New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-09-19
THE MODERN PRODIGAL son.

the sinner down through eighteen centuries
The sympathy of the world has always been
on his side. Whose heart has not ached Tor
the scapecrace-reckless. affectionate, taking
everybody into his confidence, in his wee, DIS
remorse, and his agonyg We all know the
man and love him the divine tenderness OF
the fer givencss which came to him satisfies
us; it was. we think. only what he de'erved.
We take a grim satisfaction too, in the re-
bike given by the Master to the elder brother.
With all his virtues he was but prlg ana
shabby fellow. He was meant in Tact, as the
typical righteous man of the grave, conyen-
tiona, selfish Hebrews. He was tempted
neither nv wine nor women. He saved his
money. He dwelt at home in decencles. lie
did not trouble himself to follow his younger
brother. not he-either to save him from rot
Gus living or from the swine; ana wheh lie
Jaw him return, starving and dl'lnherted, lie
begrudged him even the fatted calf that was
killed TOR him. He was the head of that numer-
Gus body OF bigots and paragons who conceive
religion to mean only the saving OF their own
lives hereafter, and who complaccntiy bld the
sinners of the world go hang or burn. Obe-
dent, stngy, paltry soul! 1t Is no wonder
that the world has always turned cold
shoulder upon his ugly virtues, and. like his
All Merciful Father, has run to meet and to
forgive the luckless fellow who sinned and
loved with his whole heart.
But il seems TO us, that here in America
that Prodigal Son and the Elder Brother have
lately changed characters, and play Il different
role from that in the divine story. Our Prod
igal Son, it is true, wastes his substance III
riotous living, but he does not In consequence
begin to be in want, or become herder or
cattle. He is much more likely to own
million or two, made by watering stock, or
by other tricky dealings. If the trick amounts
to crime. he does not need to ask aid OF any
citizen of the country, but goes TO Europe
until the thing blows over, and becomes a
eompapion, not of swine, but of barons and
princes at Baden. Nobody would insult him
nv calling him a "lostn or dead OuIcast.
On the contrary, everybody treats him with
respect. He and his dongs fill the public
eye. If successful, he is Fisk, a
Tweed-triumphant respondent. Solomon,
favored of God, was not in all
his glory arrayed like one of these.
The mild, slow going. God-fearng Elder
Brother has his small successes, too, but they
u
street. He has to work hard even to bring up
his children into the same class and kind as
himself, slow going. economical, decent II is
not he who is publicly vlrtuOus who shuddcrs
at crime and wraps his religion like purple
robe about him. ~ Is too often his Prodigal
Brother who has stepped before him into the
high places Of the church who, instead of
swilling with swine, banquets with bishops.
He chatters of divine names and the most
awful mysteries with glib familiarity he
wears, ms in the parable, the best robe and
ring as token of forgiveness, but he puts
them on himself. Even in his worst aspects
he is popular favOrte, cOdded and tenderly
cared for. He Is the hero of the newspapers
as thief, adulterer or murderer, while his
modest, honest brother is left In obscurity.
We have outstripped the meaning of the
parable. Our sympathy for the Prodigal Who
drags back his riotous living with HIM unto
his home and his Fathers house is absolutely
maudlin and vicious.
The Elder Brother, too, has completely
changed his position. The plodding unselfsh
soul serves usually now as beast of burden to
carry this idle fellow all the way through. Take
any family in which is one of these brilliant,
idle, lOyable scapegraces, and you will in-
evitably find half dozen other members
ready to sacrifice themselves for him that he
may lounge through life without work or dis
comfort. The washerwoman in your back
alley drudges her life out to keep things COM
Portable for her boy when he shall get out of
Jail and come back to thrash her. How many
poor homes are kept open and ready by these
Shaving, loving, hopeful creatures for the dear
Prodgal when he shall see fit to grow tired
of the harlots and the swine How many
feasts do they set for him, and watch him eat,
thanking God the while! When he has done
he goes back to his vile swll again, leaving
them to watch and hope and make ready
fresh feasts. This wretched tragedy has gone
on with players Of white and black and yellow
skins since time began. Surely we have spent
enough Of sympathy on the Prodigal let us
spare little now for the Elder Brother.
The humane teachings of Christianity in our
modern life have gone far to make of society
itself an Elder Brother, mere donkey on
which the vicious, dangerous, idle class ride at
ease 1t has gone, perhaps, a little too far. The
hard working. law-abidIng citizen accumulates
a competency only to be taxed for the support
of his drunken, lazy kinsman. He not only
works to pay for shelter and food for his chill
dren, but for almshouses and prisons. in which
the convict and pauper who will not work
live at his expense. The curse of labor, oddly
enough, falls nowadays on the obedient son
of Adam-not on the one whom the devil has
tempted. The good easy man tries to per-
suade himself that labor is not curse, but O
blessing. Sometimes he does not succeed.
The gist of the whole matter Is that, while
the Father in the parable ran with forgive
ness to his repentant son, We run with 1t to q
Prodiaal who Is not repentant, and who Is