The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1898-05-12

In the southeastern part Of Arabia
a man is sitting by a well. It is an
arid country, and water is scarce. so
that well is Of great value, and flocks
and herds are driven vast distances
to have their thirst slaked. Jethro. a
Midianite sheik and priest, was SO for
tunate 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 wat
ering. They lower the buckets and
then pull them up, the water FLASHING
on the stones and chilling their feet,
and the troughs are filled. Who is
that man out there sitting unconcerned
and looking on? Why does he not
come to help the women in this hard
work of drawing water? But no soon
er have the dry lips and painting nos
trils 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 ill-mannered shepherds are
driven to the troughs, taking the places
of the other flocks. Now that man
| sitting by the we'll 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 quick temper anyhow, as he dem
onstrated on one occasion when he
saw an Egyptian depressing an Israel
lite and gave the Egyptian a 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
injustice of this treatment of the seven
girls sets him on fire with wrath, and
he takes this shepherd by the throat.
and pushes back another shepherd till
he falls over the trough, and aims
stunning blow between the eyes of an
other, as he cries, "Begone, you vii
lains!" and he boots and rOarS at the
sheep and cattle and camels of these
invaders and drives them back; and
having cleared the place of the despera-
does, he told the seven girls of this
Midianite sheik to gather their flocks
together and bring them again to the
watering.
o, you ought to see fight between
the shepherds at we'll in the Orient
as 1 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 clash
ing of buckets! Such hooking of horns!
Such kicking of hoofs! Such vehe-
mence in a language l fortunately could
not understand! Now the sheep with a
peculiar mark across their woolly backs
were at the trough, and now the sheep
of another mark. 1t was one of the
most exciting scenes 1 ever witnessed.
An old book describes one of these
contentious at an eastern we'll when it
says: "One day the poor men, the
widows and the orphans 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 l |
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 ad-
dressed him: oh, Master Dali, am a
poor, weak old woman as you see.
Time has dealt hardly with me. It has |
aimed its arrows at me, and its daily |
and nightly calamities have destroyed
all my men. l have lost my children |
and my husband. and since then l have |
been in great distress. These sheep
are all that possess. Let them drink,
for live on the milk that they pro-
duce. Pity my forlorn state l have
no one to tend them. Therefore grant
my supplication and of thy kindness
let them drink But in this case the
brutal slace, SO far from granting this
humble request, smote the woman to
the ground"
A like scrimmage has taken place at
the we'll in the triangle of Arabia be-
tween the Bedouin shepherds and
Moses championing the cause of the
seven daughters who had driven their
fathers flocks to the watering. One
of these girls, Zipporah, her name
meaning little bird" was fascinated
by this heroic behavior of Moses; for
however timid woman herself may be,
she always admires courage in a man.
Zipporah became the bride of Moses,
one of the mightiest men of all the
centuries. Zipporah little thought that
that morning as she helped drive her
fathers flocks to the well, she was
splendidly deciding her own destiny.
Had she stayed in the tent or house
while the other six daughters Of the