The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1906-10-04

again she fell 10 the bottom OF the
well. "Ah." size cried, Il know now
what | must do. | must never look
down. but always look up. Then as l
keep my eyes upon that star it viii
lift me up and up until / stand upon
the firm ground overhead" Thus she
did; thus she rose. Beautiful alleSory
that. It is the allegory Of life. Life
should have its stars which lift and
not its introspections and backward
looks which drag us down. a man
should not be Ike a gopher. with a
little hole, now and then rushing out
to take q peek at the world and then
rushing back into his little black dun
geon. He should not sit upon small
mound of dirt and look out over the
broad prairies and chatter, "See how
big am" But he should be ike a
traveller, always with his vision focus
ed upon the distant hills. He should
be continually striving to reach that
which he has not attained. Egotism
for the most part is nothing but a
bubble of self complacency filed with
air One puncture and it will burst
and be gone forever.
But the saddest fact to me about
bankrupting egotism is that 1t drives
from our sides the very best friends
that we have. 1t drives away those
true men and women who want to be
our friends and who want to help us
if we will only let them. | mean those
friends who are thinking of our inter
est rather than their own. We simply
turn to them and say: Thank you,
gentlemen. am perfectly able to take
care of myself. If you will clean your
own front doorsteps l will look after
my own" In one sense we are in ex-
actly the same condition as was the
young Prince Rehoboam, who had just
inherited King Solomon's throne.
Rehoboam's Mistake.
You know the simple story. No SOON
ar was the old king dead than dele
CATION of the Hebrew people came to
the young prince and said: Your maj
esty, it is simply an imposslbiIity for
DtODAc " OCdl any iOASCA tA1C k1t7ef1
taxation which your father put upon
us. These aqueducts and public gar
dens and temples and houses may be
very beautiful. but they are paid for
by the sweat and blood of the common
people. Now, therefore, make thou the
grievous service of thy father and his
heavy yoke which he put upon US light
err, and we will serve thee" The young
prince answered: II will consider your
petition. Come again after three days.
md l will give you my answer" That
was we'll said, Rehoboam. No man has
4 right to decide a great question of
fife hastily. Now, what did the young
prince do in the meantime? First he
went to the aged counselors of his dead
father. That Is, he called in the tried
old prime minister and the secretary of
the treasury and the minister of the
interior These old statesmen had beer
tested by many years of service They
knew the policy of the past reign, and
they knew what was just-what the
new king could do and what he could
not do. AS honest and tried veterans
these gray haired, well trained states
men said: your majesty, the men OF
this delegation are not meters of re
bellion. They are as loyal to you as
they were to your father. But the taxes
are too heavy. The people are grooming
under them Make them lighter. Say a
few conciliatory words to these men
and your reign will be long and hap
py." Thus spake the wise old men.
But the young prince was not salts
fed with the advice of these old men
So he went to the companions of his
youth. He called in these sycophants
who were accustomed to make Sport
with him. He said: Boys, what would
you do? This delegation waited upon
me this morning, and the old states
men told me l had better knuckle down
to Them" With that the young men
answered: ''What-are you not king
Are you going to sit upon throne and
not rule? l would tell these men that
should do as | pleased and that my
word was law. l would say: My ia
Their made your yoke heavy, and Will
add to your yoke. My father also chas-
tised you with whips, but l will ehas-
tise you with scorpions. A smile OF
Measure now lights up the face of the
Young prince, and his egotism is beau
tifully tickled and fiattered. Then he
forsook the counsel of the old men and
clave to the counsel of the young men
and thereby lost most of his kingdom.
oh, my brothers, are we like Reno
boam in our ruinous egotism, driving
the best friends we have from our side
Are we going to turn our backs upon
the dear. good, noble Christian men
and women who have loved our parents
for fifty years? When these Christian
disciples come to lis and say: Young
man. I love you for your fathers sake
NV boy, don't drink" shall we flush up
and answer, II will do just as
please?" When that dear good man
saws to us, My son. you had better
curb that temper or it will ruin you,
shall we drive our fangs into him with
their bitter venom? There is no need
of my running through the long list OF
your Weaknesses. You know what they
are better than do. Your true friends,
your best friends, have warned you
against them. Are you going to drive
those true friends from your side, as