must have my own wellr'
Young man, drop cigars and cigar
cites and wine cups and the Sunday
excursions, and build your own house
and have your own wardrobe and be
your own capitalist! "Why, l have
only five hundred dollars income a
year," says some one. Then spend
four hundred dollars of it in living, and
ten per cent. of it or fly dollars in be-
nevolence, and the other fifty in begin
ming to dig your own well. Or, if you
have thousand dollars a year, spend
eight hundred dollars of it in living,
ten per cent. or one hundred dollars in
henevolence, and the remaining one
hundred in beginning to dig your own
well. The largest bird that ever flew
through the air was Matched out of one
egg and the greatest estate was brood
ed ont of one dollar.
JACOBS FAITH
l suppose when Jacob began to dig
this well on whose curb we are now
seated this December noon it was a dry
season then as now, and some one
comes up and says: Now, Jacob, sup
pose you get the well fifty feet deep or
two hundred feet deep, and there
should be no water to fill it. Would
you not feel sillyr People passing
along the road and looking down from
Mount Gerizim or Mount Ebal near by
would laugh and say, That is Jacobs
well, great hole in the rock, illustrat-
ing the mans folly" Jacob replied,
There never has been well in Pales-