The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-09-12

IA seven years. A ma
a tion dying for lack
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kRBkMAk AH&A MWha D preciated d; the
t. DEWITT TALMAGE field and gristmin
and oven; the price Of sweat and
anxiety and straightforward! Jacob,
the father, has the last report from the
flour bin, and he finds that everything
is out; and he says to his
sons Boys! hook up the wagons and
start for Egypt, and get us something
TO eat" The fact was, there was a
great corncrib in Egypt. The people
of Egypt have been largely taxed in
all ages, at the present time paying be-
tween 70 and 80 per cent. of their
products to the government. No won
der in hat time they had a large corn
crib, and it was full. To that crib they
came from the regions around about
those who were famished-some pay
ing for the corn in money; when the
money was exhausted, paying for the
corn In sheep and cattle and horses and
camels; and when they were exhausted,
then selling their own bodies n their
families into slavery.
The morning for starting on the cru
SADIE for bread has arrived. Jacob gets
his family up very early. But before
the elder son starts they say some
thing that makes him tremble with
emotion from head to DOT and burst
into tears. The fact was hat these
elder sons had once before been in
Egypt to get corn, and they had been
treated somewhat roughly, the lord of
the corncrib supplying them with
corn, but saying at the close of the in
terview: "Now, you need not come
back here for any more corn unless
you bring something better than
money-even your younger brother
benjamin." Aht Benjamin-that very
name was suggestive of all tenderness.
The mother had died at The birth of
that soma spirit coming and another
spirit goin9-and the very thought of
parting with Benjamin must have
been a heart-break. The keeper
of this corncrib, nevertheless,
says to these elder sons: There
Is no need of your coming up
here any more for corn unless you can
bring BENJAMIN, your fathers dar
ing" Now Jacob and his family very
much needed bread; but what n strug-
gle it would be to give up this son.
The orientals are very demonstrative
in their grief, and 1 hear the outwail-
ing of the father as these elder sons
kept reiterating in his ears the an
nouncement of the Egyptaian lord,
Eye shall not see my face unless you
brother be with YOU" why did you
tell him you lac a brother?" says the
old man, complaining n Gliding
them. why, father" they said, ''he
asked us all about our family, and we
had no idea that he would make any
such demand upon us as he has made"
mo use of asking me" said the father.
81 cannot, 1 will lot give up Benja-
min" The fact was that the old man
had lost children, and when there has
been bereavment in a household,
and a child taken, it makes the
other children in the household more
precious. So the day for departure
was adjourned and adjourned and ad-
journed. Still the horrors of the
famine increased. and louder moaned
the cattle, Inc wider open cracked the
earth, and more pallid became the
cheeks, until Jacob in despair cried out
to his sons, Take Benjamin and be
off" The older sons tried to cheer up
their father. They said: we have
strong arms and a stout heart, and no
harm will come to Benjamin. Well
see that he gets pack again" Fare
wellr' said the young men to the
father In a tone of assumed good cheer.
''F-a-r-e-w-e-l-lI" said the old man; for
hat word has more quavers in it when
pronounced by the aged han by the
young.
Well, the bread party, the bread en-
bassy, drives up in front of the corn
crib of Egypt. Those corncribs are
filed with wheat and. barley and corn
in the husk, for modern travellers in
those lands, both in Canaan and in
Egypt, tell us there is corn there cor
responding to our Indian maize. HUI
"a! the journey is ended. The lord of
the corncrib, who is also the prime
minister, comes down to these newly
arrived travellers, and says, "Dine with
me to-day. How is your father? Is
this Benjamin, the youngest brother
whose presence / demanded?' The
travellers are introduced into the pal
ace. They are worn and bedusted of
the way; and servants come in with
q basin of water in one hand and a
towel in the other, and kneel down
before these newly arrived trav.
elers, and wash off the lust of the
way. The butcher and poulterers
and caterers of the prime minister
prepare the repast. The guests are
seated in small groups, two or three at
a table, the food on a tray; all the lux
uries from imperial gardens and or
chards and aquariums and aviaries are
brought there, and are filling chalice
and platter. Now is the time for this
prime minister, if he has n grudge
against Benjamin, to show it Will he
kill him, now that he has him in his
crib is seated at his own table, and he
looks over to the table of his guests;
and he sends a portion to each of them,
but sends a larger portion to Benja-
min, or, as the Bible quantity puts it,
'Benjamin's mess was five times as
much as any of theirs" Be quick and
send word back with the swiftest
camel to Canaan to old Jacob, that
"Benjamin is we'll; all is we'll; he is
faring sumptuously; the Egyptian lord
did not mean murder and death; but
he meant deliverance and life when he
announced to us on that day, 'Ye
shall not see my face until your
brother be with you.'"
Well, my friends, this world is fam
innsbruck of sin. 1t does not yield a
single crop of solid satisfaction. 1t Is
dying. 1t is hunger-stricken. The
fact hat it does not. cannot feed a
mans heart was we'll illustrated in the
life of the English comedian. All the
world honored him-did everything
for him that the world could do. He
was ~applauded in England and ap-
plauded in the United States. He
reused up nations into laughter. He
had no equal. And yet, although
many people supposed him entirely
happy, and that this world was com
pletely satisfying his soul, he sits
down and writes:
81 never in my life put on a new hat
that 1t did not rain and ruin it. l
never went out in a shabby coat be-
cause 1t was raining and thought AZ
who had the choice would keep in
doors, hat the sun did not come out
in Its strength and bring out with it