Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-04-23
Enter the Giant

The COMBAT between Gollath ana
David has passed into proverb. No
Old Testament incident is better
known. 1t is one of the hero tales of
religious history that has fired the
faith and fortitude of generations.
In accord with the ancient usage
of trial by champion, the Philistines,
who had been routed by the bravery
of Jonathan and his armor- bearer,
and had marched against the Israel
ties, offered to stake their case on
the prowess of the giant Goliath. a
heavily armed warrior more than
nine feet tall. Day after day this
clustering fellow came out into the
valley between the two armies, which
were encamped about sixteen miles
southwest of Jerusalem, and uttered
his defiances. The Israelites had no
champion to put forward. Day after
day this huge Philistine made them
eat dirt. The shame of cowardice was
eating into their souls as actual defeat
could not do.
Then appeared from Bethlehem,
bearing food to his big brothers in the
army, the shepherd boy David, son
of Jesse. Simple, unsophisticated,
thinking in the clear broad lines of
those dwelling in the open, he was
astounded by the spectacle of the hui
initiation of Israel by the giant He
had not learned to condition truth or
bravery or patriotism; he could under
stand risking ones life in pursuit of
duty-had done it, in fact-but he
could not comprehend how a child of
God could be a coward.
Indiscreet remarks to that effect
earned him a severe rebuke from his
big brothers, who did not relish hav-
ing heroism talked in the presence of
their cowardice. Persons who have
compromised with evil resent the rash
audacity of reformers. The petulence
of "stand-patters" who should be
counted upon for righteousness, is
sometimes harder for a progressive
person to bear than the open assaults
of those whom he expects to find ar
rayed in clean-cut opposition. Da-
vid's brothers wounded him more
deeply than it was in the power of
Goliath to do.
Persisting in his purpose (for the
courage of perseverance is usually as
greatly needed by a hero as sheer
audacity in the face of danger), David
won a chance to go up against this
heather tower of insolence. At first
they tried to outfit him in Sau's ar
NOR; but David knew that every man
fights best in his own way. Heroes are
not custom-made. So on a great day,
with every soldier and camp-follower
in Israel looking on eagerly and pity
lHSlyb anu WIFI many letllnB SIdDS Oh
self-accusation, the shepherd lad SAL
lied forth jauntily to meet the redoubt-
able Philistino champion, at the hour
of his daily defiance.
A Shepherds Sling-Plus
Mrs. Grundy first makes slaves OF
us; then she uniforms us, making
each slave as much like the other as
possible. She irons out our individual
ity and suppresses our personality. The
great game of society is to reduce
everybody to a dead level of unifor-
nifty and conventionality. man
whose lot is cast much with society
said to me last night, THE one crime
that is recognized south of Market
street is not to be nice" The world,
given a choice in the matter, wants no
soldiers who are not outfitted in Mrs.
Grundy's shop-and the old dame had
a branch establishment in the camp
of the Israelites, when they tried to fit
David out in the armor of Saul.
Those clear eyes of David, which
were more accustomed to the life of
the open field than to that of the
camp or court, perceived plainly that
his strength lay in following his own
fashion, and in being true to his per-
sonality. Saul or Goliath could out