The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1894-03-10

ing, and when he asked for water she
gave him buttermilk, which in the
east is considered most refreshing
drink. Very tired, and supposing he
was safe, he went to sleep upon the
floor, but Jaei. who had resolved upon
his death, took q tent-pin, long and
round and sharp, in one hand and a
hammer in the other, and putting the
sharp end of the tent-pin to the fore
head of Sisera, with her other hand she
lifted the hammer and brought it down
on the head of the pin with stout
stroke, when Sisera struggled to rise.
and she struck him again, and he
struggled to rise, and the third time
she struck him, and the commander-in-
chief of the Canaanitish host lay dead.
Meanwhile in the distance Sisera's
mother sits amid surroundings of
wealth and pomp and scenes palatial,
waiting for his return. Every mother
expects her son to be victorious, and
this mother looked out at the window,
expecting to see him drive up in his
chariot, followed by wagons loaded
with embroideries and also by regi-
ments of men vanquished and enslaved.
/ see her now sitting at the window,
in high expectation. She watches the
furthest turn of the road. She looks
for the flying dust of the swift hoofs.
The first flash of the bit of the horses
bride she will catch.
The ladies of her court stand round
and she tells them of what they shall
have when her son comes up-chains
of gold and carcanets of beauty and
dresses of such wondrous fabric and
splendor as the Bible only hints at but
leaves us to imagine. HE ought to be
here by this time" says his mother,
that battle is surely over. l hope that
freshet of the River Kishon has not
impeded him. hope these strange
appearances we saw last night in the
sky were not ominous, when the stars
seemed to fight in their courses No!
No! He is so brave in battle / know he
has won the day. He will soon be
here" But alas for the disappointed
mother; she will not see the glittering
head-gear of the horses at full gallop
bringing her son home from victorious
battle. AS a solitary messenger ar
irving in hot haste rides up to the win
dow at which the mother of sSisera sits,
and cries: "Your armies are defeated
and your son is dead" there is scene
of horror and anguish from which we
turn away.
Now you see the full meaning of my
short text: "The mother of Sisera
looked out of window" Well, my
friends, we are all out in the battle of
life; it is raging now and the most of
us have mother watching and wait
ing for news of our victory and defeat.
If she be not sitting at the window Of
earth she is sitting at window of
Heaven, and she is going to hear all
about it.
BY all the rules of war Sisera ought
to have been triumphant. He had nine
hundred iron chariots and host of
many thousands vaster than the armies
of Israel. But God was on the other
side; and the angry freshets of Kishon
and the hail, the lightning and the un-
manageable war horses and the cap
sized chariots and the stellar panic in
the sky disconnected Sisera. Jose
plus in his history describes the
scene in the following words:
when they were come to a
close fight there came down from
Heaven a great storm, with q vast
quantity of rain and hail, and the wind
blew the rain in the face of the Ca
naanites, and so darkened their eyes
their arrows and sings were of no adj
vantage to them, nor would the cold
ness of the air permit the soldiers to
make use of their swords; while this
storm did not so much incommode the
Israelites because it came on their
backs. They also took such courage
upon the apprehension that God was
assisting them that they fell upon the
very midst of their enemies and slew
a great number of them; so that some
of them fell by the Israelites, some fell
by their own horses, which were put
into disorder, and not few were
killed by their own chariots."
Hence, my hearers, the bad news
brought to the mother of Sisera look
ing out at the window. And our
mother, whether sitting at a window
of earth or a window of Heaven, will
hear the news of our victory or defeat.
not according to our talents or educa-
tional equipmunt or our opportunities,
but according as to whether God is for
us or against us.
Where's mother?' is the question
most frequently asked in many house,
holds. 1t is asked by the husband as
well as the child coming in at night
fall. where's mother?" 1t is asked
by the little ones when they get hurt
and come in crying with the pain.
where's mother?n 1t is asked by
those who have seen some grand sight
or heard some good news or received
some beautiful gift. where's mother?''
She sometimes feels wearied by the
question, for they all ask it and keep
asking it all the time. She is not onlv
the first to hear every case of perplexi-
ty, but she is the Judge in every
court of domestic appeal. That is
what puts the premature wrinkles
ON so many maternal faces, and
powders white so many maternal
foreheadss You see it is question
that keeps on for all the years of
childhood 1t comes from the nursery,
and from the evening stand where the
boys and girls are learning their