The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-02-25

son. for February 26 Is. EllJan
Meets Ahab in NabOth's Vineyard
l Kings Fl.
nv WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
WICKED woman. coVet-
Y ous king, a guileless property
"a holder and fearless proph-
- ct are the characters in TINS
WkA 81 story. The woman takes the
- first place in the action, and
.- sta was the famous JeZebel, she
should be given most consideration;
for is not the woman queStlon one o1
the live issues of today?
The instance is the familiar one of
King Ahab's desiring TO annex tle
adiacent vineyard of Naboth to the
oval grounds Naboth refused to part
1,-ith his ancestral inheritance, so Jeze-
bel craftily had him slain For
+his deed Elijah pronounced con-
formation upon the king and his
queen.
The Thirst for More Land.
No census taker can rake record
Of the farmers homes that are hVlns
lives of poverty in order that an al
accent section of land may be ADDED
tn the already extensive homestead.
The lust for land is one OF the temp
tations of all property holders 10
have a fair share of the earth sur
face on which to erect home, IS an
honorable ambition, would that II
might steal into the hearts OF more
dwellers in city apartments ana Ten
ements. But the discomfort Wnlch viii
not rest without more acres and yet
more no matter how much hardship
their acquisition may impose upon
neighbor, is quite the reverse OF
noble.
When a man grows land hungry he
is prone to forget the other man
rights Ahab wanted the vineyard OF
he already had royal
gardens Failure to buy them threw
him into unkingly sulks His real
estate nerve had been touched. The
same sort of antics are played TO-DAY
by men who should be rich ana con
tented in what they already possess
Especially let the taxes go up a few
dollars in the aggregate. and oeholu
the tumuIt All of US have known
good citizens to raise more protest
over a slight increase in the tax
rate, for some purpose of pubic Wei
fare. than they ever did over any
moral danger that threatened their
neighborhood. If men were as sensi-
tive about the moral STANDARDS
around them as they are about Inc
tax rate there would be less wicked
ness in the world.
Ahab forgot that he was king ana
a grown man. No disappointment in
merely material things should have
f1e erect upon a mature person con-
duct that this really trifiing episode
had upon King Ahab. He seemed u
have been more worried over Nd
both's VINEYARD than he had been over
the three years drought in the lana.
Certainly he showed less distress over
the idolatrous innovations OF his
heather wife
Good Citizen's Martyrdom.
- Virtue does not always get reward |
ed. The brave citizen. Naboth, who j
knew his rights and stood Tor IneIIl'
because he possessed certain princ1-
o1es that We're more important in his
eyes than the kings Favor, fares bad
Nv in this story. He would not sell
his ancestral inheritance. Family
rights and obligations meant much TO
him though Ahab might regard them
lightly and disdain his royal obliga- |
tions. Naboth had a sound pride in
his name He remembered his fathers
and he would not shame them by
loosely parting with that which had |
cost them dear. A sturdy, stout
hearted, good citizen was Naboth; one
of the sort who are the pillars Of a |
state.
True, he had more principle than !
tact. Had he been more polite he /,
would have known that it is not safe !
to make powerful enemies. The guile |
full man does not anger a king. But |
he pinned his faith to abstract prin- |
ciples of Justice He knew he was
right, and the retention of that land
was a point of honor with him. Alas,
though right is often on the scaffoId
and wrong upon the throne. The evil
have from the day of Cain slain the
good; and Naboth was craftily sent
to his death, while the Vaccinations
of the kings wife succeeded" as the
world counts success.
Enter the Woman.
Like many another man in high
place, Ahab had an ambitious wife.
That possession may be the greatest
blessing or the greatest curse. We
rightly laud the countless host of good
women who have inspired their hus-
bands to larger achievements; the best
asset a young man can have at the
beginning of his career is a level
headed, religious wife. On the other
hand we keep charitably quiet con
corning the homes that have been made
shipwreck, and the lives that have
gone upon the rocks of failure and
disaster. because of the vain and
thoughtless and selfish ambition of
wives and daughters The motive of
gallantry which possesses many men
in this day is to give their women
folk what they want: and when this
means unlimited finery and social no.
sition and luxuries undreamed of a
generation back, the men work the