The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-03-24

l.,SA - u the' lesson ~.
Talms gs~ draws
~S~ from the following
ANN text Genesis XXI
~ ~ 1o,"And God open
" cd her eyes, aud
she saw q we'll of water and sne wens
and filed the bottle with water ana
gave the lad drink"
Morning breaks upon beersneo..
There IL an early stir In the nouss o1
old Abraham. There has been trouoie
among the domsstics. Hagar. an as
sistant In the household. and her son.
a brisk lad Of sixteen years, nave DC
come impudent and insolent. and sarah
the mistress of the household. puts her
foot down very hard and says that tney
will have to leave the premises. Tney
are packing up now. Abraham know
ing that the journey before his ser
want and her son will be very long
across desolate places, in the Kindness
Of his heart sets about putting up some
bread and a bottle with water In 1t. IL
Is a very plain lunch that Abraham
provides, but / warrant you tnere
would have been enough OF 1t had they
not lost their way. God be with you.'
said old Abraham a. he gave the lunch
to Hagar and q good many charges
as to how she should conduct the Jour-
ney. Ishmael. the boy. suppose
bounded away In the morning light.
BOYS always like q change. Poor lsh-
mael, He has no idea Of the disasters
that are ahead Of him. Hagar gives
one long look on the familiar place
where she had spent 80 many happy
days, each scene associated with the
pride and 10y Of her heart. young lsh-
NAL.
The scorehing noon comes on. The
air is sitting 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
WEAKNESS or the swsltering heat; for
mothers can endure anything. Trudge'
trudge, trudge. Crossing the dead leve!
of the desert, how wearily and SLOWLY
the miles slip! A tamarind that
seemed hours ago to stand only just
little ahead. inviting the travellers to
come under its shadow. now Is as FAR
Off ever or seemingly 30. Night drops
upon the desert, and the travellers are
pillowless. Ishmael. very weary,
suppose instantly falls asleep. Hagar.
as the shadows OF the night begin to
lap over each other-Hagar hugs her
weary boy to her bosom and thinks
, of the fact that 1t 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 locks
from the fevered brow of the boy.
Hagar Steps fitfully and in her dreams
travels over the weary day and half
awakes her weary son by crying out
In her sleep: "Ishmael! Ishmael!'
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 flour: the water
gone from the bottle. What shall she
do? AS she puts her fainting lshmael
under a stunted shurb Of the arid plain
she sees the blodshot eye and feels the
hot hand and watches the blood burst
ing from the cracked tongue and there
is a shrek in the desert Of Beersheba:
I'VE shall die, We shall die!" Now.
no mother was ever made strong
enough to hear her son cry in vain for
a drink. Heretofore she had cheered
her boy by promising a speedy end Of
the journey, and even smiled upon him
when she felt desperately enough.
Now there Is nothing to do but to place
She had thought that she would sit
there and watch until 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 distortion and begs his
mother to slay him she cannot endure
the spectacle. She puts him under
shrub and goes of bow shot. and be-
gins to weep until all the desert seems
sobbing, and her cry strikes clear
through the heavens and an angel Of
God comes out on a cloud and looks
down on the appalling grief and cries.
"Hagar. what aileth thee?" She looks
up and sees the angel pointing to a
we'll Of water, and she fills the bottle
for the lad. Thank God! Thank God!
learn from this oriental scene. in
che first place, what a sad thing 1t IL
when people do not know their place
and get too proud for their business.
Hagar was assistant in that household.
but she wanted to rule there. She ridi-
culed and jeered until her son. lshmael.
got the same tricks. She dashed out
her own happiness and threw Sarah
into a great fret, and II she had stayed
mach longer in that household she
would have upset calm Abraham's
equilibrium. My friends. one-half Of
the trouble in the world to-day comes
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