The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1907-10-18

a&yS -
even more at the sayageness ard surli.
nessso plainly manifest toward him.
But he was glad TO be OF and away.
and he soon forgot the matter in
| his engerness to be back In the thick
Of the fight against the stronghold OF
| Rahbah.
The king, on the other hand. sat
silent and alone, his face distorted
| and beclouded by the evil passions
| that famed within.
There was no other way" he ex'
| claimed under his breath. Had he
not been so informally obstinate all
would have been well, and now--ali
win be well. anyway. hazard"
That had been an awful night for
| him. No sleep had come to stu the
rage or quiet the fears which hiled
his heart. But amidst all the con
hicting emotions which surged like
the restless sea back and forth with
In his heart there was the one settled
purpose to cover up and hide the
| sin which had come to hlacken and
scar his life.
To hide that sin had seemed like
a simple and easy thing at first, but
as his every plan had been haf'
fed 1t made him almost mad with
Impotence and a bitter hatred sprang
up against the man whom he had so
grievously wronged. At first he had
only felt pood.natured contempt for
him, and 1t was with rather q feeling
OF condescension on his part that he
had dealt with him ut all. But Daytd
was too high-minded a man. and had
too clear a conception OF right u
wrong not to be conscious way down
deep in his heart that he had COM
mitted a grievous sin, and yet there
wal present the stubborn purpose
to justify and palliate his ofense. lie
took refuge behind his kingly pre-
negatives and power, and found com
fort In tho thought that the kings oil
other nations did eve worse things
than he had done.
And yet, Notwithstanding this feel
ing which he tried to encourage,
namely, that the king could do no
wrong. he did not want his sin to be
come known. and determined from
the first that 1t should not. Thus be
was led to send for uriah, and when
his plans miscarried, rs we have said.
II threw him into n rage OF fear and
anger. The very loyalty and faith
fuiness which Uriah displayed toward
him and the nation served to inten5i'
fly and aggravate his veEation OF
spirit, and on that last night, as
we have said, no sleep came to re
lleve the stress of mind and body.
And then had come a new fear to
vex him. Could II be that uriah's
refusal to return home was due to the
fact that he had some suspicion as
to the true state OF affairs? All night
long the question had ranked In his
bosom, and q dark resolve began t.
form itself within.
Uriah must be put out of the way.
When the thought first flashed
across his mind like IN evil message
from the king Of darkness, he trem'
bled as an aspen and turned from II
with sickening dread. but each time
as he came face TO face with the al
tentative of exposure and disgrace
he entertained more willingly the evil
thought, and at last found himself
planning how II might be carried out
At first David thought to pay biz
money to some base fellow who would
secretly fall upon Uriah and take his
life. but even In the fear and confu
sion Of his mind he quickly saw the
dangers attending such a course
What then was he to do? How could
he accomplish his purpose? The
seeming impossibilitIes In the way
served to intensity the evil purpose
Of his heart.
All. how often the better impulses
came! How repeatedly the inner con
science spoke against doing such evil
thing, and each time there came back
the challenge from his fear-stricken
heart, "but your sin and the exposure
which Is certain to follow"
And then came the i~rrevocable de
cislon to take this other step In the
course OF sin, In order that the FIRST
sin might be covered up. And waf
there no thought or fear that the eye
of God saw and knew Yea, there
came the Heeting remembrance and
then the cloud Of sin In which the
heart was enveloped settled down
again, and David, steeling his heart
against God anc the better prompt
ings, plunged on in his evil course.
No. Uriah must die.
The decision had been made. the
message written and even now Uriaf
was bearing his death warrant tc
Joab. Anxious days followed. but
David knew that Joab would not fail
him.
1t was not many days after this
that tidiHgs came Of a disastrous de
feat TO the army Of Israel. The bat
tie had been pressed to the very walls
Of the stronghold of Rabdah. and
N many Of the Israelltes had fallen. !,
was sad news to the nation, and
there was mourning in many a houBe
hold, but David. who received the It'd
ings from the lips Of Joab's messen'
ger, cared not for this thing, when
the messenger added:
And Uriah. the Hittite, Is dead