The Camel.
WHAT a queer fellow the camel looks, with his long legs, and his long neck, his small head, and the hump on his back. But though he may not be very beautiful, he is perhaps one of the most useful animals man possesses. How should we ever cross the hot sandy desert, if we had no sure footed camel to ride. “The ship of the desert,” I dare-say you have often heard him called. The same God who gave the bear his warm, thick coat to withstand the cold of the far North, made the camel in every way suited for his appointed work. His foot consists of two long toes resting upon a hard-elastic cushion, with a tough horny sole, so that he is able to walk upon the loose hot sand without difficulty. His mouth is so hard, that he can eat the thorny plants he meets with in the desert, and his long neck, enables him to reach them as he is passing by. He is also able to drink a large amount of water at one time, as much perhaps as ten or eleven pails full, and this he can store away inside him, and it lasts for three or four days. Sometimes when travelers are crossing the wide sandy deserts of Arabia, all the water in their skin bottles is used up. No well is to be seen, what can be done? Must they all die of thirst? There is just one thing left to do; a camel must be killed, and inside him is found the precious little store of water, which perhaps saves the lives of all the party. I daresay you think nothing would persuade you to drink it, but you do not know what a terrible thing it is to be dying of thirst. The camel can scent water for a long, long way, and on some occasions when all hope has been given up, he will prick up his ears, and suddenly gallop off towards a well or spring which he has discovered in this way.
When a camel is going to have a rider on his back, or a load put on him, he is made to kneel down. He has large strong pads on his knees so it does not hurt him. Most camels dislike very much to have a load put on their backs, and they groan and moan all the time, as I have seen children do when they are asked to do something useful. Of course, the poor camel does not know any better, but children can understand that if they wish to please the Lord Jesus, they must “do all things without murmurings and disputings.”
It is not at all pleasant to ride on a camel’s back. Even men are sometimes thrown off, and as for women and children, they are often put in large boxes, which are strapped on to the camel’s back.
We read in the book of Genesis, that Rebekah, was brought from her home in Padan Aram, to the tent of her husband Isaac, on the back of a camel. Rachel, too, rode on a camel when traveling with her husband Jacob. We read a great deal about camels in the Bible. Some of the old patriarchs owned a large number. Job had 3000, and do you remember what happened to them? Why, they were all stolen from him in one day. But Job did not complain against God, though this was only one of the many trials he had. Job bore his trials patiently, and when the Lord had taught him the lesson He had for him to learn in them, He gave him back twice as much as he had at first. For God does not send us troubles for nothing. He cares too much for us to do that. Each trouble is for some good purpose, and we must ask the Lord to teach us our lesson in it.
I could tell you much more about these bid ugly beasts, if I had time—how the Arabs drink their milk, and eat their flesh, and make their hair into cloth for tents or wraps, and we read that John the Baptist wore a mantle of camel’s hair. Then I should like to tell you what cross disagreeable tempers they have, and yet how fond their masters are of them, and how, when they lie on the road, instead of beating them, they often sing songs to them, but all my time and space have gone, so I must just say, good night, dear children, hoping that you will all try to be as useful as the camel, without grumbling as much as he does.
ML 10/24/1909