Connecticut western news., 1898-05-12
THE BRIDE OF MOSES.
HOW ziPPoRAh DECIDED HER MATRE
 MONlAL DESTINY.

A Glorious Example and Inspiration For
 Women of All Times - God Has Work
 For Young and old-How We Are Call
 ed to Special Labor.
 Icopyright. 1898, by An American Press Asso-
 WASHINGTON, May 8.-From rustic Bible scene Dr. Talmage in this ser mon draws practical and inspiring les sons for all classes of people. The text is Exodus iii, 1, "Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father n-law, the priest of Midian."
 In the southeastern part of Arabia man is sitting by we'll It is an arid country, and water is scarce, so that we'll is of great value, and f1ocks and herds are driven vast distances to have their thirst slaked. Jethro, Midianite sheik and priest, was so fortunate as to have seven daughters, and they are practical girls, and yonder they come driving the sheep and cattle and camels of their father to the watering. They lower the buckets and then pull them up, the water plashing on the stones and chilling their feet, and the troughs
 
 sitting unconoerned and looking on? Why does he not come and help the women in this hard work of drawing water? But no sooner have the dry lips md painting nostrils of the flocks begun to cool little in the brimming trough of the we'll than some rough Bedouin shepherds break in upon the scene and with clubs and shouts drive back the animals that were drinking and alright these girls until they fly in retreat, and the flocks of these i'll hammered shep- herds are driven to the troughs, taking the places of the other flooks Now that man sitting by the well begins to color up, and his eye flashes with indignation, and all the gallantry of his nature is aroused. It is Moses, who naturally had a quick temper anyhow, as he demon strated on one occasion when he saw an Egyptian expressing an Israelite and gave the Egyptian sudden clip and buried him in the sand and as he show ed afterward when he broke all the Ten Commandments at once by shattering the two granite slabs on which the law was written. But the injustice of this treatment of the seven girls sets him on fire with wrath, and he takes this shep- herd by the throat and pushes back an- other till he falls over the trough and aims stunning blow between the eyes of another as he cries, "Begone you villainsp' and he hoots and roars at the sheep and cattle and camels of these in- vaders and drives them back. and hay ing cleared the place of the desperadoes he told the seven girls of this Midianite sheik to gather their flooks together and bring them again to the watering.
 Oh, you ought to see fight between the shepherds at we'll in the orient as I saw it in December, 1890. There were here group of rough men who had driven the cattle many miles, and here another group who had driven their cattle as many miles. Who should have precedence? Such clashing of buoketsl Such hooking of horns Suoh kicking of hoofs! Such vehemence in language I fortunately could not understand Now the sheep with peculiar mark across their woolly backs were at the trough and now the sheep of another mark. It was one of the most exciting scenes I ever witnessed. An old book describes one of these contentious at an eastern well when it says: "One day the poor men, the widows and the or phans met together and were driving their camels and their flocks to drink and were all standing by the water side. Dali came up and stopped them all and took possession of the water for his masters cattle. Just then an old woman belonging to the tribe of Abs came up and accosted him in a suppliant manner saying; Be so good, Master Dali, as to let my cattle drink. They are all the property possess and I live by their milk. Pity my flock, have compassion on me. Grant my request and let them drink. Then came another old woman and addressed him: 'Oh, Master Dali, am poor, weak old woman as you see. Time has dealt hardly with me. It has aimed it's arrows at me and its daily and nightly oalamities have destroyed all my men. have lost my children and my husband. and since then have been in great distress. These sheep are all that possess. Let them drink, for I live on the milk that they produce. Pity my forlorn state. I have no one to tend them. Therefore grant my suppli- cation and of thy kindness let them drink. But in this case the brutal slave, so far from granting this humble request, smote the woman to the ground"
 Tho Bride of Moses.
 A like scrimmage has taken place at the well in the triangle of Arabia be- tween the Bedouin shepherds and Moses championing the cause of the seven daughters who had driven their fathers fiocks to the watering. One of these girls, ZippoYah, her name meaning "little bird, was captured by this be- roic behavior of Moses; for however timid woman herself may be she all ways admires courage in man. Zip porah became the bride of Moses, one of the mightiest men of all the >cen- turies. Zipporah little thought that that morning as she helped drive her fathers focks to the we'll she was t}lendidly deciding her own destiny. Had she staid in the tent or house while the other six daughters of the sheik tended to their herds her life would probably have been tame and unevent- ful life in the solitudes, but her indus try, her fidelity to her fathers interest, her spirit of helpfulness, brought her in- to league with one of the grandest char acters of all history. They met at that famous we'll, and while she admired the courage of Moses he admired the filial behavior of zipporah.
 The fact that it took the seven daugh- ters to drive the focks to the we'll inn plies that thsy were immense focks and that her father was a man of wealth. What was the use of Z1pporah's be- meaning herself with work when she might have reolined on the hillside near her fathers tent and plucked buttercups and dreamed out romanoes and sighed idly to the winds and wept over imag- mary songs to the brooks? No, she knew that work was honorable and that ev- cry girl ought to have something to do, and so she starts with the bleating and