The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1898-05-14

AkAMMNder they come, drlv-
REV. TALMAaE. ing the sheep ana
cattle and camels of their father to the
Watering. They lower the buckets and
then pull them up, the water s~plashing
on the stones and chilling their feet, and
the troughs are filed. Who is that nan
out there sitting u~nconcerned and
looking on? Why does he not come
and help the oma in this hard work
OF drawing water? But no sooner have
the dry lips and painting nostrils of the
docks begun to cool a 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 ami
mails that were drinking, and alright
these girls until they fly in retreat,
and the hocks of these ill-mannered
shepherds are driven to the troughs,
taking the places of the other hocks.
Now hat man sitting by the well be-
GIN to color up, n his eye flashes
with indignation, and all the g~allantry
of his nature is aroused. 1t is Moses,
who naturally had a quick temper any
how, as he demonstrated on n occa-
sion when he saw an Egyptian Cypress
ing an Israelite and gave h Egyptian
n sudden clip and buried him in the
sand, and as he showed afterward
when he broke all the ten command
ments 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 ne takes this
shepherd by the throat, and pushes
back another shepherd till he falls
--- ~ - s,e IN
blow between the eyes of another, as
he cries, "Begone, you villains" And
he boots and roars at the sheep and
cattle and camels of these invaders
and drives them back; n having
cleared the place of the desperadoes.
he told the seven girls of this INDIAN
tie sheik to gather their fiocks to-
gether and bring them again to the
watering.
A like scrimmage has taken place at
the well in the triangle of Arabia be-
tween the Beduoin shepherds and
Moses c~hampioning the cause of the
seven daughters who had driven their
fathers iocks to the watering. One of
these girls. Zipporah, her name mean
ing little bird" was fascinated by
this heroic behavior of Moses; for how
ever timid woman herself may be. she
always admires courage in a man.
Zipporah became the bride of Moses,
one If the mightiest men of all the
centuries. Zipporah little thought
that that morning as h helped drive
her fathers 1ocks to the well h was
splendidly deciding her own destiny.
Had she stayed in the ten or house
while the other six daughters of the
sheik tended to their herds, her life
would have been a tame and uneyent-
full life in the solitudes- But her in
dustry, her fidelity to her fathers in
terest, her spirit of helpfulness brought
her into league with one of the grand
est characters of all history. They
met at the famous well, and while she
admired the courage of Moses, he ad-
mired the ilial behavior of Zipporah.
The fact that it took the seven daugh-
tiers to drive the focks to the we'll I'm.
plies that they were immense hocks
and that her father was a man OF
wealth. What was the use of Zip
porah's ~bemeaning herself with work
when she might have reclined on the
hillside near her father's tent. and
plucked buttercups and dreamed out
romances and sighed idly to the winds
and wept over imaginary songs to the
brooksP No, she knew hat work was
honorable, and that every girl ought
to have something to do, and so h
starts with the neighing droYes to the
well for the watering.
Around every home there are focks
and droves of cares and anxieties, 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 Zipporah,
but all her ~sistsrs, without practical
and useful employIaents. Many of
them are waiting for FORTUNE and
prosperous matrimonial ~allianoei but
some lounger like themselves will
come along. and after counting the
large number of father Jethro's sheep
and camelE, will make proposals that
will be accepted; and neither of them
having done anything more practical
than to chew chocolate caramels, the
two nothings will start on the road of
life together, every step more and
more a failure. That daughter Of the
Midianitish sheik will never find her
Moses. Girls of America, initiate
Zipporah. DO something practical.
Do something helpful. Do something
well. Many have fathers with great
hocks of absorbing duties, and spch a
father needs help in home, or Office, OF
field. Go out and help him with the
hocks. The reason hat so man men
now condemn themselves to unbalanced
and solitary life is because they cannot
support the modern young woman, who
rises at 1890 in the morning and re-
tires after midnight. one of the trash
lest of novels in her hands most OF the
time between the late rising and the
late retiring-a Thousand of them not
worth one ZippOrah.
There needs to be peaceful yet Fadts
cal revolution among most of b pros
porous homes of America, by which
the elegant do-nothings may be trans
formed into practical do-somethings.
Let useless women go to work and
gather the focks. Come, Zipporah,
let me introduce you to Moses! But
you do not mean hat this man affianced
to his country girl was the great Moses
of history, do yOnP Xou do not mean
that he wa the man who RfterwHrd
wrought such wonders? Surely you
do not mean the man whose staff
dropped, wriggled into . serpent, and
then, clutched, stiffened again into q
staff? You do not mean the chRL
lenRe OF Egyptlan o ana Pai-
aces? You do not mean him who
struck the rock SO hard it wept in a
stream for thirsty hosts? Surely you
do not mean the man who stood alone
with God on the quaking Sinaitic
ranges; not him to whom the Red sea
was surrendered? Yes, the same
Moses defending the seven daughters
of the Midianitish sheik; who after
ward rescued a nation.
See also in this call of Moses that
God has a great memory. Four hun
dred years before he had promised the
d~eliVerance of the oppressed Israelites
of Egypt. The clock of time has
struck the hour and now Moses is
called to the work of rescue. -Four
hundred years is a very long time, but
you see God can remember a promise
400 years as well as you can. remember
400 minutes. Four hundred years in.
cludes all your ancestry that you
A.