St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1905-07-15
Mechanically Abraham held out the

his heartbreaking task easier.
''The Lord this night hath spoken
good concerning the lad" at last he
managed to say, as Hagar and lshmaei
turned to go. "He hath declared that
of him He will make a great nation.
Hagar nodded by way OF reply, while
Ishmael looked doggedly before him.
Then they walked away towards the
south in the gray of the early morning
and Abraham stood with bowed head
and tear-dimmed eyes watching them
until at last they were lost to view IN
the distance.
"Why art thou astir SO early, and
where hast thou been?" queried Sarah
as Abraham returned to his tent with
slow and heavy step.
God hath granted thy wish" re-
sponded Abraham, with choking voice,
averting his face that his wife might
not see the tears which welled from
his eyes. ''They are gone"
And out in the wilderness Of Beer
sheba Hagar wandered alone with her
son. Alone? Nay, did she but know
it, the Lord was near to comfort and
help her in her need. But she felt
alone. Desolation and death seemed
to lie before her. She struggled to re-
member what the angel had promised
her concerning the lad, she tried to
find comfort in the assuring words
which Abraham had spoken as she de-
parted, but the wilderness surrounded
her, no shelter opened to receive her,
no hand was visible to help, and the
distress OF the moment drove all other
thoughts away.
And Ishmael, trudging on in silence
by his mothers side, noted the deep
ening look of distress in her face, felt
the spirit Of her disbursement, and
within him there rose purpose and
ambition which he had not known be-
fore. During that walk in the wilder
ness Ishmael, the boy, was transformed
into Ishmael, the brave-hearted man
of the wilderness. The hopes which
he had had as a son of Abraham faded
before the charging ambition which
came as he realized the old life was
behind, gone forever, and that before
him were new possibilities and untried
powers. He tried to comfort his moth
er, but she would not be comforted.
'Let us rest here, for we cannot go
farther tonight" said Hagar, YEARLY,
as they came to sheltered place
amidst the rocks where the grasses
grew. Seating themselves, they ate of
~, nd hot
and then prepared to lie down to
sleep.
Tomorrow we will press on towards
mine own country" spoke Hagar, halt
to herself, giving expression to the
thought which was running through
her mind. And then, moved by an i'm
pulse born of the old memories that
crowded in upon her, she told Ishmael
Of Egypt, of her early life there, of
her service In Pharaoh's household,
and of how she had been given to
Sarah, Abraham's wife, when she and
Abraham had been sent away.
"That was many years ago." con-
cluded the mother, thoughtful1y, "but
surely there will be some one who will
remember Hagar and give her shelter"
The boy listened to the story atten-
lively, but his mind kept reverting to
the words which Abraham had spoken
as they departed that morning In
fact they had been running through
his mind all day, and his mothers
story and the thought of going to
Egypt did not seem to attract him.
What did he mean, mother?" at last
asked the boy, speaking that which
was uppermost In his heart.
''Who?s What?" she questioned, In
perplexity.
'.Why, Father Abraham! Don't you
remember he declared that God had
said that He would make Of me Q
great nation?"
The mother started. She had been so
filed with the thought Of getting back
to Egypt, of finding haven there, that
she had for the moment forgotten the
promises concerning Ishmael And
while she tried to explain as best she
could the boy dropped OF to sleep.
But his question started a new train
of thought for her Again she recalled
the words Of the angel: "He will be q
wild man; his hand will be against
every man, and every mans hand
against HIM" Surely this could not
mean Egypt. And in her sleep that
night Hagar dreamed that a great
mountain rose up and filled the path
way to Egypt and q hand pointed back
to the wilderness.
And in obedience to the thought and
the impression of the night Hagar cons.
tinued her wanderings In the wilderness,
and another day dragged out its weary
lengths and again they lay down to
rest with the silent stars as watchers.
Footsore and weary they started the
next morning after having partaken of
their last bit of bread and having drained
their last drop Of water from the leath-
ern bottle. Fierce did the sun beat down
upon them, and fevered became their
heads and parched their lips. At last
1shmael, completely overcome, sank to
the earth. unconscious, and with break
ing heart the mother half dragged, half
carried him to the shelter of some shrubs
growing near.
Selling the water bottle, she tried to
squeeze from it one refreshing drop Of
water to cool the raging fever of the boy,
but only the dry cracking of the skin
came to mock her efforts. In the
frenzy of her grief she flung it from her,
and then realizing how powerless she
was to give her boy any relief, and .un-
able longer to look upon his uncon-
scious suffering face, she fled from the