Their fireside plaything first, then of their failing strength the rock,
The rainbow to their wavering years, the youngling of their flock.

ALARIC A. WATTS.

* * * * *


Original.

THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.

THE MOTHER OF SAMSON.


In the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Judges is recorded the short
but suggestive story which is our Bible lesson for the present month.
Horeb is long since left behind. The evil generation, who forty years
tried the patience of Jehovah, have fallen in the wilderness, and their
successors are now in possession of the promised land. Moses, and
Joshua, and Caleb, have gone to their rest, and Israel, bereft of their
counsel, follow wise or evil advices as a wayward fancy may dictate, and
receive a corresponding recompense at the hands of their God. The
children proved in no respect wiser or more obedient than their fathers.
Again and again "they forsook the Lord and served the idols of the
Canaanites, and in wrath He gave them up to their enemies." Often in
pity he raised up for them deliverers who would lead them for a time in
better paths, "but when the judge was dead, they returned, and corrupted
themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve
them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings