Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1898-05-20
MOSES BIOGRAPHY.
COMPARED TO IT AL OTHER
STORIES TEHE.
The Choice Of a wifc-Fnom n Rustic
Bible Scene T. Drawn a Practical and
Inspiring Lesson Tor An Glasses of
psoule-The Calling Far Sne,ial kyarls

and rattl" and cnmets 81 their father to
the watering. They lower the buckets
and then pull them M, the water plashing
on the stones and chilling their feet. and
IN" troushs are filled. Who is that man
out there, sitting unconcerned and looking
On. Why does he not come and helm the
women in this hard work OF drawing water?
But no sooner have the dry lips and pant
ing nostrilS Of the fiorSs begun to cooi n
little in the trimming trough of the well
than some rough BedOuin Shepherds break
in upon the scene. and With clubs and
shouts drive back the animals that were
drinking aud alright these girls until they
fly In retreat. and the 1ocks or these i'll
hammered shepherds are driven TO the
troughs, taking the places OF the other
tiorkS.
Now that man sitting nv the well begins
to color up. and his eve flashes with indig-
nation. and all the galiantry OF his nature
Is aroused. II is Moses who naturally had
quick temper. anyhow. as he demon
Strated on one occasion when he saw an
EGYPTIAN depressing an lsraelite and gave
the Egyptian sudden clip and buried him
in the sand, and as he showed afterward
when he broke all the Ten Commandments
at once by SCATTERING the two granite slabs
on which the law was written. But the in
justice Of this treatment OF the seven girls
sets him on Are with wrath, and he takes
this shepherd by the throat. and pushes
back another shepherd till he falls over the
trOugh. and aims n stunning blow between
the eyes OF another, as he cries, "Begone,
You Villains and he boots and roars Mt
the sheep and cattle and eamels of these
invaders and drives them back: and hav-
inc cleared the place ot the desperadoes
he told the seven girls OF this Midiauite
sheik to gather their tiocSs together and
brin" them again to tue watering.
fh..f "A
to drive the fiocks to the well implies that
they were immense hOckS. and that her
father was u man Of wealth. What was
the use of Xipporah's bemeauing herself
with work when she might have rpclined
on the hillside near her fathers tent. and
plucked buttercups, and dreamed out ro-
maDces, aui sighed idly to the winds. and
wept over imaginary songs to the BROOKS
No. she knew that work was honorable
and that every girl ought to have some
thing to do. aud so she starts with the
blpating and lowing and believing and
ncighing drOveS to the we'll forthe watering
Around every home there are hocks and
drOves Of cares and auNieties and every
daughter of the family. though there be
seven. ought To be doing her part to take
care Of the hOCks. In many households
not only is Xipporah, but all her sisters
without practical and useful emplovments
Many Of them are waiting for fortunate
and prosperous matrimonial alliance, but
( some lOunger like themselves will come
along. and after counting the large mum
I Der Of father Jethro's sheep and camelS
will make proposal that will be accepted:
and neither of them having done anything
/ more practical than to chew chocolate
caramelS the two nothngs will start on
the road of life together. every step more
and more n failure. That daughter of the
/ Midiauitish sheik will never find her Moses.
Girls of America! initiate Zipporah. Do
something practical. Do something help
tul. Do something we'll. Many have
! fathers with great fOckS of absorbing
| duties. and such a father needs help in
| home. or Office or field. Go out and help
| him with the 1ocks. The reason that so
many men now condemn themselves to uu-
| affianced and solitary life Is because they
cannot support the modern young wOmai .
| who rises at l0. 30 in the morning and re.
| tires after midnight. one of the trashiest
| of novels in her hands most Of the time be-
| tween the late rising and the late retiring
"A thousand of them not worth one Zip
| porah.
! There X 4 question that every father and
| mother ought to ask the daughter at break
/ fast or tea table and that all the dau gh-
| ters of the wealthy ShciK ought to ask each
| other: what would you do If the family
! fortune should fail. il sickness should
| prostrat- the breadwinner il the liocks of
| Jethro should be DESTROYED by sudden Ely
curslOn OF wolves and bears and hyenHs
! from the mountain? What would you do
/ for living: Could YOU support YOURSELF
! Can you take care OF an invalid mother or
/ brother or sister as well as YOurselt;" Yea,
bring it down to what any day might come
| to a prosperous family. Can You cook Il
J dinner il the servants should make a strike
for higher wages and leave that morning;
There needs to be peaceful, yet radical
| revolution among most of the prosperous
homes of America, by which the elegant
dO-nothings may be transformed into prac-
ticat do-somethings. Let useless women
go to work and gather the fiocks. Come,
Zipporah, let me introduce you to Moses.
See in this call OF Moses that God has n
great memory. Four hundred years before
He had promised the deiverance Of the OPP
pressed lsraelites of Egypt. The clock OF
time has struck the hour, and now Moses
is called to the work of rescue. Four bun
dred years is very long time, but you sec
God can remember a promise four hundred
years as well as you can remember foul
hundred minutes
No one realizes how great he is for good
or for evil. There are branchings out and
rebounds, and reverberations, and elah.
orations OF influence that can not be est.
mated. The fifty or one hundred years OF
sphere. The flap of the wing of the de.
strOving angel that smote the Egyptian
oppreSsors the wash of the Red Sea over
the heads Of the drowned Egyptians, Were
all fuIttlments of promises four centuries
old. And things occur i'll your life and il
mine that we can not account for They
may be the echoes of what was promised
in the sixteenth or seventeenth century
Oh. the prolOngatiOn ofthe divine memory
Notice also that Moses was eighty years
of age when he got this call to become the
Israrlitish deliverer. Forty years he hat
lived in palaces as a prince, another forty
years he had lived in the wilderness .
Arabia. Nevertheless, he undertook th'
work. and if we want to know whether he
succeeded, ask the abandoned brick-kiin
of Egyptian taskmasters. and the spint
cred chariot wheels strewn on the beach o
the Red Sea- and the timbrels which Miriam
clapped for the lsraeltes passed over anC
the Egyptians gone under.
still further watch this spectacle o
genuine courage. No wonder when Moses
scattered the rIde shepherds, he won Zip.
pOrahs heart. What mattered it to Nose!
whether the cattle Of the seven daug liter!
of Jethro were driven from the troughs by
the rude herismen? Sense of Justice fired
his courage; and the world wants more OF
the spirit that will dare aim ost anything t.
see others righted. All the time at well:
Of comfort, at wells of JOY, at wells OF re
licion and at wells of literature there are
outrages practiced the wrong herds get
ting the first water. Those who have thu
previous right come in last, il they COM
in ut all. Thank God, we nave here ant
there n strong man to set things right!
am so glad that when God has an especia
work tC do, He has some one ready to nc
complish it.
Still another, see in this call OF Nose
, that ii God has any especial work Tor yo'
TO do He will help YOU. There were Egyp
and Arabia and the Palestine with thel
= crowded population, but the man the Lor
wanted was at the southern point OF tn