The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-05-04

when 1t comes. Joseph had not pinned
away his soul and his fitness in prison;
he had compelled the direct circum-
stances to minister to his efficiency. 1t
is often said that the best way to pre-
pare for tOmOrroWS task is by faith
full fulfllment of today's; true enough,
but is it not also true that today's task
is better done if it is realized as a pre-
paratfon for tomorrow's greater task?
A Great Ambition Crowned.
THE living present. is a great
phrase, but the present must also live
in tomorrow. Therefore the power of a
great goal. Joseph took on to the throne
with him all his years in prison, his
stewardship in POtiphars household and
his boyhood dreams beneath the bril-
liant stars of Canaan. There never was
an hour in his life when Joseph was not
ambitious, and all that befen him he
made a servant Of his great purposes
Ambition Is one of Gods levers. Sad
would be the day for the race when the
divine discomfort" ceased to stir in the
hearts of men. The difference between
America and China, America and In
dia. or America and Turkey fs-nobfe
ambition. No nation can ever greatly
achieve whose youth do not greatly
aspire.
I once CHANGED to be aboard the same
ship with a Japanese prince, travelling
as royal envoy to the king of England,
and it was interesting to note his daily
lessons in English, as a fresh proof
ing" As in his perpIeXitfes he had
to turn to a qualified member Of his
suite, so the ruler of Egypt turned 70
Joseph Thus the real king, the man
who can" ever yields a sway over the
hereditary monarch A later wise man
than Joseph wrote, "SeeSt thou man
diligent in his business? He shall
stand before kings" So Joseph proved.
In truth. the clean. self-reliant, self
respecting, efficient man can stand in
his integrity anywhere, and this ability
to stand unabashed in the presence OF
anybody or everybody is one of the
royal privileges of a true man. Joseph
was not embarrassed or put at disad-
vantage when his sudden opoortuTdty
came.
A Kings Bad Dreams.
Still more dreams. This time it was
Pharaoh himself who had been visited
by two dreams, one of seven lean kline |
devouring seven fat kline, and of seven |
scant heads of grain devouring seven
full heads. In his perplexity to find |
an interpreter the remissness of the |
butler was brought home to the latter, |
and he remembered the skillful reader |
of dreams in the prison. So Joseph |
was sent for.
'sUnexcited by the sudden change |
from the prison to the court, and I'M |
elated by Pharaoh's praise, Joseph dis |
claimed any skill of his own; it is not |
in me: God shall give Pharaoh an an
swer of peace This is the Tnodesty |
that springs from true dependence On /
God. The Interpretation was simple, /
but it involved important consequent /
ces The mere guess of a clever dream /
was insufficient to found /
a II years policy on. For this there /
was needed the assured solution OF |
Interpreter. observe |
the difference between speculation and |
revelation: the one being authoritative |
and conscious of its authority, the 9TH
er not. Joseph resists the temptation
to make his fortune by posing as an
adept in the science the magicians pro- /
fessed, and in which they seemed bung-
lers and apprentices when compared
with him. Joseph. not content with IN
terpreting the dream, proceeds to al
wise Pharaoh how to act"
The spectre which Joseph's words
called up was the awful one of famine, |
which vhe Orient knows, but which,
happily. is scarcely understood by the /
Occident. In civilized countries fam
Ines are exceedingly rare, because the /
of brotherhood and interde-
pendence has been wrought into a net
work of railways and commerce which I
has made whole continents one neigh
borhcod. Not so in ancient Egypt; not
so In present-day China. In the latter |
the starving. 1 have heard the re-
echoing cry of the parents pleading for
food and the inarticulate appeal of
infants who knew not that their cry
Of hundreds of claw-Iike hands upon
my clothes; L have seen the deadly |
famine pallor upon the faces of hun
dreds and of all the dire visitations
that can beiall a land, q famine appeals
to me to be the most dreadful. It was
an unspeakable fate from which JOS
eph saved the teeming land of Egypt.
A Young Man on a Throne.
"a romance from real life" we call
the rise of Joseph, and all kindred in
cidents. As If romance were strange
IN real lifel Let me whisper a secret:
It is the practice of at least one great |
American story paper-perhaps the
most celebrated in the world-to clip
from the daily papers news items
which they send to their writer's as a |
possible basis for stories! The discern
ng and imaginative person needs |
nothing but bare record of the days