The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1905-10-27

were coming more and more TO show
towards him. He often wondered why
they should feel so, and had he not
been Of such an open, frank, CHEEKY dis
position. overlooking sights and un-
kindly words, and trying persistently
10 meet his brothers on friendly
ground, he would long before have
given up in despair.
Nothing which they did seemed to
rutIle his ever temper, and so pure
hearted and noble and generous in
thought was he that it never entered
his mind to question their motives
towards him. He thought no evil con
corning them, for his nature so lived
in the upper currents of Gods love and
sunshine that he had no conception
OF the base and selfish motives which
Iurked in the shadows and darkness
on the lower levels. To be sure, he
was keenly sensitive to evil and wrong
doing in others, and was always ready
to rebuke it, but never in critical or
unkindly spirit or with that offensive
l-am-holier-than-thou manner He de-
lighted in that which was good and
right, and It never entered his mind
but that others must feel the same as
he. When with his brothers and OBJ
serving their evil ways, as was often
the case when they were away with
the tocks and yielded 10 the tempta-
tons to unClean living, the result of
he influences of the heather nations
among whom they dwelt, he would in
his modest, u%nassuming way point out
the wrongdoing, and just as the clear,
1ull rays of the sun reveal without
fear or favor the pure lily reaching
up towards heavens blue as well as
the loathsome bug crawling in the dirt
at its foot, so Joseph, in talking with
mis- father, openly and freely and
frankly told all that transpired. II
would have been as hard for him ia
conceal and owe up as to share in
the w%rongdoing itself, and SO not ONLY
had he incurred the dislike of his
brothers through his innate good quail
ties, for evil is always condemned and
disquieted in the presence of that
which is good, but they hated him for
bringing the stories of their doings to
their father. And so it had come to
pass that they could not speak peace
ably to him, and as they saw him com.
ing towards them that morning they
had no smile or word Of greeting for
him.
without apparently noticing their
~unfriendly looks and surly response ia
his CHEEKY: Peace be to thee" the
common salutation when persons met
he unslung his skin bottle of goats
milk and placed it on the round he.
side the basket of bread, saying as he
did so:
There's a treat for YOU. Father
thought the milk and the fresh baked
bread would taste better than the pro.
visions you brought with you"
Without a thank you" save from
Reuben, the Oldest son, who rudely
calculated: We'll, you do do some.
useful once in awhile" tbe
seated themselves on the
ground and eagerly fell to, devourinr
he food Joseph had brought with that !
enthusiasm and relish which comes !
from a good appetite, stimulated by
Lneir vigorous outdoor life. :
Father said | could stay and helm :
you finish with the harvesting" 10 ,
'eph said, as he took up one OF the
'ickles and set to work on the waving
grain before him. After some half dozen y
Iheaves had been thus deftly finished. !,
lie paused to lay aside his outer robe, (.
which hampered the full freedom OF !,
movement, and as he did so he :,
'hanced to glance in the direction of !,
lis brothers and noted that they were !,
ying the garment with peculiar In. :
Proudly holding it out, he ex. !"
laimed:
Father made it for me. Is 1t not !,
retty?" !
There was no response save an i'll. !,
atured grunt of apparent d~isapproyal. !,
nd Joseph, without noticing it, went n
n to say: :,
II got the different colored cloths n
rom a trader who'stopped with us the "
day. I wanted him to make it q