Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-09-19
THE MEN WHO MAKE A NATION.
The International Sunday School
Lesson for Sept. 20 is Quar-
terIy Review.
BY WILLIAM 7. ELLIS.

BY WILLIAM 7. ELLIS.
Daily newspapers will always con-
tinue to be more attractive to the
great body Of people than wise and
! informing volumes, for the simple rea-
son that the newspaper mirrors life.
Whatever its faults and shortcomings,
! it must be admitted of the daily press
that it quite fairly represents contem-
poraneous human nature. Flesh and
blood persons walk through its pages
every day. They work and love and
quarrel and aspire and sin, just as
they do in life. In other words, the at
/ tractiveness of journalistic history is
it's biographical aspect Carlyle said
1.-THE best history is biography" We
most clearly understand events and
epochs as they are embodied in the
careers of the actors who had part in
them. Therein, too, is the charm of the
| Old Testament and history of the
Jews. The second narrative depicts
the living, breathing men and women
whose lives were interviewer with
the events described.
For three months the Sunday
oShOolo VI lie WI nave DScu STUDY
ing an epochal period in Israe's his
tory, as they have read it in the lives
of three or four outstanding men.
These were the makers of the new ma
ton To know them is to understand
the history of the Jews as a nation
passed from theocracy to kingdom.
Two anointed men are the outstand-
ing figures, and the spiritual and polit-
1cal decline and rise respectively of
these characters has held the center
of interest
SO from the heights Of will
l1ife's parting stream descends,
And. as moment turns the slender
rill,
zach widening torrent bends,
from the same cradle SIDE
From the same mothers knee.
One to long darkness and the frozen
tide,
One to the peaceful sea.
A Leader Who Stood Fast.
Luminously written on the very sur
face of these familiar stories. which
most persons learn to love in child
hood, is the lesson that it is the spirit
that makes the man and that makes
the nation. When person or a peo-
pie loses spiritually, all is lost. The
state Of the heart underlies all other
conditions. Saul declined in spirit ere
he began to totter on the throne; Da-
vid grew in spiritual power and in ia
vor with God before he grew in the
graces of the people. Then as now the
moral character and the spiritual
training of the nation and of it's lead
ers were the determining factors in
its destiny. Our own land is to be
shaped, not by the strife and contend
ing ambitions and policies of the pol
iticians, but by the quiet, impercepti-
bic forces Of religion and morality. AS
Wordsworth says:
Nor yet
Grave this within thy hearty If spir-
itual things
Be lost through apathy, or scorn. or
fear,
Shalt thou thy humber franchises
support,
However hardly won or Justly dear;
What came from heaven to heaven by
nature clings,
And if discovered thence, its course
is short"
The beginning of the trouble of old
Israel, like the troubles of many a
modern man, was the desire to follow
the fashion. 1t was not courageous
enough and wise enough to live it's
life in its own way. Because the
neighboring nations had kings, Israel
would not be content until it too had
king. The wise counsel of the man
Of God, the last OF the judges, veneer.
able Samuel. It disregarded. Neverthe-
less, Samuel did not fall into a pet
and sulk because his advice was not
needed. He counseled the people fair
ly and bravely, yet did not desert
them when in perversity they chose
to follow folly. It was a magnificent
spectacle which this grand old man of
Israel presented as, rejected from the
place of leadership himself. in the re-
lection of the kingship of Jehovah,
whom he represented he yet faithful
ly sought to help his people make the
best Of their second choice. For him.
self he was an immortal example of
first grade man in second place.
Seeking Asses, Finds Throne.
Diligently seeking some stray asses.
the handsome youth Saul comes upon
the scene. That day, when he had left
the home of his father Kish, In pur-
suit of commonplace task, he little
dreamed that he w:ls to find instead
the pathway to throne. Head and
shoulders above his fellowmen, OF
magnificent physique and comelines,
with the ardor of youth In his heart,
purified by real spirituality, he was
figure to win admiration as he came
face to face with this great opportuni-
ty.
Like many later counterpart, Saul
could not stand prosperity and honor.
He grew big in his own sight. He
thought too much OF Saul and too lit
tie OF duty and of God He was an
early example of that familiar type of
man who walks through life as in a
lane of mirrors, seeing only himself,
whichever way he turns. Satisfied
with this image h. soon ceased to
grow. Saul the big became Saul the
little: Saul the modest became Saul
the vain; Saul the nlagnarimous be-
came Saul the jealous. He lost his
crown Of kingly character long before
he lost the crown of Israel. In the
sense of the modern colloquialism, he
lost his head" years before a Philis-
tine sword touched his neck.
A Mean Sre's Noble Son.
As unreined selfishness and vanity
ALWAYS are a sorry sight so Sa,l nra