56

430 LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS

and desert places, John saw his wonderful vision on the Isle of Patmos with
naught in sight but the sea and sky. It was in a lonely place that Jacob wres-
tled with the angel. The transfiguration was on a mountain. No wonder that
Moses wandering in the vast and silent desert, after killing an Egyptian and
brooding over the oppressed condition of his people, should hear the voice
of Jehovah saying, "'I have seen the affliction of my people." Paul was not in
Damascus but on his lonely way thither when he heard a voice from heaven.
The heart beats louder and the soul hears quicker in silence and solitude. It
was from the vastness and silence of the desert that Mahomet learned his
religion, and once he thought he had discovered man's true relation to the
Infinite he proclaimed himself a prophet and began to preach with that sort
of authority and power which never fails to make converts.

Such speculations were for me ended by the startling whistle of the loco-
motive and the sound of the rushing train– things which put an end to reli-
gious reveries and fix attention upon the things of this busy world. In passing
through the land of Goshen I experienced a thrill of satisfaction in viewing
the scene of one of the most affecting stories ever written– the story of
Jacob– how his sons were compelled by famine to go into Egypt to buy
corn; how they sold their young brother Joseph into slavery; how they came
home with a lie upon their lips to hide their treachery and cruelty; how the
slave boy Joseph gained favor in the eyes of Pharaoh; how these brothers
who had sold him were again by famine brought face to face with Joseph
who stipulated that the only condition upon which he would again see them
was that they should bring their young brother Benjamin with them; how
Jacob plaintively appealed against this arrangement by which his gray hair
might be brought down in sorrow to the grave, and finally, through the good
offices of Joseph, the happy settlement of the whole family in this fertile land
of Goshen. Than this simple tale nothing has been written, nothing can be
found in literature, more pathetic and touching. Here was the land of Goshen,
with fields yet green, its camels still grazing and its corn still growing as
when Jacob and his sons with their flocks and herds were settled in it three
thousand years ago.

The fertilizing power of the Nile, wherever the land is overflowed by it,
is very marked, especially in contrast with the sandy desert. It is seen in the
deep, black and glossy soil, and in the thick and full growth and deep green
color of its vegetation. No fences divide field from field and define the pos-
sessions of different proprietors. To all appearance the land might belong to
one man alone. The overflow of the Nile explains this feature of the country.
as its mighty floods would sweep away such barriers. The mode here of graz-