The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1882-09-08
A Rabbinical Legend.


/. And il came to pass when Solo
mon, the son of David, had finished
the Temple at Jerusalem, that he pre-
pared feast for his chief Craftsman
and artiticers, and spread the tables
with the fatness of the land, and with
the wine and core and oil thereof
2. And the seat of the King was
apart on raised dais facing the head
of the table, and the two famous pill
lars of bronze with their beautiful cap
itals of lilies, pomegranates and deli
cate network stood, one on his right
hand and the other on his left, and the
Intel thereof was asa canopy over the
head of the King.
3. And Solomon had also prepared
a seat of honor, and set it on his right
hand, ready for that Craftsman who
might be pronounced most worthy
among all who wrought in building the
house of the Lord.
4. And when all was ready he call
ed unto bis chief architects and master
overseers, aud the head artifcers, who
were cunning workers in gold and sill
yer, III bronze and ivory, and in wood
and stone, yea, all who had labored in
building the Temple of the Most High,
md he said unto them
5. "Come now with me and partake
of the feast which | have prepared.
Stretch forth your hands Eat, drink
md be merry. The skilled artifcer is
worthy of honor. Is not the laborer
worthy of his hire 2 Muzzle not the
)x that treadeth out the corn upon the
floor.
6. And when Solomon and his
guests had arrived at the place of the
east they beheld man clad in the
sarb and covered with the soil of labor
eated in the chair of honor not yet
awarded. And the King waxed wroth
md said
"What manner of man art thou
Why comest thou thus unseemly and
lnbidden to our feast, where none are
invited save the chief workers on the
Temple p
And the man answered and said
"Please you, came not unbidden.
Vas it not proclaimed that this day
he chief workmen of the Temple dine
With the King. Therefore am l
,ome.
And when the man had thus spoken,
he guests talked with each other, and
le who carved the cherubim spake
loud and said:
This fellow is no sculptor. l know
i'm not"
And he who inlaid the roof with pure
,old said:
"Neither is he of those who work in
efned metals"
And he who wrought in raising the
walls said:
"He belongs not with those who are
utters of stone"
And one who labored in shaping the
imbers for the roof said:
"We who are cunning in cedar wood,
nd know the mystery of joining
TRANCE tmbers together, know him not.
lie is not of us.
Then said King Solomon:
"How sayst thou now? Wherefore
hould | not have thee plucked by the
'eard, scourged with scourger and
toned with stones even unto death 2"
But the man was nowise daunted,
nd he rose from his seat, and came to
where the wine was set, and took cup
# the wine and raised it high and
pake aloud, saying: 80 King! live
orever!' Then he drank long until
he cup was emptied."
He now returned to the seat ard
pake to the guests who had rebuked
i'm, and said unto the chief of the car
'ers of stone:
"Who made the instruments with
which you carve?
And he answered The Blacksmith.
And to the chief of the workers of
wood he said:
"Who made the tools with which
'ou feied the cedars of Lebanon and
haped them into pillars and roof for
he Temple?"
And he also answered: "The Black
mith."
Then he spake unto the artificer in
gold and ivory and precious stones,
aging:
"Who fashioned the Instruments
With which you wrought beautiful orna-
nents for my lord the King?'
And he, too, made answer the same,
The Blacksmith"
Then said the man to Solomon:
'.Behold, O King! am he whom,
when men deride, they call Blacksmith,
,ut when they would honor me, they
,all me the Son of the Forge These
craftsmen say truly that am not of
hem. ! am their superior. Without
ny labor first, their labor could not be.
The great Tubal Cain, whom all men
lonor, taught those who in turn taught
ne my handicraft, and the mighty Nul-
IAN, who wrought in fire and smoke
md sweat as | do Was it deemed fit
ng he should have even the Queen of
Beauty to wife ?"
"Son of the Forge said Solomon,
|, too, honor thee, thou worthy success
'or of the great master, Tubal Cain.
Fake thou this seat at my right hand,
for the most worthy. IL is
.hy due"
Thus it came TO pass at the feast of
solomon, the wise King of Israel, and
from that time forth the Smiths were
held in high esteem, and greatly in
creased and multiplied in all lands