The Washington herald., 1918-01-26
MISTAKES OF SAMSON
FURNISH OBJECT LESSON
TO YOUTH OF our DAY
EVENING SERMON
SAMSON

against the field that nobody could
guess his riddle during the seven days
of festivities.
The young fellows went to his wife
and they bribed her to worm the an
swer from Samson. which am sorry
to say she did and proved her treach-
cry, and now it was up to Samson
to produce the dry goods to pay the
bet.
They had no clothing stores down
there at Timnath upon which he could
make a raid, so he went over to a
town named Ascalon and he knocked
thirty Of the young blades over the
head. he stripped them of their raj
ment, he brought their clothes back
and paid his debt.
He found the air was getting pretty
frosty. so he thought he would play
good politics and go home. He hadn't
been down home long until he began
to pine for his wife. so he braved the
dangers of the Philistines and the enc
mies he had made, to go back and see
his wife, but instead of finding that
she had put on widows weeds and
mourned his long absence as an indi-
cation that he was dead. she got tired
OL "dlLluS IOE MS ESluTn anu went
out and married another fellow.
This act so wrought upon the SEN
sitive nature Of Samson that he went
out and caught 800 foxes, by which
you can see he was going some. and
he tied them together. two by two by
their tails, and he fastened a fire
brand in between. Then he turned
the whole menagerie loose in the
wheat fields OF the Philistines and
some energetic white-capping was
done there, because they burned his
wife's father and his wife, and when
they got through there was no doubt
that Samson was a widower.
But wait a minute. They weren't
well acquainted with Samson if they
thought that he would let the matter
rest there. Oh, his blood was up to
fever heat. He rolled up his sleeves
and he took the warpath. and he
smote the Philistines hip and thigh
with great slaughter.
Then he stroIled over to the rock
Etam. sat down and composed himself
and reviewed what he had been doing.
But the Philistines were a hardy
bunch. They weren't discouraged, and
they came and pitched their tents in
Lehi and Judah. and the men Of Judah
came up to Samson, quaking, 5000 OF
them, with their teeth chattering like
castanets and rafting as II they had
the ague, and they said:
'Look-a-here. Samson. don't you
know that the Philistines are our mas
ters and We are their servants. and
what in the world are you doing.
sticking >splinters in them7, Don't you
know that this warfare will go on all
summer"
And Samson sat there composedly
and combed his whiskers with his
fingers and said. 'T am just simply
fulfilling the Mosaic law, an eye for
an eye and a tooth for a tooth They
have been giving It to me IN the neck
and have been paying them back in
their own coin"
son. IL you don't surrender to US, this
war will go on and on"
WELL" Samson said. TIL tell you
what I will do. II you will promise
me that you won't turn me over to
the Philistines. why, I will give up
to you
Follies of Samson.
Wen, they were as glad to do that
as q weakened voter Is to get his
name on a whiskey petition, and so
they tied Samson with new ropes, and
when his enemies saw them doing
that, with a great shout OF triumph
they rushed forward to seize their
enemy.
But their triumph was premature.
Samson was playing possum. and
with no more effort that 1t takes for
a man to say mo" to his wife when
she asks him for money. he swelled
up his chest and broke those thongs
as IL they were made Of spider webs,
and he seized the jawbone Of an ass
that some good Samaritan had left
lying. nearby, and he piled the dead
around him thicker than they were at
the charge OF Balaklava in the
Crimean war. and with a sort or
rhythmic swing he cut loose and he
said:
Heaps upon heaps, 18th the Jaw
bone of an ass have slain a thou
sand Philistines," a boast they found
to be literally true when they called
the roll and counted their dead.
Now wait. Let's see about Samson.
We Will see how he comes out on
this deal and where he will head in
about 1t. The next insane folly we
read about him Is this: He goes down
to GAIA to court another girl down
there; and the fellow that sticks his
head in the lions mouth regardless
OF consequences, sooner or later will
find his breathing pipes interfered
with. don't you forget It.
II you think you can keep on doing
anything to beat the devil. you are a
big fool.
He went down to GAIA to court an
other Philistine girl, and the block
head didn't seem to be able to learn
that it was safer to stay home and
fall In love with a girl of his own
tribe. The men of GAIA had their
pickets out that night, and II soon be-
came known that a certain girl had a
young Jew for q beau, SO they put
the lid on tight and double locked
the gates. then they went to bed,
thinking they had Samson as secure as
rat in a trap and that they could
get up In the morning and kill him at
leisure.
That shows they weren't onto all OF
Samson's curves, for while they were
hitting the hay, Samson got UP, he
pulled the gates OF GAIA up by the
roots, put them on his back, carried
them across the valley and climbed up
on the mountain and left them where
It would cost more to bring them back
than they were worth.
He next comes on the carpet as the
lover Of another Philistine girl, Delilah.
She was the queen Jezebel of the
ounch- She was the lightning ex-
press that swept him to his ruin.
The Philistines had learned to sut-
FER q great deal from Samson's
strength and they saw they had to de-
stroy 1t II they ever won out, and so
they bribed Delilah. his wife tn find