The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-09-16
CRY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.0

Daniel 3.
(BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS)
g-lNE evening in the early part
fWA& of this year I stood upon the
highest point in the ruins OF
Ia the palace of Nebuchadnez-
N Ear in old Babylon, and
looked out over the desolate
zraso,otarofan desert that once was
the proud capital of the whole world.
THE soil is red within the city and gray
without; and that is almost the Ohty
sign by which an observer can Iell
where the city began OF eIlueu. Ito
barrenness of this waste is so complete
that only the inspired Inauguration q
the Hebrew seers could picture IT, For
when the prophecies were penney,
these dead fields were teeming Win
life. 4,.o~a
once stood a golden image Of goo'
nrobabIy Marduke, whose ruined tenn
HE is wonder hi1lock- 1t rose ninety
feet high, shimmering beneath In. Ine
rainless sky. I tried to imagine tnls
now dreary stretch of desert as the
scene of an imperial function IKE unto
the Coronation which Great BrllallI
was preparing for King george. VIZ
fail to get the setting of this story
unless we conceive of 1t IN some su 1S.a
terms. It involved the apex OF the
career of a World-conqueror All tne
resources of the empire were oraWH
upon to enhance its magnlhcence. OII-
entail love of pomp and pageantry &C
frated it, The sycophancy of an au-
tocrat's court quickened hands anu
braIns TO do honor to the king. All
the varied officials of FARMING DOM
fnion. each with his own full para
phernalia and attendants OIL s1a'S'
adorned the occasion
Men Who Stood Alone.
So Unsuitable is the vanity of an
oriental monarch, that Nebuchadnez-
Ear decreed universal. Simultaneous
prostratfon in honor of the image
which he had set up, at a given sigma
The stopping Of all the wheels OF n
dustry and traffic at SET houI -
memory of President Mckinley was d
remarkable feat, but 1t did not ap-
proach Babylonian proportions Ila'
was q free-wiu expression OF sof-
rowing neople: this was a compulsory
action. at the behest of an absolute
autocrat, who wanted TO LOOK upon
vast sea of humanity bllIoWlnS III
opeisance to him and his image a
votior on its knees=the thought was
one to stir the pulses of Nebuchad-
As a stab to his pride. spiteful ru-
NOR quickly brought to his ears the
sinister news that three jews laVOI iI's
who stood high before him, had falleo
n make the required obeisance. When
others bent low, they stood uprlghts;
The varying creeds OF the capltdl nS1u
subsequently bent the knee 10 the
lrino,s favorite god. But these Suit
necl5ed Jews had endangered their
Jobs and their lives by standing rlglu
amid the multitude of prone worship
ers.
AZ uncouth saying declares a Scrip
tural truth: God Almighty mates d
gutter" Stronger language than tnat
is used bv the Old Testament to cnar-
acterize disIoyal and ungrateful per
sons. who go directly back upon their
alIegiance When person denper-
a+elv fies a flag, he should stand by
it. That is the great thing IN NE;
Owing is a small matter as compared
with deserving ones post or prlnclples'
The three young Hebrews, SnaordcH'
Meshach and Abednego, may not nave
done the polite thing that day, but
they did the princely thing me MOI
that bowed to the image IS IorgOLIen,
it is as lost as the image itself. But
the three young men are heritage o.
heroisn for the world.
That spirit of fearless independence
is rarer than we like to think A rev
weeks ago the mad mob spirit bursL
from its home in the lawless pit, ana
seized upon the quiet. church-gOlns |
town of Coatesville, Pa. In an hour !
the bulk of the American population
had reverted to a condition or saw
agery: and the foul and lnexcusaple
murder they committed remains as
svlvania and America. It was only one
more instance of the witless, will-less
crowd weakly wOrShlp1ng De1Ore the
hours idol. Amid the four thousand |
who participated in, or assentingly wit |
messed the fiendish torture of a wound |
ed murderer, there was not single |
person with manhood enough to say, |
st serve law and order and justice; L |
will not bend the knee to mob rule ana
the violation of all that civilization
eSfeaue sacred If there had been |
only one such man, Coatesville's no |
bier citizenship might have rallied |
around him and declared, This man |
represents US and not these outlaws.
Every day, in some degree, affords op- |
portGnity for the proving of real man
hood. and for the flying of noble flags /
ShaInu at Babylon.
Not the high and honorable only are
required to be true to their high call
ing I found myself welcomed at Baby
lon by the German excavators there,
solely because I was introduced by my |
servant, Shamu, of Bagdad. They did |
not know me, but him they knew; and
when he, who had Travelled with me /
through hard weeks, vouched for me /
was welcomed. For Shamu has a name /
for faithfulness; this is not the place |
to tell the story of how often he has
faced death rather than desert his en-
ployer. A wide region honors this /
humble servant of the highway, be- |
cause in matters high or low he is |
faithful to his trust
Nothing else in life counts like this |
To have, like the three young He
brews, some convictions that can never |
be abandoned, whatever the cost, is to |
have got hold of the secret of true
manhood. What if all parents could |
be certain. as they send forth their
sons, that, befall what may, they will ,
be incapable of dishonor; would it not |