The Tupelo journal., 1906-03-30

@S@MMNNI/W and then turning
wW\A1 sharply about he
hastily retraced
his steps over the pathway which
stretched up and up into the heart of
the mountains.
How could l be so forgetful?" he
chided himself, struggling on as fast
as the steep ascent would permit, and
lifting his eyes and looking anxiously
before him for some sight OF the
flock which he had left behind.
The day before, led by some strange
impulse, he had gone far to the other
side of the desert and up into the
mountains, whose towering peaks lift
ed their rugged heads toward heav-
en- and seemed reckoning him on. The
years had come and gone since he had
settled down in indian and the hum
drum life of tending the flocks of Jeth-
no had quite dulled his perceptions and
his consciousness of God. Not that
he had forgotten God, and Gods prom
ises; not that he had ceased to be
troubled by the bondage of his peo-
pie, or had given up hope of their de-
liverance. Such could not be, for
faith in God and longing to help his
people were woven into the very warp
and wool of his being. But as year
after year had dragged on, until now
nearly 40 years had passed since he
had fled from Egypt, his sensibilltles
had been dulled, and in a sort of list
less, discouraged way he had waited.
But on the day before as he had
neared the mountain and he had
thought of God, the tall peaks seem
ed pointing in silent impressiveneSs
toward Him, and with ~quickened spirit
and reviving memory he had gone on
and on, until at last he had seemed
to be in the very heart of the noun
tain.
There abundant pasturage had been
found, and he spent the night in the
place, and that morning early as he
moved about from place to place list
lessly following the struggling sheep,
as here and there they sought out the
~succulent grass plots that sprans
green and fresh from the lap of some
tiny spring or mountain stream, a
strange thing had happened.
A tongue of flame shot up from the
center of one of the dry acacia bushes
at one side in a rocky, sterile place,
and he thought at first that some spark
from his morning fire had blown
thither and set fire to the infammable
wood, as was so often the case. But
as he watched the fame he noted that
1t did not seem to consume the bush,
and he turned aside to investigate,
when a voice which seemed to come
from the very center of the flame
| spoke his name, and told him to take
off his sandals, for he was standing
on holy ground.
Then had followed that wonderful
Interview, in which he had been told
of Gods purposes for the Hebrew peo'
pie. and of his own call to go back to
them with Gods message. Was it to
be wondered at that all else vas for.
gotten under the excitement of the
moment? But as we have seen, after
he had gone some distance, he sud
denly remembered his f1ocks and his
responsibility as their keeper, and
turned %anxiously about in search OF
At last he reached the place, and
found the sheep were still there and
safe. He breathed a sigh of relief and
his. mind, free from the anxiety, re-
$4,000 l.. 49,. or,,rI-o11 ;~asIo-tc ~
the morning. 1t seemed almost like a
dream to him. and he found himself
asking the question: "Was 1t real,
after all?"
There was the bush over beyond
that jutting. rock around which he had
moved when he had first noticed the
strange fire, but now it seemed the
ordinary bush it was, and he looked
in vain for the flame that had startled
him so. And he listened, but there
came no sound save that of the soft
trickling water of a nearby spring
and the occasional bleating of a sheer
as it hurried after the rest moving of
to some more inviting spot of green
Had he heard that Voice which he
had thought was God talking with
him? or had he imagined it? The staff
which he held but loosely in his hand
slipped and fell to the hard rocks al
his feet with a c%latter, and aroused
him from his puzzled reverie.
EYES," he said, "it must have beer
real for there is the staff which turned
into a serpent"
Instantly there came flashing back
at him the question: But why didn't
1t urn into a serpent again, as it did
before when cast to the ground?"
He reached forward to lift it from
the ground, and his eye fell on the
hand which had but a short time be
fore been white with leprosy as he hai
thrust it within his bosom.
prove that this has not all beer
a vagary, a wild dream of a brair
stimulated by the night in the rarified
mountain air." came the tempting
thought. Cast your shepherds crook
upon the ground again and see if il
will become a serpent. Thrust your
hand in the folds Of your mantle agar
and prove whether it will come forth
white with leprosy."
Moses fairly trembled with the agi
tation of the moment. From the
heights of spiritual ecstacy to which
he had been wrought by the expert
ences of the morning he was suddenly
plunged by these doubts and fears
to the depths Of hellish darkness. His