The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1890-11-20

May until November. Rizpah, the
mother of two of these dead boys, ap-
points herself us sentinel to guard the
seven cOrpSes from break Of raven and
tooth Of wolfe 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 a vulture begins TO lower out of
the MONDAY sky seeking its prey
long hair flying in the wind, and swing
ing her arms wildly about Shoes away
the bird OF prey until it retreats to its
cyrie. At night she rests under
the shadow Of her tent, and sometimes
falls into Il drOwSineSI or half sleep.
But the step Of Il jackal among the dry
leaves or the painting of hyena
arouscs her, and with the fury of a
maniac she rushes ont upon the rock
crying, Away ! Away" 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 growl-
ing monster on the rock again wakes
her.
TIE GIBBETS IN AMERICA.
~ mother watching her dead chill
dren through May, June, July, August,
September and October. What a
vigil. Painters have tried to put upon
canvass ~" scene, and they succeeded
III Skctching the hawks in the sky and
the panthc"s crawling out from the
jungle, but they fail to give the wan
ness, the supernatural courage, the in
finite self sacrifice of RiZpah, the moth
cr. a mother in the quiet home watch
ing by the casket Of a dead child for
one night eXertS the artist to his ut
most, but who is sufficient to put upon
canvass Il mother for SIX months of
midnights guarding her whole family,
dead and gibbctrd upon the noun
tains?
Go home. RiZpah. You must be aw
fully tired. You; are sacrificing vonr
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 RiZ-
pah turns upon me and cries: "IIow
dare you tell me to go home? | am a
mother. | am not tired. You might
as well expect God to get tired as for q
mother to get tired. | cared for those
boys when they lay on my breast In in
fancy, and | Will not forsake them now
thatthey are dead. Interrupt me not.
There StoopS an eagle that | must drive
back with my agonizcd cry. There is
Il panther must beat lack with my
club"
DO you know what that scene by orr
roadside in Palestine makes me think
of? 1t is no unusual scene. Right
here in these three cities by the Ameri-
can sea coast there are a thousand cases
this moment worse than that Moth
crS watching boys that the rum saloon.
that annex of hell, has gibbeted in a
living death. Boys hung in chains of
evil habit they cannot break. The
father may go to sleep after waiting
until IL o'clock at night for the ruined
boy to come home and, giving it up, he
may say. "Mother, come to bed; there's
no use sitting up any longer" But
mother viii not go to bed. 1t is 1
o'clock in the morning. 1t is half-past
l. 1t Is 2 o'clock. 1t is half-past 9
when he comes staggering through the
hall.
DO you say that young man IS vet
alive? No; he is dead. Dead to his
ither's entreatics. Dead to his moth
CT prayers. Dead to the family altar
where he was reared. Dead to all the
noble ambitions that once inspired
hlm. Twice dead. Only Il corpse of
what he once was. Gibbeted before
G0d and man and angels and devils.
Chained In death that will not loosen
its cold grasp. His father is asleep, his
brothers are asleep, his sisters are
asleep; but his mother IS watching him
IN the night. After he has gone up to
Ded and fallen into q drunken sleep his
mother Will go up to his room and see
that he is properly covered, and before
she turns out the light will put a kiss
upon upon ms Dloated lips. "Mother, why
don t you go to hed?" "LAh! she saws.
cannot tn
watching the slain"
But l must spur on our Arab stecd,
and mere we come IN sight Of Beeroth'
sad 10 Dc the place where Joseph and
Mary missed the boy Jesus on the way
from Jerusalem to Nazareth, going
nome now from 4 great national festi,
val. Where is my child, Jesus >" saws
Mary. Where is my child, Jesus ?" saws
Joseph. Among the thousands that
are returning from Jerusalem they
thought that certainly he was walking
on IN the crowd. They described him,
saying. lie is II ycals Old, and of
llght complexion and blue eyes a lost
enid; Great excitement in all the
crowd. Nothing so stirs folks as the
news That child is lost | shall not
forget the scene when, in great ont
door meeting, | was preaching, and
some one stepped on tho platform and
SAID that a child was lost. We went
on with the religious service, but all
our minds were on the lost child.
NiIel Il Wh,le man brought on the
PLATFORM beautiful little tot that
looked looked lll1e a piece OF heaven dropped
down, and said, "IIere is that chiid :"
Ana forgot all that | was preaching
about, and lifted the child to my shout
der and said, Here is the lost child
ana the mother will come and get her
right away, OF ! will take her home and
ADD her to my own brood" And some
crlcd and some shouted, and amid all
that crowd / instantly detected the
mother. Everybody had to get ont
OF her way or be walked over. Hats
were nothing and shoulders were moth
ing and heads were nothing in her
pathway, and | realized something of
what must have been Marys anxiety
when she lost Jesus, and what her
gladncsS when she found her boy in
the temple Of JcruSalum talking with
those old ministers Of religion, Sham
mai IIillpl and Rptirah