GIDEON.

_The story which Jotham told his children on the day before his death
concerning the achievements of his father Gideon--His comments and
those of Time thereon._


I am an old man, and I desire before I die to tell you more fully the
achievements of your grandfather. Strange that this day much that I
had forgotten comes back to me clearly.

During his youth the children of the East possessed the land for seven
years because we had done evil. We were driven to lodge in the caves
of the mountains, so terrible was the oppression. If we sowed corn,
the harvest was not ours, for the enemy came over Jordan with the
Midianites and the Amalekites and left nothing for us, taking away all
our cattle and beasts of burden. We cried unto God, and He sent a
prophet to us, who told us that our trouble came upon us because of our
sins, but otherwise he did nothing to help us. One day your
grandfather was threshing wheat, not near the threshing-floor, for the
Midianites watched the threshing-floors to see if any corn was brought
there, but close to the wine-press. It was at Ophrah in Manasseh, the
home of his father. While he threshed, thinking upon all his troubles
and the troubles of his country, not knowing if he could hide enough
corn to save himself and his household from hunger and death, the angel
of the Lord descended and sat under the oak. He may have been there
for some time before my father was aware of him, for my father was busy
with his threshing, and his heart was sore. At last he turned and saw
the angel bright and terrible, and before he could speak the angel said
to him, "The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour." My father,