The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1901-12-20

Aud they answered, Thy servant our father
is we'll"
A boy born in Mesopotamia about
364S years ago, was SO fine fellow, was
so great favOrite with his father, and
his prospects were 50 promising, that
his selfish brothers regarded him with
displeasure and aversion. Accordingly,
when he was with them one day, in
his seventeenth year,-they were in a
wild region nearly fifty miles from
home.-a caravan laden with Spices
balSam and myrrh came along on it's
way to Egypt; and the brothers of the
lad, moved with envy and hatred, sold
him to the Ishmaelite merchants for
$1,000, and he enters Egypt as a slave.
Now pass along over fourteen years
and take another look: the slave be-
comes prime minister of Egypt. second
only to the monarch himself. "Accord-
ing unto thy word," said Pharaoh.
''Shall all my people be ruled; only in
the throne will I be greater than
thou
Pass along now over eight years, and
behold. From a land of famine and
distress, the unnatural and inhuman
brothers have come down a second
time to the Nile country for provisions;
and with money, they have brought a
present to conciliate the favor of the
exalted parsonage whose hand guarded
the granaries of Egypt-a present of
balm and honey, spices and myrrh,
nuts and almonds: and now at noon
day, with dread and anxiety, they bow
themselves to the earth before the lord
of Egypt, their unknown brother. My
hearers-SO far as the testimony goes
what was the first specific question
which Joseph asked his trembling
brothers? SIS your father well, the
old man of whom We spake? And they
answered, Thy servant our father is
well:''
HOW ARE YOU:
The point now to be observed is that
the inquiry which the wise and power
full son Of Jacob and Rachel, thirty-six
hundred years ago, put first, is the one
which the farmer on these Litchfeld
hills, be he rude or cultured, first asks
on meeting an acquaintance: How are
you? What is the state Of your health:
1t is for cause that this inquiry had
the precedence thirty-SiX centuries ago,
and that it has the precedence to-day.
This cause resides partly in the com
mon prevalence of disordered and de-
bilitated bodies. Not infrequently,
GLOW are yOu?' elicitS the reply: |
have an annoying cold, or touch OF
rheumatism in my right shoulder, OF
tired back. or lack Of endurance, OF
blueneSS Of spirits. But one often
replies in an unthinking, routine, con
vcntinnal way: | am well, or very
well. or pretty well. and may imme'
diattly awake to the consciousness that
what he said is contradicted by the
facts. lie may even find himself
smiling at the obvious inappOsiteness
Of his reply. Then, again, when one is
at the present free from pain and in.
convenience, he may reply to the
familiar greeting, | am comfortable,
or comfortably well, though he is the
victim of serious disorder, perhaps a
variety of disorders.
When however you accost your
neighbors and fellOw-citiZens with the
everyday inquiry, How are you? a
customary response and just one be-
cause conformable to fact, is, Usually
well, AS well as usual, AS we'll as com
mon. This in most cases is equivalent
to saying, My health is as defective
as usual: the impCrfectiOnS of my
bodily state are such as am accuStoM.
ed to, neither aggravated, nor dimin'
ished. The respondent who is-As
well as usual, may have brain that
is liable to become uncomfortable with
an excess or Il deficiency of blood; or
his nerves may be enfeebled and dis.
leascd, and making mischief through
out the whole man; the stomach may
be in morbid condition, performing
it's functions very imperfectly, the re-
| suit being an evil known as indiges-