St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-06-11
INSPIRING LESSONS.
Moses Defense Of the Daughters Of
Jethro, the Midianite.

Rev. DR.. Talmage Points Out Gods Uner-
ring Wisdom In Choosing the
Men to Do His Work
Gods Long Memory.
In the following sermon Rev. T. De-
Witt Talmage points out practical and
inspiring lessons for all conditions of
people. The text is:
Now Moses kept the flock OF Jethro. his ia
ther-in-law. the priest OF Midian-Exodus
ILL.,. l.
In the southeastern part OF Arabia
man is sitting by well. 1t is an arid
country, and water is scarce, SO that
herds are driven vast distances to have
their thirst slaked. Jethro, Midi
ante sheik and priest, was SO fortu-
nate 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 water
ing. They lower the buckets and then
pull them up. the water splashing on
the stones and chilling their feet, and
the troughs are filed. Who is that
man out there sitting unconccrned and
looking on? Why does he not come
and help the women in this
hard work of drawing water?
But no sooner have the dry lips
and painting nostrils of the fiocks
begun to cool little in the brimming
trough of the well than some rough
81,
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 i'll
hammered shepherds are driven to the
troughs, taxing the place of the other
docks. Now that man sitting by the
well begins to color up, and his eye
flashes with indignation, and all the
gallantry of his nature is aroused. 1t
is Moses, who naturally had quick
temper anyhow, as he demonstrated on
occasion when he saw an Egyptian
expressing an Israelite and gave the
Egyptian sudden clip and buried him
in the sand, and as he showed after
ward when he broke all the ten com
mandments 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
this shepherd by the throat, and pushes
back another shepherd till he falls
over the trough. ami aims stunning
blow between the eyes OF another, as
he cries: sB.gone, you villains!" And
he hoots and roars ut the sheep and
cattle and camels of these invaders
and drives them back; and having
cleared the place of the desperadoss,
he told the seven girls of this Midianite
sheik to gather their hocks together
and bring them again to the watering.
Oh, you ought to see fight between
the shepherds at well In the orient
rs saw it in December, 1890. There
were here a 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 u 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
ever witnessed. An old book describes
of these contentious ut - eastern
well when it says: ''One day. the poor
men, the widows and the orphans met
together aud were driving their camels
and their hocks to drink, and were all
standing by the water side. Dali came
up and stopped them all and took pos
session of the water for his master S
cattle. just then an old woman be-
longing to the tribe Of Abs came up
and accosted him in q suppliant man
ner, saying: BE so good, Master Dali,
rs to let my cattle drink. They are all
the property posses, and / live
by their milk. Pity my flock,
have compassion on me. Grant my
request and let them drink Then
came another old woman and adj
dressed him: 'Os Master Dali, am a
poor. weak old woman as you see.
Time has dealt hardly with me. 1t
has aimed its arrows at me, and its
daily calamities have destroyed all my
men. have lost my children and my
husband, and since then have been in
great distress. These sheep are all
that possess Let them drink, for
live on the milk that they produce.
Pity my forlorn state. have no one
to tend them. Therefore grant my
supplication and of thy kindness let
them drink But in this case the
brutal slave, so far from granting this
humble request, smote the woman to
the ground
A like scrimmage has taken place at
the well in the triangle of Arabia be
tween the Beduoin 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 . man.
| Zipporah became the bride of Moses,
| one of the mightiest men OF all
the centuries. Zipporah little thought
that that morning rs she helped
drive her fathers docks 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 sheik attended to their herds,
her life would have been q tame and
uneventful life in the solitude, but her
industry, her fidelity to her fathers
interest, her spirit Of helpfulness
brought her into league with one oi
the grandest characters of all history.
They met at that famous well, and
while she admired the courage ol
Moses, he admired the filial behsvior
Of ZippOrah.
The fact that it took the seven daugh
ters to drive the docks to the well inn
plies that they were immense f1ocks
and that her father was man o.
wealth. What was the use of Zip
porah's bemeanlng herself with work
when she might have reclined on thu
hillside near her fathers tent, and
plucked buttercups and dreamed on,
u