The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-07-18

the unfortunate man. and looking up, |
he aw a face he never forgot-the |
face of a boy about his own age, shad- |
ed by locks OF yellowish bright chest |
nut hair; face lighted by dark blue
eyes, at the time SO soft, so appeal |
ing, so full Of love and holy purpose,
that they had all the power of COM
mand and will" That was in Naz-
areth.
rover ON the flagship Of Arrius.
ship was destroyed in q great sea-
miral, became his adopted son and
Of Roman war and Roman sports, re-
turned to the East a Roman officer in
the train of consul setting forth on
great campaign against the Parth-
ians; how he discovered that his ia
ther'c old steward Simonides had sue
ceeded in saving from confiscation the
vast intangible wealth of the Hurs and
had multiplied it many times, till the
young Roman-Jew was the richest
private citizen in the world; the dis
covery that Messiah was entered for
the highest stake in the great sport.
ing event Of the orient; how Ben-Hur
won the affection Of Ilderin, the Arab
| Sheik, who had entered his steeds of
! the desert for the great event-all
leads up to the dramatic encounter of
| the famous chariot race. The author
! drew his description of the race from
one written over twenty-three hun
! dred years ago by the tragic poet
Sophocles. 1t is one of the curiosi-
ties of literature that the great scene,
| through the pages of Lew Wallaces
| novel, has become as famous on our
stage as it was so long ago on that of
Greece.
BY his victory in the arena Ben-Hur
exacted ancient Jewish justice on his
hated adversary, who was crushed in
body and impoverished in fortune
| he had wagered on his success all the
wealth he had stolen from his former
friend. The victor almost fell prey,
! however, to the vampire daughter of
Egypt who was rival for his love with
the gentle Jewish Esther. But hence
forth his thoughts were concentrated
on Him who was attracting all eyes.
| Was he Messiah or King? Ben-Hur,
in his hatred of Rome, in his pride of
race, dreamed only of King of this
world, who should right ancient
wrongs and eXalt his chosen people.
And so he threw himself with all his
force, with all his wealth, with all
the knowledge gained at Rome, into
making secure and strong the way Of
the King whom he would follow. But
1t was for one supreme in things spir
itual rather than material that the
way was being made ready. And
Ben-Hur's mother, rescued with he-
daughter from her long imprisonment
by chance change Of jailers, but
hopeless lepers both, saw the truth
| sooner than her son.
go Master, Master!' she cried as
He passed upon the road, Thou seest
our need; thou canst make us clean.
Have mercy upon us-mercy!
"'Believest thou l am able to do
this?' he asked.
Thou art he Of whom the prophets
spake-thou art the Messiah she re-
piled. His eyes grew radiant, his
| manner confident.
"'Woman,' he said, great is thy
faith; be it unto thee even as thou
| wilt"
And SO, in the end, Ben-Hur recog-
nized what Balthazar had known from
| the beginning. 20 wise Egyptian,
hearken! Thou alone were right
the Nazarene is indeed the Son of
Cod"
Copyright. 1919. by Post Publishing
Co. (The Boston Post) Published by
permission Of and arrangement with.
Harper 8 Bros, authorized publishers.
| (Published by Special arrangement
with the Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.
All rights reserved.)
1.-THE Toilers Of the Sea-" by Victor
Hugo, as condensed by James q. Con-
molly, will be printed tomorrow.
MAKE CONTINENTAL TOUR