Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-10-11

4. "heh YOU are III Rome you must
DO as the Romans do
That City Nephew
circumstances had necessitated
! separation between Abraham and
4 Lot. There had been strife among
their herdsmen over pasturage, and.
the old man, with spacious and un-
ruHled wisdom, had proposed that
the two companies divide. Magnani-
mously, he gave his nephew first
choice. That was Lots chance to
! show his mettle. He should have
met generosity with equal generos-
ity, and displayed the Difference due
seniority. All oriental traditions as
well as instructive GCnsI bllity re-
quired this.
but Lot was Stacker; what was
hitting and honorable concerned him
| less than what was easy and of
| present advantage to himself. He
was the sort who would have seen
in world war primarily a chance
10 make money. His obligations to
his Uncle Abraham, his debt to the
proprieties, his opportunity to be
unselfish. all meant less to him than
the chance to pitch his tents down
in the fat valley, by the great cities
of Sodom and Com orrah. Truth to
tell, he was rather glad to get away
from his uncle's religious talk and
his old-fogy ways.
| Life was softer and easier down
in the Jordan valley. Lot was
pleased to escape the high winds
and chilly nights of those hills. In
the valley, everything was luxuri-
ant The first glimpse of this Jor-
I dan Depression, down by the Dead
Sea, as l can testify, is of tropical
fuxuriance. There wave the palm
trees, while the banana fronds make
| whispering music night and day.
| truly does the lesson writer liken
1t to the garden of the Lord" Who
| that has tasted them can ever forget
the refreshing, sweet lemons of Jer-
leo? 1t was a place of rich fruits
and balmy air and effortless life that
Lot chose when he elected the Jor-
dan lowlands.
Then there were also the cities.
Lot deemed himselfa q city man, too
big" for the slow-going and pious
tents or Abraham; the progressive
and cosmopolitan city was his
meter. All, Lot. you were not the
only self-inflated man who, brush
ing aside family obligations and ira
dltions, sought the enervating airs
or the, city, only to fall prey to its
seductions. OF course you did not
mean to succumb to the snares of
] - Wy nat lhOln ever IedTGu InG
flame? But it was rather a deli
cious sensation to daily with it's de-
lights, wasn't it? You would show
your poky old uncle that you could
| handle pitch and not be defiled.
when Bigncss Means Littleness
Conflict uneovers the character of
a man. His real bigness or little
(ness will then appear. Abraham
proved his size by the way he dealt
with Lot. He did not call him an
migrate and cad and a selfish
Stacker. He kept his own spirit
sweet, and sent his nephew off with
a blessing. If the sense of Injustice
ranked in his bosom, he gave no
sign OF 1t. In shining generosity, he
acted as If Lots choice was per-
fectly satisfactory to him.
Abraham proved his religion in
this episode. It takes more than
natural gifts; it needs the grace of
Iou' TO enable man 10 preserve
his poise and serenity in such cir
Cumstances. As we muse Upon this
evidence of Abrahafn's caliber and
character, We are reminded that in
life we have to dear with the little
oftener than with the big; and that
the difficult thing is to conduct our
selves toward the small and the
selfish without pettiness. To refrain
from being sharp toward the sharp;
censorious toward consciousness:
intolerant of intolerance, calls for
all the qualities of greatness a man
possesses. 1t is only the are Abra-
nam who can remain unruffled by
Lot. In this division of pasturage,
Abraham won his own spirit, while
his nephew got only the material
| advantage.
a Man of Peace Fights
Old Abraham was the sort of
peace-lover of whom we approve.
He hated strife. He had pleaded for
| peace with Lot when the hired men
got to squabbling. And he even
surrendered his own rights in order
that Lot might select the best of the
pasturage. No brawler or quarrel
some man was Abraham: he under
stood what 1t meant to be too proud
TO hsht over an inadequate or unripe
| occasion. This old patriarch would
rather walk under the stars, musing
| upon God and His promises, than
share the turbulent life of his neigh
bors.
| One day, however, there came
news of. a different sort of war to-
ward the East. His kinsman Lot
was in peril. This foolish nephew
mad found himself entangled in the
troubles of the cities. He had chosen
Sodom and Gomorrah; and with
them he must suffer as well as sport.
There had been a great battle of
kings, four against five, and it had
RACED over the Jordan Plain and
into the mountains of the South.
The archaeologists have been busy
| about those names, and they identify
Amraphel with Hammurabi. the
king Of Babylon whose code of laws
Is one OF the momentous discoveries
OF modern times. He and his con-
| federates had invaded the domain
OF the rich Jordan cities, and after
much fighting had looted them.
Among the captives was Lot, with
| his household. Doubtless Lot had
pleaded that he was only a visitor
in the city, and. in general, Stacker
wise, had tried to escapethe penalty
of his associations. This unexpected
raid" caught Lot, who really. de-
served no immunity from the fate
of the city in which he lived, and he
was carried off captive.
Standing by a Friend
This fighting ranged over the re-
gton that has of late figured largely
in the daily papers in connection
with General Allenbys great VIC
tories over the Turks. Were ever
maps of the Holy Land so popular
as to-day? The daily paper is MAX
| ing real and present this territory
which is so interviewer with the
Bible story that it has been called
''The Fifth Gospel"
| When the tidings came to the tent