The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-12-07

| thee: for whittier thou goest l will go;
and where thou 1odgest, 1 will lodge; thy
people shall be my people, and thy God
my God.-Ruth lis
Family rela tionships are the novels
popular theme. They represent ro-
| nance and problems. They lie back
of the great emotions of life. A recent
| bankers suicide has as it's first motive
| violated family relationships. This is
the background and cause of most of
the misery in human life. What is
better. family relationships underlie
most human happiness. There are no
joys like home joys. There are no
friends like family friends. Earth has
home life. This is the great reward,
normal existence.
This old story which the Sunday
schools are to study for a day is a
domestic idyll. at least in its early
part. 1t runs as smoothly as a limpid
stream. There are no spectacular
events; no extraordinary heroisms.
tragedies or loves. 1t is just such a
tale as is being enacted daily all over
the world among the common people.
The moving van is one of the COM
the imaginative mind profoundly.
What undreamed-of changes may fol-
low in its wake! The moving which
was designed merely as a measure of
convenience, economy or additional
luxuries, may represent a complete
transformation of the family history.
1t means new neighbors, new al
liances, new environment, new wives
and husbands for children, and alto
gether a new set of life influences. We
should give heed to moving, as to mar
rying, for the consequences of both
reach far.
Naomi left her Judean home be-
cause of famine. She went in search
of bread and found a new destiny for
herself. Her life was lifted entirely
out of it's old grooves. and it's future
completely changed. With her hus-
band and two sons she crossed over
into Moab. There. in a heather land,
she maintained a God-fearing home.
When, in course of time. her two sons
married Moabite maidens. Orpah and
Ruth, they too, came under the in
fluence Of the worship of Jehovah.
The daily newspaper, which is con-
temporaneous history, should be read
like all history, with th4 imagination.
Only thus can its pages be Illuminated
beyond commonplaceness. To the see
ing eye each days events are filled
with heroisms, pathos, tragedy, love
and sorrow. Behind the Bibles brief
record of this domestic drama in
Moab. we must see the great human
factors. There was grief-grief such
as only the Orient knows, when
women wall heart-breakingly -
After the first sharp stab of intense
grief, there came the dull, deadening
sorrow of realized loss Then followed
the added burden of maintaining life
without the bread winner. The sor-
rows of death are not worst at the
funeral, but in the revealing days and
months that follow. Husbands and sons
gone, -Naomi's heart turned to- the
homeland. In her loneliness, home
sickness laid its grip upon her. She
determined to go back to Bethlehem,
the village that was alive with tender
memories of her earlier, happier life.
Her two daughters-in-1aw offered to go
with her. She unselfishly rejected their
offer and babe them remain where their
own self-interests were to be served.
Orpah yielded to her mother-in-law's
entreaty and kissed her farewell, but
Ruth chung to her and would not be
sent back.
1t was a. great tribute which Naomi
paid to Ruth, as she invoked upon her
head similar treatment from Jehovah
to that which Ruth had accorded
Naomi and her sons. Ruth must have
been one of those lovable characters
who are good to live with.
These quieter domestic virtues do not
bulk large in the books, but they bulk
largest in life. 1t is more important to
those to whom mans life means most
that he be lovable, unselfish, helpful
man at home. than that he do brilliant
deeds out in the big world.
Ruth was a stand-byer. She was one
of those royal natures to whom loyalty
is cardinal. She was not as brilliant
and versatile as modern society wo-
man, but she did know how to be true.
Perhaps, as subsequent chapters of the
story show, she had not that romantic
love which the novels exalt, but she did
richly possess the greater virtue of 10y
atty. In the extremity of Naomi, the
thrice bereaved, Ruth, whose strong
arms could work for two, would not
fail her. Therefore she uttered that
sublime expression. of loyalty which is
one OF the treasures of all literature:
"Entreat me not to leave thee.
And to return from following after thee:
For whittier thou goest, I Will GO;
And where thou lodgest. will lodge:
Thy people shall be my people,
And thy God my Cod
thou dieSt i will die.