The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-12-06

way thru tive lines of British ships;
with our armies trump plant on Ger
man soil; the boastful and impious
kaiser an ignominious fugitive from
his own people and from the allies;
our soldiers coming home as heroes;
Alsace-Lorraine back where 1t be-
longs; the ancient horror of the sub
lection of little Christian nations to
the bloody Turk ended forever, and
all Asia freed from tyranny and
atrocity-surely this is day outrac-I
ing widest fancy. Dreams do come
true.
Nowadays we perceive that the
most impractical of men is the ''prac-
tical' man, who has no time" for
sentiment. The true reahst is the
idealist. The dreamers are the doors;
legions of practical men toll with
out understanding. Verify. where
there is no vision the people perish"
Joseph. the dreamer. saved his FAM
lily and their world. The most sue
cessful statesman of our time used to
be sneered at as mere dreamer"
The Great Partnership.
When we look into the story-bpok
career of Joseph, the dreamer, we
find that, with all his shortcomings,
he was in partnership with the living
God. His faith in the unseen Jehovah
was the greatest fact about him. With
| religion central reality. he let all
| things else fall into subordinate place.
Definitely, and in youth which is the
| logical time for the great decision,
Joseph seems to have chosen to cast
| his lot in with God. And that firm
must have real prosperity.
True, the Junior partner was cast
into a cistern and sold to Midianites
and carried into slavery in Egypt
These, however, were mere incidents
in big business. episodes by the way.
The firm of God and Joseph was
bound to succeed: and. after all. what
are few years or decades in the life
| of a great business? throne lay
ahead for the dreaming Joseph, even
tho the road thereto was rough
| Before he reached his height, the
young man made for himself a place
of honor in the house of his master,
| Potlphar. He did his work so well
wherever he was that behoIders in
stinctively commented that God was
with him. Joseph had hold of the
| great truth which an American later
expressed, The best way to get out of
| an inadequate position is to be con-
! spicuously effective in it." He made
| good" as a slave or a prisoner or a
prime minister. Right where he was,
there he undertook to glorify God No
signing for better chance on his
part; no moaning or mourning over
MS lack of opportunities
| Not long since, 1 met talented
young officer, an earnest Christian,
who had been assigned to a garrison
| toWH re was TcSClVo TO the last de-
gree He, wanted action in France, or
else propaganda work where he could
| have influence. When it was pointed
out to him that his garrison, and its
civilian community were a rare and
desirable opportunity for doing all
that he sought, he scoffed at it. He
wanted some made-to- order place,
with a place set for himself His SUI
perior talents deserved a better field.
he commended. The/net result has been
that he has simply deteriorated where
he is He has missed great oppor-
tunity, because he had not the Joseph
| vision.
An Old Question for Today.
This matter OF the finding of ones
tost place and employment is given
worldwide acuteness by the prospec-
| tive return to their homes of millions
of soldiers. How shall they fit into
the rev conditions? What readjust-
ments are necessary? In what way
will they affect the existing order !?
Timid homefolk are more fearful
about new conditions than are the
! battle-taught soldiers themselves.
They have found themselves' and are
not afraid of changed circumstance.
| Light for the hour is shed by this
Joseph story, for it is a study in eff
cheney. The man who can is the man
who will. In times of flux and stress.
the competent stand. Already we have
seen that the first to be discharged
| from the big plants are the slackers
and the clock-watchers The efficient
person is sure of success anywhere,
be it in mid-Russia or in mid-Africa.
Joseph was efficient even as a slave.
His religion made him a good servant,
as well as a good prime minister.
There was a constant and vital con-
| nectton between his ideals and his
duties. This gave him character and
| self-respect. He valued his own man
mood, regardless of his status in
society. 1t was this moral integrity
that enabled him to withstand the
wiles of the sensual wife of his master.
When tempted, he struck the key
note to the solution of our present
| social problems:> "Iow can do this
great 'wickedness and sin against
God? Our days radical tendency is to
| eliminate from the sex question all
these large considerations of loyalty
to man. to society and to God. An ar
&, rant anarchy is substituted for ancient
| fidelity. Straight-flung into the teeth
of loose-thinking and loose living
world we must proclaim the eternal
truth that there are sanctities in life
which must be kept inv1olate, and that
| whose violates them sins against God.
To talk of social indiscretions'' when
we mean clear-cut rransgressions of
the laws of man and God is a. danger
Gus euphemism. This is not the place
to enter into a discussion of the large
aspects of .the theme: but from my
! studies in Russia and Europe, 1 am
convinced that a lack of the funda-
mental spirit of loyalty-all kinds OF
loyalty-is at the basis>of the rising
spirit of Bolshevikism which threatens
society. Never have we more greatly
needed the state of mind which says
"How can I do this great wickedness
and sin against God ?"
Fidelity landed Joseph in Jail; but
that was the shortest route to the
rulerShip of Egypt: lust as until a few
weeks ago, one entered the Notre
Fame cathedral in Paris by way of q
hfdeous tunnel of sandbags. or as one
goes into an oriental palace by means
of a miserable alley In the Jail to
which Joseph went for Righteousness