Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-10-19
HUNTING THE DEER.
THE CHASE FURNISHES DR.. TALMAGE
A TIMELY THEME.
The Gospel as n Rcfreshment Graph
icnIIy Set Forth-Refuge In Gods
word For Those Pursued by Trials
and Misfortunes.
copyright. Louis Klopsch. 1900

copyright, Louis Kopsch 1909
WASHINGTON, Oct. 1.-the gospel as
n great refreshment is here set forth by |
DR.. Talmagc under n figure which will be |
found particularly graphic by those who |
have gone out as hunters TO find game in |
the mountains; text. Psalm xiii, 1, "As |
the hart pantcth after the water brooks
David. who must some time have seen
n deer hunt, points us here to hslnted
stag making for the water The fosci
mating animal, called in my text the hart,
Is the same animal that in sacred and
profane literature Is called the stag, the
roebuck, the hind, the gazee the rein
deer In central Syria in Bible times
there were whole pasture fields Of them,
as Solomon suggests when he says, II
charge you by the binds of the field"
Their antlers juttcd from the long grass
ms they lay down. No hunter who has
been long in "John Browns tract" will
wonder that in the Bible they were
Classed among clean animals for the
dews, the showers, the lakes, washed
them as clean as the sky. When Isaac.
the patriarch, longcd for venison, Esau
shot and brought home roebuck. Isaiah
compares the sprightliness of the re-
stored cripple of milennial times to the
long and quick jump of the stag, saying,
THE lame shall leap ms the hart" Solo
mon expressed his disgust at a hunter
who, having shot a deer is too lazy to
cook il, saying, The slothful man roast
eth not that which he tool, in hunting
But one day David, while far from the
home from which he had been driven
and sitting near the mouth of lonely
cave where he had lodged and on the
banks of a pond or river, hears pack Of
hounds in swift pursuit. Because of the
previous silence of the forest the clangor
startes him. and he says to himself, Il
wonder what those dogs are after" Then
there is n cracking in the brushwood
and the loud breathing of some rushing
wonder of the woods. and the antlers of a
deer rend the leaves of the thicket and
by an instinct which all hunters rccog-
nize it plunges into a pond or lake or
river to cool its thirst and at the same
time by its capacity for swifter and
longer swimming, to get away from the
foaming barriers.
David says to himself: AHA! That is
myself. Saul after me. Absalom after
we, enemies without number after me.
Am chased, their bloody muzzles at my
heels. barking at my good name, barking
after my body, barking after my soul.
Oh. the hounds. the hounds But look
lhere" says David. That hunted deer
mas SpldSueu INTO lUe water. IL puts It's
hot lips and nostrls into the cool wave
that washes the lathered TANKS and it
swims away from the fiery CANNES. and
1t is free at last. Oh. that | might find
in the deep, wide lake of Gods mercy
and consolation escape from my pursuersl
oh, for the waters of life and rescue, As
the hart panteth after the water brooks,
so pantetb my soul after thee, . God"
True to Nature.
Some of you have just come from the
Adirondack. and the breath of the bal
sam and spruce and pine is still on you.
The Adirondacks are now populous with
hunters, and the deer are being slain by
the score. Once while there talking with
n hunter | thought ] would like to see
whether my text was accurate in its al
fusion, and as | heard the dogs baying
IL little way off and supposed they were
on the track of n deer said to the hunter
in rough corduroy, do the deer always
make for the water when they are pur-
sued?" He said ooh. yes, mister. You
soc, they are q hot and thirsty animal
and they know where the water is, and
when they hear danger in the distance
they lift their anters and snuff the breeze
and start for Racquet or Loon or Sar-
anac, and we get into our cedar shell
boat or stand by the runway with rife
loaded ready to blaze away"
My friends, that is one reason why !
like the Bible so much. Its illusions are
50 true to nature. Its partrdges are real
cartridges. its ostriches real ostriches
and its reindeer real reindeer. | do not
wonder that this antered glory of the
text makes the hunters eye sparkle and
his cheek glow and his respiration quick
en-, to say nothing of its usefulness, al
though 1t is the most useful of all game,
its flesh delicious, its skin turned into hui
man apparel, its sinews fashioned into
bow strings, its antlers putting handles
on cutlery and the shayngs of its horns
used as a restorative, its name taken
from the hart and called hartshorn. BY
putting aside its usefulness this enchant-
Ing creature seems made ont of graceful
ness and elasticity What an eye, with
liquid brightness as if gathered up from
hundred lakes at sunset The horns Il
corona branching into every possible
curve, and, after 1t seems done, ascend
ing into other projections Of exquisite.
ness, a tree OF polished bone, upifted in
pride or swung down for awful combat!
D. 1t is velocity embodied, timidity i'm
personated, the enchantment of the
woods, eye lustrous in life and pathetic
in death, the splendid animal n complete
rhythm or muscle ana bone and color
and attitude and locomotion, whether
couched in the grass among the shadows
or living bolt shot through the forest
Or turning at bay to attack the hounds or
rearing for its last fall under the buck
shot of the trapper.
1t is a splendid appearance, that the
painters pencil fails to sketch and only a
hunters dream on pillow of hemock at
the foot Of st. Regis is able to picture
When 20 miles from any settlement, it
comes down at eveptide to the lakes
edge to drink among the lilypads and
with its sharp edged hoof skaters the
crystal Of Long lake. it is very pictur-
esque. But only when, after miles Of
pursuit, with heaving sides and loiling
tongue and eyes swimming in death, the
stag leaps from the cliff into Upper Sar-
amaze can you realize how much David
had suffered from his troubles and how
much he wanted God when he expressed
himself in the words, LAS the hart pant
eth after the water brooks, SO panteth
my soul after thee o God"
The Hounds of Poverty.
Well, now, let all those who have COM
ing after them the lean hounds of poverty
or the black hounds Of persecution or the
spotted hounds Of vicissitude or the pale