David's life was ever an easy one. He always
had hard battles to fight. Once, for quite a long period, he was an
outlaw, much like Robin Hood of a later day, and with a band of brave
young men he lived in the woods and the mountains, defending the
property of his friends from other outlaws, and sometimes perhaps making
forays against his foes, sweeping off their cattle and burning their
tents and houses. Those were wild and exciting days, when the battle was
for the strongest to win, and when many things were done of which in our
modern times we cannot wholly approve. The thing about David which
pleases me most is that he had a rare quality called magnanimity; he did
not take a mean advantage of an enemy, and when, as occasionally it must
be owned, he did commit a great sin, his repentance was deep and
sincere. He lived in so much communion with God, that God spoke of him
always as his servant, and he has been called, to distinguish him from
other heroes in the Bible gallery, "The man after God's own heart."
Whatever duties or trials came to David, they were met in a spirit of
simple trust in the Lord, and with a child-like dependence on God's
will.

David had many children, some very good and some very bad. His son
Absalom was renowned for his beauty and for his wickedness, while
Solomon became famous, and so continues to this day as the wisest among
men, a man rich, far-sighted and exalted, who reigned long in Jerusalem
after the death of David, his father, who passed away in a good old age.
Wonderful lives are these to read and to think of, full of meaning for
every one of us. And many, many years after both these men and their
successors were gone there came to our earth, One born of a Virgin, who
traced His mortal lineage back to David of Bethlehem, and who brought
goodwill and peace to men. Even Christ our Blessed Lord.

End of Project Gutenberg's Holiday Stories for Young People, by Various

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOLIDAY STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE ***

***** This file should be named 16648.txt or 16648.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/4/16648/

Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Janet Blenkinship
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print edi