“ He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Often have I roamed through the shepherd country in my youth and seen how hard it is to choose the right path for the sheep; one leads to a precipice, another to a place where the sheep cannot find the way back, and the shepherd was always going ahead, ‘leading’ them in the right paths, proud of his good name as a shepherd.
“Some paths that are right paths still lead through places that have deadly perils. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, is the way the psalm touches this fact in shepherd life. This way of naming the valley is very true to our country. I remember one near my home called ‘the valley of robbers,’ and another, ‘the ravine of the raven.’ You see ‘the valley of the shadow of death’ is a name drawn from my country’s old custom.