The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1907-06-07

1hS Mtll hllGN Nhdl MS llONuel "Oulu
come then and scarcely did sleep
come to his eyes the night before.
because of the happy expectation
which filled his heart Before the
light had begun to break in the east
he had left his couch in the little tent
which adjOined that occupied by the
high priest Eli, and was waiting to ex
tinguiSh the lights in the temple.
AS he stood there with eyes turned
towards the east watching eagerly fol-
the coming of the day, his mind went
back over the experiences Of the year
He recalled his first day in the temple
service; Of how strange and big u
seemed. and he had wondered wheth'
err God knew he was there, and that
he was just wee bit lonely since his
mother had gone. He had recalled
the stories which his mother had told
him of how Moses had been taken by
his mother TO the palace of the daugh'
ter Of Pharaoh when he was just
about his age, and he had wondered
whether he had felt as forlorn and
lonely as he. And then he had COM
forted himself with the thought that
he was better off than Moses had
been for he was in Gods dwelling
place and Moses had been among a
people who did not know or care for
his God.
And III try and be as faithful as
Moses was and learn all can so as
to be fitted for Gods service" he
had thought to himself with a wis
dom far beyond his years. And often
since that first definite experience in
the temple this thought had come to
him to quicken him in his studies and
duties. Each day he had had his
task to do and his lessons to learn,
and eagerly he listened as the aged
priest Eli had gone over the history
Of Israel and had told of Gods deal
ings with Israel He had been deeply
interested in those parts of the stories
where it was told that God had spoken
TO his people and their leaders, and
had asked Eli, with childish eager
ness:
Does God speak to yOu?"
And then when the aged priest had
hesitated in evident confusion and
embarrassment he had followed up
his first question with:
How can we hear God speak?"
But he had had no satisfactory re-
Spouse from Eli, and this was one
of the questions which he was anx-
ious to ask his mother when she
should come
Then there were some things about
the temple service which he knew his
mother could explain to him as had
not been explained to him by Eli or
his sons. Nay. Samuel had early
learned that it was quite useless to
ply the latter with questions. In,
fact he had felt in his childish heart
an aversion for Hophni and Phinehas
which had led him to avoid them all
he could Here was something else
he wanted to ask his mother:
How it was that if they were serv-
ants of the Lord they should take
the best of the sacrifices for them
selves, as he had seen them do re.
peatedly when the people had come to
make their offerings to the Lord.
These were some of the things
which were troubling his tender heart,
and there was the brighter side, as he
thought of the part he was taking in
the temple service and how his moth
err would feel proud of her boy as she
saw him among the musicians doing
his part to make a joyful noise unto
the Lord In this way his mind kept
busy while he waited for the break
ing of the dawn, and so absorbed did
he become in his meditatons that the
sun was all but bursting above the
horizon when he aroused himself.
81 shall be late" he exclaimed, has
| tening towards the gate of the TEN
pie court. But what is that?" he add
ed, noting the dust in the distances
and moving figures. who can be
coming so early to the celebration?
Can it be MOTHER" he asked himself,
and the first impulse was to rush of
down the pathway to meet the ap.
preaching company, but he checked
himself and remembering his duties
in the temple, he hurried on and was
soon busy extinguishing the lights and
performing the duties preparatory to
| the services of the day. Already the
Levites were arriving and putting
things in order for the offering of the
sacrifices, and many little duty fell
to the lot of Samuel to perform ere
everything was ready. Almost impa.
tiently he waited for the chance to
get away to find his mother.
Now, the last task was completed
and he would be able to get away, but
just as he was passing out OF the
outer court one of the Levites sum-
moned him and requested him that he
find Eli.