Connecticut western news., 1898-03-24
WEARY WAYFARERS.
WELLS OF COMFORT IN UNEXPECTED
 PLACES.

PLACES.
 Dr. Talmage Draws Some Stirring Lessons
 From the Story of Hagar and Ishmael
 In the Desert-Finding and Keeping Our
 Proper Stations In Life.
 ICopyright. 1898. by American Press Asso-
 ciation.
 WASHINGTON, March 20.-This dis course of Dr. Talmage draws from an oriental scene some stirring lessons and points to wells of comfort in unexpected places; text, Genesis xxi, 19, And God opened her eyes, and she saw well of water, and she went and filled the bot tie with water and gave the lad drink. !"
 Morning breaks upon Beersheba There is an early stir in the house of old Abraham. There has been trouble among the domestics. Hagar, an assist ant in the household, and her son, a brisk lad of l6 years, have become inn pudent and insolent, and Sarah, the mistress of the household, puts her foot down very hard and says that they will have to leave the premises. They are packing up now. Abraham, knowing that the journey before his servant and her son will be very long and across desolate places, in the kindness of his heart sets about putting up some bread and bottle with water in it. It is 8 very plain lunch that Abraham pro- vides, but l warrant you there would have been enough of it had they not lost their way. "God be with you," said old Abraham as he gave the lunch to Hagar and good many charges as to how she should conduct the journey. Ishmael, the boy, suppose, bounded away in the morning light. Boys al ways like change. Poor Ishmaell He has no idea of the disasters that are ahead of him. Hagar gives one long, lingering look on the familiar place days, each scene associated with the pride and joy of her heart. young Ish- maal
 The soorching noon comes on. The air is stifling and moves across the desert with insufferable suffocation. Ishmael, the boy, begins to complain and lies down. but Hagar rouses him up, saying nothing about her own weariness or the sweltering heat, for mothers can endure anything. Trudge, trudge, trudge. Crossing the dead level of the desert, how wearily and slowly the miles slipl A tamarind that seemed hours ago to stand only just little ahead, inviting the travellers to come under it's shadow, now is as far of as ever, or seemingly %. Night drops upon the desert, and the travellers are pillowless. Ishmael, very weary, I suppose. instantly falls asleep. Hagar as the shadows of tho night begin to lap oyer each other Hagar hugs her weary boy to her bosom and thinks of the fact that it is her fault that they are in the desert. A star looks out, and every falling tear it kisses with a sparkle. A wing of wind comes over the hot earth and lifts the looks from the fevered brow of the boy. Hagar sleeps fitfully and in her dreams travels over the weary day and half awakes her son by crying out in her Aeep: "Ishmaell Ismaell"
 Lost In the Desert.
 And so they go on day after day and night after night. for they have lost their way. No path in the shifting sands, no sign in the burning sky. The sack empty of the -four, tho water gone from the bottle. What shall she do? As she puts her fainting Ishmael under a stunted shrub of the arid plain she sees the bloodshot eye and feels the hot hand and watches the blood bursting from the cracked tongue, and tSere is shriek in the desert of Beersheba: I've shall diel We shall diep' Now, no mother was ever made strong enough to hear her son cry in vain for drink. Heretofore she had cheered her boy by promising speedy end of the journey and even smiled upon him when she felt desperately enough. Now there is nothing to do but place him under a shrub and let him die. She had thought that she would sit there and watch un- til the spirit of her boy would go away forever, and then she would breathe out her own life on his silent heart. But as the boy begins to claw his tongue in agony of thirst and struggle in distor- tion and begs his mother to slay him she cannot endure the spectacle. She puts him under Q shrub and goes off bowshot and begins to weep until all the desert seems sobbing, and her cry strikes clear through the heavens, and An angel of God comes out on cloud and looks down upon the appalling grief and cries, "Hagar, what aileth thee?" She looks up and she sees the angel pointing to well of water, where AI-I I~A4 4l1 e. Ia l. Godl Thank Godl
 I learn from this oriental scene, in the first place, what a sad thing it is when people do not know their place and get too proud for their business. Hagar was an assistant in that house. hold, but she wanted to rule there. She ridiculed and jeered until her son Ish- mael got the same tricks. She dashed out her own happiness and threw Sarah into great fret, and if she had staid much longer in that household she would have upset calm Abraham's equilibrium My friends, one-half of the trouble in the world today comes from the fact that people do not know their place, or. finding their place. will not stay in it. When we come into the world, there is always place ready for us. A place for Abraham. A place for Sarah. A place for Hagar. A place for Ishmael. A place for you and place for me.
 Find Your Sphere.
 Our first duty is to find our sphere. our second is to keep it. We may be born in sphere far of from the one for which God finally intends us. Six tus V was born on the low ground and was swineherd; God called him up to wave a scepter. Ferguson spent his early days in looking after sheep; God called him up so look after stars and be . shepherd watching the fooks of lights on the hillsides of heaven. Hogarth be- gan by engraving pewter pots; God raised him to stand in the enchanted realm of a painter. The shoemaker's