The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-11-12


q reparatlon for what their father and
grandfather, saul, had done. Burial
was denied these youths from May un-
til November Rizpah, the mother Of
two Of these dead boys, appointed her
self as sentinel TO guard the seven
bodies from beak OF raven and tooth Of
wolf, and paw OF lion. She pitches o
black tent on the rock close by the glib
BETS RiEpah by day sits on the ground
In front OF her tent and when vulture
begins to lower out Of tho MONDAY sky
seeking its prey among the gibbots, Riz-
pah rises, her long hair flying in the
wind, and swinging her arms wildly
about, Shoes away the bird Of prey un-
til 1t retreats to the eyrie At night
she rests under the shadow OF her tent,
and sometimes falls into drowsiness
or half sleep. But the steps of jackal
among the dry leaves, or the painting OF
hyena arouses her, and with the fury
Of a maniac she rushes out upon the
rock crying "Awayl Awayl' and then
examining 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 growing
monster on the rock again wakes her.
A mother watching her dead children
through May, June, July, August Sep
tember and 0ctoberl What q vigill
Painters have tried to put on canvas the
scene, and they succeeded in sketching
the hawks in the sky and the panthers
crawling out from the Jungle, but they
fail to give the wanness, the earnest
ness, the supernatural courage, the in
finite self-sacriace Of Rzpah, the moth
or. A mother in the quiet home watch
ing by the casket Of dead child for one
night exerts the artistic 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,
Rizpahl 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 mo and
cries: "How dare you tell me to go
home? am mother am not tired.
You might as we'll expect God to get
tired as for a mother to get tired. l
cared for those boys when they lay upon
my breast in infancy and will not for
sake them now that they are dead. In.
terrupt me not There stoops an oaglo
that 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 mo think
Of? 1t is no unusual scene. Right here
in these three cities by tho American
seacoast there are thousand cases this
moment worse than that Mothers
watching boys that the rum saloon, that
annex OF hell, has gibbeted in living
death. Boys hung in chains of evil
habit they can not break. The father
may 60 to sleep, after waiting until
twelve o'clock at night for the ruined
boy to come homo, and giving 1t up, he
may say: Mother, como to bed there's no
use sitting up any longer" But mother
will not 60 TO bed. II is ono o'clock
in the morning. II is half-past one. II
is two o'clock. 1t is hslf-past two when
he comes staggering through the hall.
Do you say that young man is yet alive?
No; he is dead. Dead TO his fathers en-
treaties. Dead to his mothers prayers.
Dead TO the family altar where he was
reared. Dead TO all the noblo ambitions
that once inspired him. Twice dead.
Only corpse Of what he once was. Glib
beted before God and man and angels
and devils Chained in q death that
will not loosen its cold grasp. His father
is asleep, his brothers arc asleep, his
sisters are asleep, but his mother is
watching him, watching him in tho
night. After he has gono up to bed and
fallen into drunken sleep his mother
will go up TO his room and see that no
is properly covered, and before she
turns out the light will put kiss upon
his bloated lips. Mother, why don't
you go TO bod?" "Ah," sho says, "I can
not go to bed. am Rizpah watching
the slainr'
And what are the political parties OF
this country doing for such cases2 They
are taking care not to hurt the feelings
OF the jackals and the buzzards that
roost on the shelves OF the grog shops,
and hoot above the dead. am often
asked to what political party belong,
and / now declare my opinion OF tho po-
litical parties to-day Each one is worse
than tho other, and the only conclusion
in regard to them is, that they have pu-
trefied until they have no power to rot.
o, that comparatively tame scene upon
which Rizpah looked! She looked
upon only seven Of the slain.
American motherhood and Ameri-
can wifehood this moment are
looking upon seventy Of tho slain, upon
seven hundred OF the slain, upon seven
ty thousand OF the slain. Wool Woe!
Woel My only consolation on this sub
ject is that foreign capitalists are buy
ing up tho American breweries. The
present owners see that the doom OF
that business is coming, as surely as
that God is not dead. They are unload
ing upon foreign capitalists, and when
we can get these breweries into the
hands Of people living on the other side |
Of the soa, our political parties Will
cease TO be afraid Of the liquor traffic,
and at their conventions nominating
Presidential candidates will put in their
platform plank as big as the biggest
ocean steamer, saying: Resolved unan-
imously that we always have been, and
always will be opposed to alcoholism"
But must spur on our Arab steed
IL L. L Il