The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-12-10

ing, Let us gather together enough Of
material and lift our wallis as high as
heaven, and we will be Independent of
Sod, Independent of our fellow men,
Independent of the opposing elements.
SO some men and women Of this pres
| ent generation are saying: Let me
gather together SO much gold and sill
yer, let me have 50 many securities in
my safety vault let me own so many
houses and stores and then | shall be
Independent of God and man. The
two statements in figurative sense
are almost Synonymous.
Living For Money.
Here, for instance, is n man who
has surrendered himself. body. mind
and soul, to the purpose of making,
money. He lives and breathes and
eats and sleeps merely for the acquisi-
ton of gold. You never talk to him
five minutes but his talk recurs to
his favorite subje=t i you want
to introduce a frirni d. i'm the first
question he asks is. "I!nr much is he
worth? He judges every hing by the
criterion of money. Good. gold" he
mutters; 81 must have gold" For
years he has led q life of bondage In
his quest for gold. From early morn
Ing until late at night he sticks to the
store. He never takes vacation. His
face gets gaunt, haggard look. He
works so hard that his digestion Is
ruined. He works so hard that in
somnia makes his eyelids most of the
night stand as wide open as an owls.
What is the matter with that olan?
will tell you. He is trying to build a
tower of Babel out of gold He thinks
If he can only build his Midas to one
high enough it will satisfy every want
Of earth and every want of heaven.
Gold, gold!' is his cry. "Give me
gold and everything else. will be add
ed unto me-"
Here In the same way is man
working for fame or political prefer
ment or literary reputation Why?
He thinks either position is a stepping
stone to mighty throne which will
make him independent of his surround
ings. A few years ago the Irish his
torian, Justin Mccarthy, wrote a pow
erful novel entitled eff | Were King"
The plot is laid in the court of the
French king He imagines a young
knight in place of carousal becom-
ing embroiled In a quarrel During
the fight he exclaimed. eff | were
king, then l could right all wrongs and
see that no injustices took place"
These words were spoken in the pres
ence Of King Louis himself "All
right" said the king 81 will let thee
be king for one week. But at the end
Of that week thou must die" SO
some men long for position. They
think that position will get them any
thing. They seem to care not whether
the hangman's moose bangles at the
end Of their days of earthly power if,
for a time at least, in spite of all the
awful cost which they shall pay, they
can only say: IT am king! l am king!"
So was 1t in the land of Shinar while
the walls of Babel were being built
So it Is in our time Comparing this
account Of the building of Babel with
our own method of llfe 1t is clear" as
Parker said, that from the beginning
of time men have been doing pretty
much the same thing all the world
over" Yes, men in the past have be
lieved that by the material things of
life they could defy God And men
at the present day are believing the
same thing
The Same Today as Then.
This incident teaches that, with
fash of the divine eye, God can demol-
ish our towers of Babel on which we
have spent SO many years Of hard la
Dor. There is an old legend that many
years ago one Of the kings of Greece
discovered gold mine in his kingdom
and summoned all his subjects to dig
the treasures for him. Farmers left
their plows and herdsmen left their
sheep and horticulturists their gardens
and trees. The sowing and the reaping
Of the kingdom came to a standstill.
for the king must have his gold Time
passed on, and famine was threatening
the kingdom. The wives of the hus-
DduuQcu Wd1teu Oh the queen anu pro
tested because the king had called
their husbands and brothers from their
farms. SO the queen made q great
feast for the king. She called the gold
smiths Of the royal capital to her aid,
and they fashioned loaves of bread
and punches of fruit and fish and
meats and vegetables out of gold. So
wonderful were the designs that the
king was lost in admiration as course
after course came into the banquet
hall made up of solid gold. But after
awhile the king grew weary and said:
Il am hungry. Bring me something to
eat" may" answered the queen; "how
can bring thee anything to eat but
gold when thou hast driven all thy
subjects from the farms and the or
chards and the gardens In order to get
gold for thee?" So the ancient king
learned his lesson, as many gold seek
ers will yet learn theirs. God allows