Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-02-09

fruit of the syca-
more tree, and scarified it with an
iron comb just before it was getting
ripe, as it was necessary and custom
airy in that way to take from it the bit
terness. He was the son Of poor shep-
herd, and suffered; but before the
stammering rustic the Philistines, and
Syrians, and Phoenicians. and Moa-
bites, and Ammonites, and Edomites.
and Israelites trembled
Moses was a law-glver, Daniel was
prince, Isaiah a courtier, and David
king; but Amos, the author OF my text,
was a peasant, and as might be sup
posed, nearly all his parallelisms are
pastoral, his prophecy full OF the odor
OF new mown hay and the rattle OF To-
Gusts. and the rumble Of carts with
sheaves. and the roar of wild beasts de-
youring the flock while the shepherd
came out in their defense. He watched
the herds by day, and by night in
habited booth made ont Of bushes so
that through these branches he could
see the stars all night long, and was
more familiar with them than We who
have tight roofs to our houses, and
hardly ever see the stars except among
the tall brick chimneys Of the great
towns. But at seasons OF the year
when the herds were in special danger,
he would stay out in the open field all
through the darkness, his only shelter
the curtain of the night-heaven, with
the stellar embroideries and silvered
tassels of lunar light.
What a life of solitude, all alone
with his herds Poor Amos! And at
twelve o'clock at night, bark to the
VOLTS bark. and the lions roar, and
the bears growl, and the owls te-whit
te-who, and the serpent's hiss, as he
unwittingly steps too near while NOV
ing through the thickets! So Amos,
like other herdsmen. got the habit OF
studying the map of the heavens, be-
cause 1t was so much of the time
spread out before him. He noticed
some stars advancing and others re-
ceding. He associated their dawn and
setting with certain seasons of the year
He had poetic nature, and he read
night by night, and month by month,
anS year by year, the poem of the con-
stellations, divinely rhythmic. But two
rosettes of stars especially attracted
his attention while seated on the
ground, or lying on his back under the
open scroll of the midnight heavens
the Pleiades, or Seven Stars, and Orion.
The former group this rustic prophet
associated with the spring. as it rises
about the first of May. The latter he
associated with the water, as it comes
to the meridian in January. The Plei
AIDES, or Seven Stars, connected with all
sweetness and joy; Orion. the herald
of the tempest. The ancients were the
more apt to study the physiognomy and
juXtaposition of the heavenly bodies,
because they thought they had spe-
cial influence upon the earth; and per-
haps they were right. If the moon
every few hours lifts and lets down the
tides of the Atlantic ocean, and the
electric storms in the sun. by all scien-
tific admission, affected the earth, why
not the stars have proportionate effect?
And there are some things which
make me think that it may not have
been all superstitution which connect
ed the movements and appearance of
the heavenly bodies with great moral
events on earth. Did not a meteor run
on evangelistic errand on the first
Christmas night, and designate the
rough cradle of our Lord? Did not the
stars in their course fight against
Sisera? Was it merely coincidental that
before the destruction of Jerusalem the
moon was hidden for twelve consecutive
nights? Did it merely happen so that
a new star appeared in constellation
Casseopeia, and then disappear just be-
fore Charles TX. of France, who was
responsible for st. Bartholomew mass
acre, died? Was it without significance
that in the days of the Roman Emperor
Justinian war and famine were pre-
ceded by the dimness of the sun, which
for nearly year gave no more light
than the moon. although there were
no clouds to obscure it?
Astrology. after all. may have been
something more than brilliant heath
enism. No wonder that Amos of the
text, having heard these two anthems
Of the stars, put down the stout rough
staff of the herdsman and took into
his brown hand and cut and knotted
fingers the pen of the prophet, and ad-
vised the recreant people of his time
to return to God. saying: Seek him
that maketh the Seven Stars and
Orion" This command. which Amos
gave 7S5 years B. c., is just as appro-
pirate for us 1897 A. ID.
In the first place. Amos saw, as we
must see, that the God who made the
Pleiades and Orion must be the God OF
order. 1t was not SO much star here
and star there that impressed the in
spired herdsman, but seven In one
group, and seven in the other group.
He saw that night after night and sea-
son after season and decade after de-
cade they had kept step Of light, each
one in its own place, a sisterhood never
clashing and never contesting prec-
edence. From the time Hesiod called
the Pleiades the "seven daughters OF
Atlas" and Virgil wrote in his Aeneid
of"Stormy Orion" until now, they have