The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-03-31
SOCIAL CLIMBERS-AND SOME
The international Sunday School Les
son for April > * 'Christ's Fable
Jalk.'-Iuke 14:7-24.
~ William r. Eli

AR1 vi I'OS -.
"a desired d~iner-Out. Because he spent
MS early life in a carpenter shop is
no warrant for chasing Jesus as So
clalIy unsophisticated. The three
years OF his ministry reveal him often
n social aspects, and frequently at
leasts The boorishness which regards
the possession of evening clothes as
" mark of wordliness would get no
encouragement from Jesus. He was
80 true a democrat that he could
meet all men on their own level, from
Inc higheSt to the lOwliest.
mere was good dining over in the
,IahS-Jofdan country. ever as today.
II Is a fat land. No traveller can for
get the fruits OF Damascus. 1t the
time of this lesson, Jesus was So
Journing in Perea. where the forms
81 cultivated society were farther ad-
Nanced even than in Jerusalem. We
must see the story in this setting.
oriental hospitality even to this day,
has more of the outward forms of
than we in the West
know. In a recent Atlantic Month
~ Rev. DR.. A. n. Rihbany. a Sy-
ran, tells how he at first declined
dinner invitations in America. be-
cause they were so curt and casual:
ne was looking Tor oriental urgency.
out of the table talk Of a dinner
party the text Of this lesson is taken.
GooG table talk is the surest mark
oI good society. How would that Of
your home look in a book Not the
Nlands. but the guests and the con-
NerSatlon make "a dinner notable. No
cthef mme is needed upon some
eiapoTate dinners that are reported in
The daily press than tina the guests
nave TO be entertained by hired per-
formers, they have no in
themselves. TO sit at some tables is
as good as Il college while
as for others, the school teachers saw
n a all their instructions in proper
speech and refined usage are nuIified
al nome. Inc best stories, the most
important news, the discussion of all
that is worth while in the world be-
long TO the dinner table. Even
thoush the roast be tender, if the
talk be tough, the dinner is a fail
ure. l know one family with young
loIks IN it that has moved its Ency-
clopedia britannica to the dining
room, as an aid to profitable talk.
~"Boundcrs," Then and Now.
AS 1t was, 50 il is. The keen words
or Jesus concerning the socially ambi-
nous the persons who thrust them
serves w into prominence. are
as ~up-to-date as though spoken of
last nights function. Then, as now.
there We're FOUNDERS" and '.climb-
ers, living TO be seen in the right
SET, ana reverting to the jungle for
their code of manners in order to at
am this ambition. The selfshness
ana ruthlessness OF it all, and the
bitter heartburninrs and ~jealousies
~tnsendered. almost pass belief. OF
no aspect of life can the Wise Mans
words be more truly spoken, Vanity
Of vanities. AL lis vanity The
person who seeks a social career as a
NE goal is due to learn to the full
the taste of Apples of Sodom.
Everybody seems to be in a con
splracy to drag down the person who
seeks the best seat for himself. Jesus
pointed out, in a few luminous sem
fences, how such an one is sure 10
De called down; while the wiser more
modest person is set in the higher
place. That is social sophistication.
as well as good and funda-
mental modesty.
No truer life appraisal was ever
made than these words of Jesus:
For every one hat eXalteth himself
shall be humbled; and he tina hum
meth himself shall be exalted" The
shores OF social life are strewn with
the embittered wrecks Of the once
proud and s~elf-exalted. And it is as
common as sunrise to see persons who
despise social attention having it
Steduiiy SnONeTeQ upon them. Thus
the laws of the kingdom work out in
life.
How a set" Swaps Dinners,
We rather rub our eyes at the mod
ernity of the conditions revealed nv
these words of Jesus: "And he said
10 him also h a had hidden him.
When thou makes Il dinner or a sup
per-, call not thy friends, nor thy
brethren, or thy kinsmen, nor rich
neighbors; lest haply they also bid
thee again, and a recompense be made
thee That sound like a present
day social satirist.
The thing We call society be it
in New York or in Podunk, is made
up Of An exclusive set who exchange
visits and dinners among themselves.
the chief charm of which consists in
the fact that most other persons in
the vicinity are not permitted to par
tieipate. Rebellious complaints are
heard in private from the members