Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-11-12
HARDY LIFE in
A HARD LOT
Daniel in the Kings Court Is
Worlds Temperance
Lesson
IN PALACE PRISON
Hebrew Quartet Upset All
Ideas of How to Keep
Fit"
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS

A sort of patron saint for to-day is
Daniel. The dare-to do -and-to- defy
type of manhood seems increasingly
the vogue. Stalwarts are reader to
stand up and be counted. "Virility"
is a word in many Vocabularies. The
man who dares to put his foot on pre-
Vailfng uSages is no longer counted
queer" to the extent that he once
| was. I've cut it out" may be heard
any day now concerning liquor in the
| best circles of young men. To have
something to stand up for, and even
to suffer for, is a twentieth century
mark of manhood.
The bilious and jaundice- eyed folk
who are sure that the world is going
to the dogs are blind, blind, blind.
| What means this unparalleled herolsm
on the worlds battlefield? Is it not
the discovery by millions that life
holds things worth dying for? The
supreme goal is not to find existence
pleasant. but to make it noble.
There are hosts of young-men in our
] land who can match Daniel point for
! point in his dauntless devotion to
| ideals Whoever says that heroism is
dead has his face in a corner. Why,
| heroism is only coming into it's own.
The army that is flying the flags of
great ideals is great and growing, and
conquering our time. Anybody who
cannot see that there is a goodly fell
lowship to-day of the Daniel type sim
ply is not aware of his own times
In Palace Prison
prosperity" is the life slogan of the
ignoble. That man is a bad citizen
who puts good business" above duty.
honor and righteousness. If to be
comfortable and prosperous were the
supreme end of life, then Daniel and
his three friends would have been JUS
Al 41xr ia
the palace of Nebuchadnezzar; for
they had fine food, luxurious ra'ment
and all the comforts of a palace en-
vironment. in the capital of tie [orld.
They might have said What matter to
use the old fogey notions ba AZ in
Judea. or the woes of these Isaow-
eXiles? We ourselves are personally
prosperous. Is not that enough?"
The young men were in palace, but
that palace was a prison. Its luxury
was heather, sinful and enervating. To
have fallen easily into its routine, ITO
do in Rome as the Romans do would
have been to deny their religion and
their race; their homes and their God.
The sumptuous food that was offered
them was idol-tainted the life was
soft. sensual and wholly contrary to
the standards revealed to Moses. So
Daniel and his friends would have
none of it.
IneSe TOUR belonged 10 JnaI great
company who have the courage and
the vision to pursue a life of ideals,
even amid ignoble surroundings.
Doubtless. if they resembled some of
us, they would have first whined a
great deal about their hard lot, and
then succumbed to it. The problem
of these four youths in ancient Baby
Ion is a present one for myriads of
men and women. whose lot lies in an
atmosphere tainted with irreverence
and coarseness. but who never strike
the white flag of a clean life. These,
like Daniel. are standing by their prin-
ciples in shop and factory and office
and school. where all the influences
seem hostile to the development of q
spiritual life.
The CoddIed Rats
AS pampered Oriental favorites
these four, who were chosen to serve
in the kings own presence, might have
been wrapped in self-indulgence and
luxury, vet they tactfully refused the
proffered wines and meats Daniel
purposd in his own heart that he
would not defile himself with a por-