Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-03-07

| Every one has q past. w nat -,iios
behind is often more interesting than
what is to the fore. Kipling's COM
monplace travel letters are extremely
worth while as revealing the sources of
much of his best later works. There
the reader finds many of the real per-
sons, places and incidents which later
were wrought into fiction and poetry
This is the charm of biography; 1t IN
| PRODUCES one to the factors that went
into the making of a life. Now that
a new figure looms largest on the horl-
zon of IsraeTs history, as the Sunday
schools are studying it, it is worth whlle
to look behind the promotion, ana see
Joshua in the making.
A hard boyhood, that school in which
so many great men have been trained
educated Joshua to life's actualities lie
had known the rigors of slavery IN
Egypt, and all the blackness of that
pit out of which Moses led the nation.
Then, better than a college course,
Joshua had been servant and associate
of Moses. He had seen more than a
little fighting; it was under his leader
ship that Amalek was smitten, while
Moses prayed, Aaron and Hur holding
up his hands. Always Joshua appears
as a man of action, with the virtues
of the doer and the warrier. Most COM
monty, though, he is remembered as one
of the two spies who brought back a
favorable report from the Promised
Land. His fear-bitteh comrades had
perished miserably in the wilderness
here, at last, he was vindicating his
earlier Judgment by himself leading the
host into the long-desired Canaan.
A Man Who Was Somebody
Every appearance of Joshua in his
tory suggests Personality. He was
character. In a colorless crowd ne stood
out like a red flag on green field. Tne
Bible honors personality; today 1T Is
seemingly discredited by society. one
mood of our day appears to be deter
mined to wipe out distinctive lines 10
substitute the red flag of bogus IN
ternationalism" for the banners OF
patriotism; to abolish our indivldual
loyalties; to dress us all alike; mouse
us all alike make us walk and talk
alike, and all things to compel us 10
conform to it's dead-level standards. Ihe
greatest harm done by the changing
STYLES is that they tend to make men
and women as much alike as "ooueA
figures from a toy Noah's ark.
There is no vital need that one should
be in the fashion; there is greatest neeu
that one should be ones self. 1t Is
everybody's business in the world to ex-
press his own individuality, to live his
own life, to make his own definite con-
tribution to his time; in a word, to oe
personality. From the thin ranks OF
the personalities God has to select all
his leaders of men, even as he chose
Joshua from the characterless crowd or
wanderers. The parents who abet the
modern process of repressing and effac-
ing the individuality of children, en-
deavoring to have all conform to a con-
ventional model just as Chinese work.
man carves a thousand ivory figures eX-
actly alike, are doing everything in
their power to prevent their offspring
from ever becoming Joshuas. Instead
of a socialism which would level every
body down to one plane, the world needs
a noble and unselfish individualism
which will lift up each person to the
fullest possible expression of himself.
The King Is Dead
Persons who are in the habit or keep
| ing an eye on current events, and OF
putting two and two together, see re-
markable shifting of present-day leader
ship. A new force of men stand at the
forefront today. Trained in battle, ike
Joshua of old, the returned soldiers viii
be the leaders of the people. Most of
our posts of honor and power VIII go
| to the young men who now wear khaki
They are the men for tomorrow. Faces
| front =" is the divine command Long
live the king must follow hard on the
heels of the +The king is deadf The
worlds business must go on: the liv-
! ing present is more important than the
dead past There is no time to spend
| in vain regrets over Moses; for the
commands of Joshua must be obeyed-
The attempt to keep a dead leader to
the fore is foolish and futile; even China
| is finding that she must shake on the
| dead hand
To say that all the great are dead.
and that the former days were better.
| is to say that God has failed in his task
with humanity. Joshua was a better