The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-08-23
(BY WILLIAM 7. ELLIS.)

(BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.)
Today finds the sage for tom or
row in yesterday. What has been is
the guide for what is to be. The
chief function of history is to serve
as a sign-board. This western nation,
setting out on untried ways, con-
fronted by many perplexities may
we'll go to school to the Hebrew ma
ton at its beginnings, more than
three thousand years ago. For tnere
are great patriotic and social lessons
bound up in that experience, even as
there are admonitiOns for the indiVid-
uaI life
1t was all a question of the wis
dom of going forward in new and
untried ways Is such national eN-
pertinent wise; or is it not better to
endure the ills We know than to fly
to those We know not of? Shall we
adhere to the old conditions even
though evil, rather than risk the hard
ships that are involved in the attain
Inent of the new? Have we the cour-
age to throw off old yokes, and dare
the untried ways? Before they were
a month out of Egypt the Jews were
bewailing their folly in having left the
certain comforts of slavery.
Although they knew it not-any
more than we know it today-the chill
dren of Israel were being tested. Their
fitness for the blessings of liberty and
government was being prObed.
They thought they were judging
Moses and Jehovah, although all the
while they were being judged them
selves. Judgments judge the judgers.
What a man says about another is
often chiefly illuminating for what it
reveals about himself. y circuit
Chautauqua has been going through
hundred communities this summer.
and. naturally, all the neighbors are
passing judgment on it. At the same
time, the towns themselves are being
appraised by the Chautauqua. al
though that side of the question never
a a1DRai them. What the [
Jews thought was the testing OF
Moses. was really the proof of them |
selves.
SOftened by Slavery.
Let US go gently here. and not pour |
the walls of our condemnation upon |
these yvhimpering eXiles- They were |
only a month out of slavery. Their |
condition had robbed them of virile |
manhood. The worst thing about |
slavery is that it gives people the souls |
OF slaves. Now the Jews would nave |
TO pay the price of having had some
body else do their thinking and plan
ming and providing for them during
the long generations under the lash. /
This is the factor in the negro ques-
zion which is too often ignored
Attempting to exchange dependence
for independence, slavery for freedom.
the very depths of the souls of these
Jews would be searched Their lead
er had the problem OF tittinS them
for self sovereignty. They were in the
condition of the debased type of cit
izen who would sell his vote for
drink of whisky. a dollar or job.
OF course they were poor stuff, and
we scarcely marvel that even meek
Moses lost his temper over them Now
he had them in the wilderness Wnere
they were to be kept in training TOT
forty long years. to get the slaVe-splrlt
and the reek of Egypt out OF their SyS-
TEN: Just as infected persons are kept
in quarantine for a prescribed period
Tho process was at times hard on the
their health. TheN
we're what is termed in athletIcs
soft and they needed to go into
training
The Grumblers.
From the ill-bred man who Srowls
regularly at his breakfast. to the man
who finds fault with the way the gov.
eminent is run. the land is fun or
gsrtrrll blers. Most persons are discon-
rented with their work and their lot
Much of the socalled unrest OF our
land is this spirit of vague fault-tlnd-
ing It is a characteristic OF our
smail-nindedness-
As we listen to the whimpering and
waiIing of the Hebrews, We must bear
in mind that they were an ignoble lot
ONLY one month removed from slavery.
The ability to endure hardship calls
for certain quality of nobility to
which they had not yet attained. They
we're not good travellers, for all such
know how to put up with what comes.
l once travelled through Turkey with
an American college boy. and We had
many rather trying experiences in out
of the way placeS-down in the re-
gion of the wanderings of the Israel
ties. for instance-but my com panion-
though young, was game. He never
murmered at cold or heat or hunger.
He had this first elemental quality of
manhood.
These Israelites wanted Canaan
by the parlor car route. They resem-
bled the host of young men with
vague dreams of success who are un-
willing to pay the price of toll and
self-deniaL The emancipated Jews
thought to reach their goal without
hardship. When trouble came. they
grumbled a Moses. But, then. one of
the principal uses of leader is TO
take the blame of his followers for
their own shortcomings.
BY the Bitter Springs.
The first loud growl of the Israel
ties arose when they found the spring
at Marah bitter They wanted all the
comforts of home in the wilderness
Their protest was childish and I'M
reasoning. But the patient leader
sweetened the waters for them. The
bitter waters of grief. of which we all
must drink 1t suggests these obser-
vations:
Marah was on the way to Canaan.
We should be grateful for every land
mark that is on the way home.
Better far to have drunk at Marah
than to have died thirsting for life.
We come to the sweet by way of the
bitter.
Bitter experiences oftimes sweeten
life: while wholly sweet experiences
may embitter it
1t is easy to sing over the crossing
of the Red Sea; it takes faith TO be
glad for the bitter experiences
There are no bitter springs of ex-
perience that God cannot make sweet
and also use for the display of his
providence
Help as We Go.
This whole story is a commentary on
the philosophy of going forward. The
future is to be trusted. Progress brings