The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-11-30

Although this is merely a part of
! Obadiah's vigorous prophecy against
the Edomites, who were trouble-mak-
ing heathens that established their
strongholds in the Businesses of the
mountainous land between the Dead
Sea and the Gulf of Akabah, there is
surely an application and lesson IN
it for the people of today, just as
there has been for the men and women
of all time.
| 1t is almost an inherent frailty with
humans, or many of them, to seek to
elevate themselves to lofty pinnacles,
from whence they proceed to look
down with more or less contempt and
disdain on the common herd. One man
is likely to assume to himself all OF
the honesty that there is in his COM
munity, his state or even his nation.
Another will parade himself as the most
righteous. A third will claim to be
the most courageous, physically, or
mentally or in every other way. Some
seem to think they have been provided
with all the brains and reasoning power
that has been passed out to the human
race. Their way is the only right way
Those who differ with them are pitied
or scorned as being little better than
fools.
Sooner or later, though, such gentry
fall with a thud 1t is generally of
the dull and sickening variety. They
usually bring about their own undo
ing. They overreach themselves. Their
arrogance in their respective lines of
endeavor goes beyond the bounds OF
decency. They become unbearable-
And when the final test or struggle
comes they are sized up for just what
they are by their friends as well as
their enemies. They are dragged down
from the high places where they have
attempted to set themselves and cast
away into some dark little corner
where a relentless oblivion wraps
them with its cold and clammy ten
tacles that never let go. How have
the mighty fallen in the midst of bat
tIe!' exclaimed the gifted Samuel.
And he uttered a great truth, the cor
roborative evidence of which can be
found in almost every other page of
the history of the world that tells of
the Vaccinations of men.
Men are lacking in wisdom who do
not appreciate their own abilities, who
are IOl " 1I1chS lAl0IA way
to the top of their chosen spheres in /
life. But they begin to lose their wis |!
dom as soon as they attempt to
demonstrate that they are of a SUI |
perior order. There have been great !
leaders among the people in every !
cline and in every age, men who have |
pushed the wheel of progress and civil |
ization along with mighty and most /
effective shoves. But the most sue /
cessful among them have been modest I
and unassuming. This is as true of
those who have fought on battlefields
of those who have shone in the /
forum or in high executive stations.
The braggadocios, the naughty, the (
insolent and the Yainglorious-such
men and many of them have been con-
Querors for a time and occupy their I.
places in the history of the world,
glamorous as it usually is. But the
world would have moved on without
them and perhaps more swiftly in
the right direction. They will always
be with us as long as the earth en-
dures, but in ever-decreasing num-
bers. The growing intelligence of the
whole people and their keener dis
cernment is beginning to demonstrate
more clearly and forcefully all the
time that such activities and attitudes
fall far short of reaching pay dirt
And 1T is well that this is so.