The Study Circle
A REAL HERO.
It was a sultry hot day. The sun was doing his utmost to see how warm he could make it for the residents of the earth. Men full of excitement were hastily walking to and fro trying to find a shady place for shelter from the burning rays of the midday sun but no concealment was to be found. Their faces were full of despair and their general conduct indicated that something very sad was torturing them.
David, a lad of sixteen, blond, with beautiful blue eyes, a cheerful countenance and full of life and happiness, was leading his father's flock to the pasture. With his little bag hanging over his shoulder and a freshly plucked twig in his hand he merrily strolled along from meadow to meadow, after his sheep, humming a sweet tune as he went along. The heat of the day did not seem to affect him. He walked and walked until he came to a large rock, where he stopped to rest.
While sitting there he thought to himself, "My brothers are in the war with King Saul. I wish father would have let me join the army. It must be great to be on the field so long. By the way, I have a bundle father gave me for them before I left home. That's a splendid chance to see what's going on in camp."
It did not take him very long to make up his mind. He left the sheep with an acquaintance of his whom he met on the road. As he approached the camp he heard a rough voice exclaim, "Ye servants of Saul I defy you and your God!" and the blood flushed his face for shame.
"Is there none in the entire camp that will avenge this insult?" he asked his brothers when he came near them.
"Go and watch your sheep! They will
get lost with you standing here. We did not ask you to come here to rebuke us, nor do we care to hear any of your speeches about our army. Go, home! you might make yourself useful there,” Eliab, his oldest brother. said to him.
But David could not be turned away so easily. He had determined that if there was none in the camp of Israel to avenge this shame he would do it. He waited awhile, and when he saw no one volunteer, he ran to the king and said, "Worthy king, though I am yet young and have never been in the army, still if you permit me. I shall go out against that Philistine."
The king was moved to tears by this lad's appeal.
"What is your name, my son? I admire your courage, but you are too young to die in the hands of that great Philistine giant," the king said to him. "Worthy king," the boy replied, "My name is David, the son of Jesse, and I would much rather die than hear that insult. May I go?"
Involuntarily the king gave his assent, and the boy, full of hopes, ran to meet Goliath the Philistine.
There was excitement in the camp of Is rael. Young and old, soldier and general, were in uproar.
"What! Has King Saul gone crazy that he lets such a youth out to fight that great Philistine, the man whom our bravest men fear and at whose noise the entire army is terrified? Could he find no one bigger to send? Why, he will be as a play toy in the hands of that great Goliath."
These were some of the questions the men asked each other when the news spread through the camp that David was going to challenge Goliath. But this did not bother David. He was not frightened by all this talk, but with an unfaltering