The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1917-12-20
A YULETIDE MEDITATION
The ProdgaA Triangular View Of This Character in Three
Week Serial. Seconds His Moral Declension in Rome
By 'Optimso''


The leayen discomfort long mentng
prodiga with the acquisition of his patrmony
expression his for spheres where he felt that his
and his ambitions fully realized
Too narrow of his native land Judea Too
capital house his expectations
Besides first and all the
of world influence the hopes and delnes OF
mankind little Importance politically. than
county having been captured by the Romans under Pompey
6s, which the together with all of Judea
absorbed Roman empire But slight luminary the
of his hopes city but twenty-five thirty thou
sand population distance Rome shone respendan
with one million four hundred thousand souls
Rome must have hat beckoned him with seductive
gestures mperiou beginning city only and grad
uay spreading conquests until became and mis-
world Rome whose ambitious embraced
all of territory north by the British Channel
the Rhine the Black Sea- the south by the
deserts Africa the Nile and the Arabian
whose the Euphs marked. and whose
the Atlantic This empire gained
by gradually lost till again. politically was
reduced to but single CITY,
the apex of her the population OF the Roman
hundred Millions
by than the United States has to-day The
cys greatest population has been estimated million,
xyfve figures these and all the
astonishing when consider them in point of me-15
she could but five hundred fortytwo thousand
hundred and sxty-three.
Enamored of the far glory Rome thitherwad
prodga directing his footsteps Above her
he would conqueng fgure of her
he knocking the servants for an aims With him
brought pamony golden key with which he would Gas he
thoug the door into the ctys financial circles
But. arriving in the city, he found as have others
SINCE although the midst of the seehng
humanity he of them; he less than unit he
eked uhlessy aside by the thoughess throngs
the hundred thousands Expecant Of greetings of well
he only with of impaence; the fnan
of the metropolis into which he had planned
launch himself heed him. and of that which, his hum
environs he had considered they cared
Wildcat sufficient financial
their
be made with slender but entrance
gained larger legitimate field But although the prod
dusioned of his speedy wealth sudden
enown do of him skddng the down
toboggan Instead although his difficult of
first he thought would be- with
determination he still would struggle attain the coveted goal
with the avalanche of disappointment the fires of
youthful ambition extlnguished
But with the passage of time loneliness took
him. uneventful after the first
novelty urban life had its gamo Into select circles he had
card of admission and into the cellar of the life he
reluctant Alone like lost and deserted world,
he wound his weary among his fellows
the stranger holding steadasly his Cor herr self
respect city oueier far than the sotud of nature;
and her Dosome dangers deadly than the of
Sumatra.
shipwrecked person adrft in mdocean may perish of
thirst although surrounded by Unreasonable
ALSO suffer keenly the of heartendng
loneliness while surrounded by muiude of his fellows And
thus unfortunately conditioned will respond to the subtle
which would be the
them.
And he spent his substance roous living But
did the prodga descend from throne the cellar
of Long he wandered lonely through the
penetrating
Of alooness breezd him by the rongs Some
supercousy naughty in their secluson but
tboughte Indifference. eregarous
animal Insstenty his social Nor
may he does seek companionhp the lower levels But
alone and coming daily with
the city moral atmosphere with restraining
influence OF love withhold him, friendly
ship him from the slime pits of unsophisaed youth
falls easily into which, given wholesomey friendly
environment, would have for him alurement.
We have little marvel that under such youth
than halfway the of
polished advenurers In the of of affairs they
And in such prodga have found