The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-11-12

A sort of patron saint for today is
Daniel The are-to-do-and-to-de
the vogue. Stalwarts are reader to
stand up and be counted. ''Virility''
is a word in many voca bularies. The
man who dares to put his foot on pre-
vailing 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 for manhood
The bilious and jaundiced-eyed
! foIk VINO are sure that the world is go
| ing to the dogs are blind, blind, blind.
what means this unparalleled heroism
on the worlds battlefields? 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 its own.
| the army that is flying the flags of
great ideals is great, and growing, and
! cOnquertng our time. Anybody who
cannot see that there is a goodly fell
lowship today of the Daniel type sim
ply is not aware of his own times.
| LII a 3F1SOn.
| Prosperity" is the life slogan of
the 1gnoble. That man is a bad citi-
zen who puts good business above
duty, honor and righteousness. If to
| be comfortable and prosperous were
the supreme end of life, then Daniel
and MS three friends would have been
justified in settling down complacent-
ly in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar;
for they had fine food, luxurious raj
ment and all the comforts of a palace
environment, in the capital of the
world. They might have said What
matter to US the old fogey notions
back in Judea, or the woes of these
fellow exiles? We ourselves are per-
sonally prosperous. Is not that
The young men We're in a palace,
but that palace was prison. Its lux
ury was heather, sinful and enervat-
ing. To have fallen easily into it's rou-
tine, ITO do in Rome 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-taint-
ed; the life was SOFT sensual and who'll
lY contrary to the standards revealed
to Moses. So Daniel and his friends
would have none of it.
These four belonged to that great
company who have the courage and
the vision to pursue life of ideals,
even amid ignob1e 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 three youths in ancient
Babylon is a present one. for myriads
of men and women, whose Tot lies in
an atm osphere tainted with irrever
strike the white flag of a clean life
These, like Daniel, are standing by
their principles in shop and factory
and office and school where all the
opment of a spiritual life.
The Coddled Rats.
AS pampered Oriental favorites,
these four, who were chosen to serve
in the kings own presence, might
have been wrapped in self-indulgence
the proffered wines and meats. Dan
iel purposed in his own heart that. he
would not defile himself with a por-
ton of the kings meat, nor with the
wine which he drank" He was an
exile and a prisoner, yet his soul was
his own So he dared to dream. The
touch of religion, back in Judea, upon
his youth was bearing its natural fruit. |
He had both courage and the skill to
plead successfully for permission to
go upon a vegetarian diet.
have always kept house together 1 |
heard but yesterday of a man who !
belongs to a family of fat folk. He |
decided that for himself he would not |
self to a rigid regime of exercise and
diet Only twice year-at Christ |
mas and Thanksgiving-doe he eat |
all he would like to eat. Every day |
he rides fifteen miles on bicycle. The |
result is that he has won perfect |
health and a superb efficiency, as by |
products of his original purpose |
These results always accompany self |
stand alone in the field, buffeted by
every wind that blows, produce lum
Der of finer, stronger fibre than those
which rise in the sheltered forests
If Daniel had known the teachings
of modern science, he could not have
acted more wisely. In the University
of Pennsylvania they have been ex-
perimenting with some five thousand
the second and third generation of
rodents, handled and carefully nur-
tured in captivity, have become ener-
Of the experiments remarks that
rats are chosen because their reac-
tions are SO akin to those of the hu-
man body. We scarcely need to go
to the laboratory to learn that les
son. Everybody has seen how spoiled
boys amount to least. The percentage
of the sons of favored circumstances
who come to greatness is tragically
small. Those who win to worth by
self discipline are ever the ones who
win other crowns. What says Brown
ing; ,,+ ,,- .
A mans worth something. God stoops
DER his head,
Satan looks up between his feet-both
tug
He's left. himself in the middle; the soul
wakes and grows"
A Good Man to Live With
1t quite upsets some folks notions
of religion that this Hebrew quar-
tette under rigid regimen became the
best-looking and the most agreeable
and the most efficient youths in the
palace. According to the conventional
cult they ought to have been wan
from weeping, and hollow-eyed from
slecpless nights of anxiety. Instead.