The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-10-12
HOTNDED DEER,
Where the Troubled Of Earth May
Ouench their Thirst.
FROM THE LIFE OF DAVID.
Dr.. Talmage Sees in the Forest an
Example OF Hope for the un-
fortunate and Harrassed
of the World.

IlOQS IRON! uScl NUM-. ~ -
course calls all the pursued and trou-
bled of the earth to come and slake
their thirst at the deep river OF DIVINE
comfort: text. Psalms Xiii. l. AS the
hart panteth after the water brooks. so
panteth my soul after thee, . God.
David. who must some time have
seen a deer hunt, points us here to
hunted stag making for the water. The
fascinating animal called III my text
the hart is the same animal that IN
sacred and profanc literature is called
the stag. the roebuck the hln0. the
gazelle. the reindeer In central Syria
in Bible times there were whole past
ure fields of them, as Solomon suggests
when he says, Il charge YOU By the
hinds of the field. Their antlers ut
ted from the long grass as they lay
down. No hunter who has been long
in John Browns tract will wonder
that in the Bible they were classed
among clean animals, for the dews, the
showers. the lakes washed them as
clean as the sky. When Isaac. the pa
triarch, longeG for venison, Esaq shot
and brought home roebuck. !salah
compares the sprightliness Of the re-
stored cripple of millennial times to
the long and quick Jump OF the stag
saving. The lame shall leap as the
hart. Solomon expressed his disgust
at hunter who, having shot deer, IS
too lazy to cook it, saying, The sloth-
full man roasteth not that which ne
took in hunting.
But one day David, while far from
the home from which he had been
driven, and sitting near the mouth OF a
lonely cave where he had lodged. and
on the banks of pond or river, heard
a pack of hounds in swift pursuit. Be
cause of the previous silence Of the
forest the clangor startles him, and ne
says to himself, Il wonder what those
dogs are after Then there is crack
ling in the brushwood, and the loud
breathing of some rushing wonder OF
the woods and the antlerS OF deer
rend the leaves of the thicket and by
an instinct which all hunters recognize
the creature plunges into a pool or lake
or river to cool its thirst and at the
same time by its capacity for swltter
and longer swimming to get away from
the foaming barriers. David says to
himself: AHA, that is myself. Saul
after me, Absalem after me, enemies
without number after me; l am chased;
their bloody muzzles at my heels,
barking at my good name, barking after
my body, barking after my soul. Oh,
the hounds, the hounds! But look
there" says David to himself; that
reindeer has splashed into the water.
It puts its hot lips and nostrils into the
cool wave that washes its lathered
tanks and it swims away from the fiery
CANNES and it is free at last. On, that
I might find in the deep, wide lake Of
Gods mercy and consolation escape
from my pursusrs! Oh, for the waters
of life and rescue AS the hart pant
eth after the water brooks, so panteth
my soul after thee, 0 God.
The Adiron6acks are Dow populous
With hunters, and the deer are being
slain by the score. Talking one sum.
mer with hunter, I thought would
like to see whether my text was accu-
rate in its allusion, and as heard the
dogs baying little way of and sup
posed they were on the track Of deer,
I said to one Of the hunters in rough
corduroy, ''Do the deer always make
for water when they are pursued He
said: 'Oh, yes, mister. You see they
are a hot and thirsty animal and they
know where the water is, and when
they hear danger in the distance they
lift their antlers and sniff the breeez
and start for the Raquet or Loon or
Saranac, and We get into our cedar
shell boat or stand by the runaway
with rife loaded and ready to blaze
away"
Ny friends, that is one reason why |
like the Bible so much-its illusions
are so true to nature. Its partridges
aps real partridges, its ostrlches are
real ostriches and its reindeer real rein
deer. do not wonder that this ant
lered. glory of the text makes the hunt
er's eye sparkle and his cheek glow and
his respiration quicken. To say moth
ing Of It's usefulness, although it is the
most useful of all game, It's flesh deli
cious, it's skin turned into human ap-
parel, its sinews fashioned into bow
strings, its antlers putting handles on
cutlery and the shavings of its horn
used as puDgent restorative, the name
taken from the hart and called harts
horn. But putting aside its usefulness
this enchanting creature seems made
out Of gracefulness and elasticity
What an eye, with liquid brightness
as if gathered up from hundred lakes
at sunset. The horns, coronal branch
ing into every possible curve, and after
it seems complete ascending into other
projections of of-exquisiteness, tree Of
polished bone, uplifted in pride or
swung down for awful combat. The
hart is velocity embodied; timidity i'm
personated; the enchantment of the
woods. It's eye lustrous in life and
pathetic in death. The splendid ami
NAL complete rhythm of muscle and
bone and color and attitude and locomo-
ton, whether couched in the grass
among the shadows, or living bolt
shot through the forest, or turning at
bay 20 attack the hounds, or rearing
for its last fall under the buckshot Of
the trapper 1t is a splendid appear
ance that the painters pencil fails to
sketch, and only hunters dream on a
pillow of hemlock at the foot Of St.
Regis is able to picture. When 20
miles from any settlement it comes
down at eventide to the lakes edge to
drink among the lily pods and with its
sharp edged hoofs skaters the crystal
of Long Lake it is very picturesque.
Rut only when. after miles of pursuit,