The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-06-29
REAPJNG TILE WHIRLW1ND.
The international Sunday school
Lesson for July A Is "Apsaioih
Failure.". III Sam. 18:1-1o.
(By William T. Ellis

7
A curious notion prevails that
GUNNER literature" should be hgntl
and exciting. The latter condition
is certainly fulfilled by the great story
that is crowded into the nine chapters
of the Second Book of Samuel, winch
tell of the experiences Of David after
the Prophet Nathan had accusingly
cried, Thou art the man." All the
elements of a great are here.
even to the erotic aspects OF the mod
ern novel. The ale is n Of adven-
ture and intrigue, crowded with plots
and c~onspiracies. with Williams ano
with heroes. 1t is a narrative as un-
like usual dry history as a novel is un-
like a problem in geometry. Every line
is crowded with human interest.
The study is one in royal retrlbu-
tion. We find the king who had soWn
the wind Of sin, reaping the w1rlwlnd
of sorrow. The ominouS words OF
the man of God to Davi were terribly
fulfilled:
Wherefore has thou Gespised the
word of Jehovah, to do that which
is evil in His sight? Thou hast smit-
ten Uriah the Hittite with the sword,
and has taken his wife to be thy w11e:
and has slain him with the sword OF
the children Of Ammon. Now there
fore the sword shall never depart from
thy house, because thou hast despiSed
me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah.
the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith
Jehovah, Behold. I will raise up evii
against thee out Of thine own house"
The double-distilled bitterness of
seeing his w sons share his traits
had to be drunk to the dregs by heart
broken David. The sword remained
in his house until he ended his carer
In sorrow. Verify There Is q way
that seemeth right unto q man, but
the end thereof are the ways of death"
Our Days Crop Of AbsalOms.
The classmate Of a certain notori-
Gus murderer, whose wealth has en-
abled hin to make the processes Of
justice a travesty and an international
scandal, once said in my hearing, He
was simply a selfish and spoiled boy.
He had his own way in all things.
pleases throughout youth, is bound to
become a menace to society" That
modern instance parallels the case Of
Absalom, King David's son, who was
a spoiled boy. His youth Of self-in-
diligence bore it's natural fruit of re-
bellion and anarchy.
Absalom is a timely character tC
study. We have his prototypes with
us in abundance. Disdaining descip-
line, flouting filial fidelity and spurn
ing s~elf-control, a class of pamperet
young men are growing up as a men
ace to the social order.
Some Of us who are not old fogie:
yet view in real alarm these product!
OF the manicure tables, the barbel
shops and the tailOrs. Like Absalom
they are giving more thought to thei
hair than to their heads. Their per
soma appearance plays an over-larg
part in their thinking and in their ex
nanHifrlrac sNnW in all Ycroo1 thor
was none to be SO much praised a
Absalom for his beauty: from the sol
of his foot ever to the crown Of hi
head there was no blemish in him"
all his blemishes were within, an
they were abundant.
So simple as scarcely to need say
ing, runs the profound truth that a
the youth is trained or unframed, tn
man will behave. Our land has n
greater problem than that Of disciplir
ing its boys n young men into nobl
manhood. This is one of the chic
cipline the mine as we'll as the bod,
A Fop Without Principles.
There seems to have been none {
the candid and simple virtues of tt
o~ut-Of-doorS man in AbSalom. He VIZ
an over-sophisticated city chap. H
was too gifted in guile. Secretly
scheming, subtitle, he lacked all tt
"SO iOydillCS anu pIlHSlplCS III
make for real manhood. When 70
given by his father for the coward
assassination of his brother, n r
stored to Jerusalem, he spent fo1
years in stealing the hearts of Il
men of Israel. If one wants a pictu
of the wiles of the moder political
he has but to read the story of he
Absalom undermined his fathers i
fluence, n prepared the way for
own rebellion.
Lacking the elemental qualities
manhood, Absalom was yet shreN
beyond most men. When he decid
that the hour was ripe for the ms,
rectiOn, he chose Hebron as the sI
where he would display his ann
Then, as now, Hebron was a sacr
shrine. The tombs of Abraham, lisa
n Jacob are there. Part of Alb!
lom's appeal was to the religious p
JUDGE Of h people, even as Me-
today buiks large in Near EastS