shepherd standing near!"

After a pause, with a far-off look in his eyes, he said, "It is a
beautiful scene, so beautiful that St. John has used it in
picturing heaven." A smile broke over his face as he quoted: "'The
Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd,
and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life.'"

No one spoke as he sat turning his teacup. A tear started from his
dropped eyes. Presently he seemed to recall himself.

"But I must tell you one more scene that comes to my memory
whenever I read the words, 'he leadeth me beside the still
waters_.' It would make a beautiful picture if some one would
paint it.

"Up in the mountainsides of Lebanon, where my kinsmen have long
been shepherds, often there are no regular drinking-places, such as
the wells and fountains on the plains. But as the shepherd leads
his sheep over the rough slopes he finds many a spring and sees its
rivulet noisily down a crevice. His sheep need water. They cannot
drink from the leaping little stream. What does he do? He finds a
suitable turn or nook in its course; he walls it up with a little
dam and so holds the water till it forms a quiet pool. Then, right
there on the open hills, he leads his sheep 'beside the still
waters_.' I know of nothing more fit to picture the Shepherd's
care of souls that trust him than that scene up there on the
mountainside."

While our thoughts were carried away to these scenes of thirsty