Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1904-05-19
YOUNG i N W Id OATS

This story is one of the most falnil-
lar pieces of literature in existence.
And the facts which ii portrays in m
cient guise have been enacted in every
year of every age. Through all the
centuries the prodigal son has been q
present problem.
This story is a parable; it is told less
for its facts than for its teachings. 1t
is IL sermon story upon the love of
God. Jesus told it as the climax OF
three parallels of divine love. the 9TH
ers being the parallels of the lost sheep
and of the lost coin. To be understood
1t is necessary to remember that the
parallels We're given as an answer to
the Pharisees who objected to the way
Jesus consorted with publicans and
sinners.
YOUTHS ADVENTURESOM ENESS.
"A certain man llad two sons. and
the Younger OF them said to his father,
Father. give me the portion of thy
substance which falleth to me- Ii
was the Younger son who thu began
the prodigai's course. His blood Was
hot. his self assurance was great. and
his Impotence fretted under the re-
straints of home life. He had all Il
big boys notions about that indefinite
thing called the world" Possibly.
too, that elder brother had something
to do with the younger ones desire to
leave the homestead. The former pos
sibly had not spunk enough TO do any
wandering himself: he was one OF
those small. mean souls, whose SHINING
runs in the grooves of narrow censor
lousnesS and self righteousness. TO
i.ve in the house with him must have
been limos enough To make a prodigal
IF anybody.
So. with his third of his fathers
wealth in his possession, the young
man set out from the old home. The
father did not restrain MIN. He could
not il the son was ever to grow to
manhood. The father could not be-
lueath manhood to his boy along with
God might blot out evil from tho
world, but it would become a world of
weaklings. 1t is where the struggle
FOR existence is hardest that souls are
hardest. Without combat there is no
.haracter. The prodigals father was
wise enough to see that the young man
had to win manhood for himself.
THE BOY WHO GOES OUT WEST.
The near seems commonplace, the
remote attractive. The prodigal might
have stayed at home and had a good
lime with this new liberty. But no,
ne must take his journey into Il far
COUNTRY just as thousands of dissat-
SIZED boys have gone vest thinking
hat life would be easier under changed
Conditions. They nave learned-and
Tortuantely many of them in time 10
profit by the lesson--that the same vir-
ues which success in one
condition command it in another.
II was "a far country indeed. tc
which the Prodigal went. AS the seque.
proved. it was far from happiness. from
A~elpfulness. from friends, from love
The far country is like the mirage
which lures the thirsty traveller on to 3
water,ess desert.
A FOOL AND HIS MONEY.
II is to be remembered that this
Young man was only a young man. His
plunders and sins We're those of imma
.urity. His improvidence was charac
~eristic. The inheritance slipped through
MS fingers easily, he thought it woult
asst forever, rs many another young
man with money has thought; so h,
gave himself up to "a good time.
which. as hat term usually implies
meant being bad. He had the sam,
notion of pleasure that thousands o
young men in our own time hold. Ii
~iotouS dissipation. in extravaganza
nd evil conlpanionship. he thought I
lind pleasure. but this sort of cup ha
!regs of bitterness at its bottom; goo
lines usually turn out bad. The jour
ney of life has as few real pleasures flo
hose who go the pace" as Il landscap
1as beauties for the scorching bicyclis'
PENNiLEss AND FRIENDLEss.
1t is the man without a dollar who re
Allies hard times. After the Prodig;
nad spent all famine overlook him in
hurry. This seems n hardship, but
was the beginning of the youths pros
perity. He began to be in want,
which was good for him, since it stril
per him down to his naked worth. No
came his chance to prove himself; i,
scales. Prior to this he had bee
weighed in along with his money baf
and with his fathers influence. No
ne would learn what he really amour
ed TO. The revelation was NOT vel
Ilattering to him, although it was we
worth While. The hard test of circun
stances proved the young mans ma
ket value to be that of a swineher'
What a fall was there. This young e
luisite, this giver of lavish f%easts, on
a swlneherd, Still. it is better for
man to know raj he really is wort
however great the hardship entaile
than to live comfortably under a del
sion. The best thing the world does f
any one of us is to give us Il just es'
mate OF our owli powers 1t would
the best fortune hat could befall MAJ
4 young a HI goes speeding aloi
In his automobile to be brought i'm
just competition With the young III
chinist who helped make his toy.
HUNGER AS A TEACHER.
Experience is a hard school. b
Tools will learn in no other" run t
proverb. The prodigal had to feel I
teachers rod before he would learn t
lesson. Absolute hunger came to be !
lot. and the of the many fea:
he had shared and given did not less
the pangs of his cravings. Physit
needs reduce all men to one level. T
nungr s"ineherd. once a pampered S
IF luxury. in the fact of starvation W
no bette" than the lowest slave
fn0Snnf IL y-n,,1d 0vyo,, anr4arl xi
the beasts for the dry carob bea
which We're their food.
The young prodigai. like many a
other sinner was brought to his sens