prophecy full of the odor of new-mown hay, and the rattle of locusts,
and the rumble of carts with sheaves, and the roar of wild beasts
devouring the flock while the shepherd came out in their defense. He
watched the herds by day, and by night inhabited a booth made out of
bushes, so that through these branches he could see the stars all
night long, and was more familiar with them than we who have tight
roofs to our houses, and hardly ever see the stars except among the
tall brick chimneys of the great towns. But at seasons of the year
when the herds were in special danger, he would stay out in the open
field all through the darkness, his only shelter the curtain of the
night, heaven, with the stellar embroideries and silvered tassels of
lunar light.

What a life of solitude, all alone with his herds! Poor Amos! And at
twelve o'clock at night, hark to the wolf's bark, and the lion's roar,
and the bear's growl, and the owl's te-whit-te-whos, and the serpent's
hiss, as he unwittingly steps too near while moving through the
thickets! So Amos, like other herdsmen, got the habit of studying the
map of the heavens, because it was so much of the time spread out
before him. He noticed some stars advancing and others receding. He
associated their dawn and setting with certain seasons of the year. He
had a poetic nature, and he read night by night, and month by month,
and year by year, the poem of the constellations, divinely rhythmic.
But two rosettes of stars especially attracted his attention while
seated on the ground, or lying on his back under the open scroll of
the midnight heavens--the Pleiades, or Seven Stars, and Orion. The
former group this rustic prophet associated with the spring, as it
rises about the first of May. The latter he associated with the
winter, as it comes to the meridian in January. The Pleiades, or Seven
Stars, connected with all sweetness and joy; Orion, the herald of the