The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-10-17
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

customs and the more involved its So
cial code That is why China is sc
perlexing to westerners. 1t is with
nations as individuals. the further
they progress. the more complicated
their relationships. In youth life
seems very simple. and the young are
prone TO absolute statements; in age,
the wise, who have seen somewhat of
the perplexiRg inteI-weavings of life,
are m ore cautious. They know how
respon sibilities run on to the second
and third generation, and out of unex-
pected persons and places. David the
great found occupying a throne diff
ferent matter from berding sheep; he
discovered obligations and complica-
lions undreamed of in his simpler ex-
istence on the Bethlehem hills.
One way of maki1 short shift of
perplexitieS was in vogue in the orient.
This unwritten law decreed that 1t was
proper as well as safe, to exterminate
your enemies. root trunk and branch,
as soon as you had the power. BY
this method some oriental monarchS to
this day make secure their thrones
When he had completely triumphed
over Saul and had become ruler of the
united kingdom, it was expected that
David would adopt this course. Saul
had harried him almost to death; now
why should he not repay the debt in
kind? That would have been accord
Ing TO precedent, there Is OIlen d
higher wisdom than precedent
A King and Some Dead Dogs.
We do not always receive the dis
tinguished origin of some common
slang here is the phrase, dead dog"
as used to describe person whose
power has departed and who has no
apparent future, proceeding from the
mouth Of King Saul's grandson. Thus
he described himself; thus the know
ing ones Of his day would likewise
have described the family and friends
of the ruling monarch's enemies. Da-
vid was now on top. He had the power
of life and death over his foes. Preee-
dent indicated that he should crush
them.
But David was more than a king; he
was a statesman. He knew that a ma
tional leader can not afford to cherish
grudges. Nothing sits so well upon a
great man as magnanimity. AS Shake
speare says of mercy:
at becometh the throned monarch
better than his crown"
When a certain eminent American,
during the present political canvass,
made a savage attack upon an exposed
and discredited foe, the impression left
upon the public mind was decidedly
bad. There is little wisdom in culti-
waiting enmity. Says Emerson;
1.-THE man who has a thousand friends
Has not a friend to spare;
But he who has one enemy
No disparagement of David's mag
nanimity is meant when it is pointed
out that his kindness to the son of
Jonathan, the only survivor of Saul
line. was an aStute exhibition of states
manship. 1t provided against the all
ways-possible contingency of disaffec-
ton by uniting with the reigning house
the only likely claimant to the throne.
For these dead dogs" whom the self
inflated spurn have q curious habit
Of nj
ing those who had despised them. No
man Is great eonugh or strong enough
to be able to afford the luxury of a
single needless enemy. Better have the
than in hiding out in the wilderness
where they may at any hour become
leaders of sedition.
A Man Lame in Both Feet.
This man with the long name. Me-
phibosheth, must have been peculi-
arly attractive personality. He evil
IDENTIFY possessed those traits which at
tract friendship; and the person so
gifted has a greater wealth than
legacy of gold and land. Even as
child of five Mephobisheth won 10y
atty. When the terrible news came to
court of the death of Saul and Jona-
than at Gilboa, and panic reigned in
the palace, everybody seeking his own
safety, regardless of aught else, there
was a nurse who did not forget her
little charge. the prince.
In her fearful flight, however, she
stumbled and dropped her burden. He
was famed in both feet for life by that
accident. Perhaps it was because the
injuries could not be at once attended
to that they were made permanent. At
any rate, the nurse, loyal and grieved
over the mishap which had befallen
her little master through her, bore
him to place OF safety.
There again we find another loyal
heart; a man who could not do great
deeds but who possessed in surprising
degree a genius for beng true. Away
off in GiIead, across the Jordan. in the
obscure pasture of Todebar, Machir
sheltered the little lame prince. This
all but unknown man illustrates the
principle that he who is loyal to one
will be loyal to another; for when
long afterwards David was fleeing
from Absalom, 1t was Machir who vol
UNFAIRLY supplied him with food and
refreshment.
Ziba, too. one of Sauls retainers of
some Importance, appears in a noble
guise-until his Character becomes
perverted by graft. For he waited on
Mephibosheth and dared to take the
the lame princes friend. AS he had
shared his masters exile, he now
shared his exaltation-they that suf-
fer with the prince, we are told, shall
also reign with him. Years later, af-
ter he had been corrupted by life at
court this courtier, with his fifteen
sons and twenty servants, coveted Me-
phibosheth's estates; and when David
was in flight from Absalom, ziba
charged that his master had sided
with the handsome usurper. Embit-
tered by his own sons ingratitude and
his Judgment warped thereby, David
accepted at face value rne charges of