Still we went on a talkin'; I agreed to knit 'Twon't bring the millenium sooner, disputin' some socks, about when it's due, And make a dozen striped shirts, and a pair Although I feel an assurance that's mine's of wa'mus frocks; And he was to cut a doorway from the kit chen to the shed: "Save you climbing steps much in frosty weather," he said. He brought me the pen at last; I felt a sinkin' and he the Scriptural view. But the blessedest truths of the Bible, I've learned to think don't lie In the texts we hunt with a candle to prove our doctrines by, But them that come to us in sorrow, and when we're on our knees; Looked as he did with the agur, in the spring So if Caleb won't argue on free-will, I'll leave alone the decrees. But there's the request he made; you know it, parson, about Bein' laid under the maples that his own hand set out, And me to be laid beside him when my turn comes to go; As if-as if-don't mind me; but 'twas that unstrung me so. And now, that some scales, as we think, have fallen from our eyes, And things brought so to a crisis have made us both more wise, Then, parson, the neighbors' meddlin'-it Why Caleb says and so I say, till the Lord wasn't pourin, oil; And the church a laborin' with worse than wasted toil; us, 'twas parts him and me, We'll love each other better, and try our best to agree. T ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY. HE relation of the Desert to its modern inhabitants is still illustrative of its ancient history. The general name by which the Hebrews called "the wilderness," including always that of Sinai, was "the pasture." Bare as the surface of the Desert is, yet the thin clothing of vegetation, which is seldom entirely withdrawn, especially the aromatic shrubs on the high hillsides, furnish sufficient sustenance for the herds of the six thousand Bedouins who constitute the present population of the peninsula. "Along the mountain ledges green, The scatter'd sheep at will may glean The Desert's spicy stores." So were they seen following the daughters or the shepherd-slaves of Jethro. So may they be seen climbing the rocks, or gathered round the pools and springs of the valleys, under the charge of the black-veiled Bedouin women of the present day. And in the Tiyaha, Towârâ, or Alouin tribes, with their chiefs and followers, their dress, and manners, and habitations, we probably see the likeness of the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the Israelites themselves in this their earliest stage of existence. The long strait lines of black tents which cluster round the Desert springs, 386 CHILDREN OF THE DESERT. present to us, on a small scale, the image of the vast encampment gathered round the one sacred tent which, with its coverings of dyed skins, stood conspicuous in the midst, and which recalled the period of their nomadic life long after their settlement in Palestine. The deserted villages, marked by rude enclosures of stone, are doubtless such as those to which the Hebrew wanderers gave the name of "Hazeroth," and which afterwards furnished the type of the primitive sanctuary at Shiloh. The rude burial-grounds, with the many nameless head-stones, far away from human habitation, are such as the host of Israel must have left behind them at the different stages of their progress-at Massah, at Sinai, at Kibroth-hattaavah, "the graves of desire." The salutations of the chiefs, in their bright scarlet robes, the one "going out to meet the other," the "obeisance," the "kiss" on each side of the head, the silent entrance into the tent for consultations, are all graphically described in the encounter between Moses and Jethro. The constitution of the tribes, with the subordinate degrees of sheiks, recommended by Jethro to Moses, is the very same which still exists amongst those who are possibly his lineal descendants-the gentle race of the Towâra. NEW YEAR'S EVE. R ALFRED TENNYSON. ING out, wild bells, to the wild sky, Ring out the old, ring in the new; Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more; Ring out a slowly dying cause, Ring in the nobler modes of life, Ring out false pride in place and blood, Ring out old shapes of foul disease, Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Brood, kind creature; you need not fear Thieves and robbers, while I am here. Chee, chee, chee. Modest and shy as a nun is she, One weak chirp is her only note, Braggart and prince of braggarts is he, Pouring boasts from his little throat; Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, Spink, spank, spink; Never was I afraid of man; Catch me, cowardly knaves if you can. Chee, chee, chee. Six white eggs on a bed of hay, Nice good wife, that never goes out, Soon as the little ones chip the shell Six wide mouths are open for food; Robert of Lincoln bestirs him well, Gathering seed for the hungry brood. Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, Spink, spank, spink; This new life is likely to be Robert of Lincoln at length is made Nobody knows but my mate and I Summer wanes; the children are grown; Spink, spank, spink; When you can pipe that merry old strain, Robert of Lincoln, come back again. Chee, chee, chee. |