The Topeka state journal., 1921-12-02
International
SundaySchoolLesson
BIZ WILLIAM T. ELLIS.


man say, rather whimsically, ''then is
the time that am surest to give to
charity; when I'm hardest hit myself.
then I make my greatest effort to do
something for somebody else. For I
don't want my own troubles to de-
stroy my perspective OF dull my sense
of obligation to others. Just because
I happen to be knocked out in any
way is no reason why I should go
back on the world: that is the very
time to prove that I am not entirely
dominated by my own troubles
That sort of creed rather applies to
the conduct of the Apostle Paul, when
cast up by an angry sea, amid the
wreckage of his vessel, upon the rocky
shores of the Island of Malta-where,
by the way, just to link the Lesson
days ago granted a new charter of
self-government by Great Britain,
after a period of unrest and disturb
ance. Starting out as a despise6 pris-
Oner in chains, and ending up as prac-
teal captain of the ship and COM
sionary turned at once to humble
service. gathering wood for the COM
mon fire by which the drenched COM
pauy were warming themselves in the
chill November wind.
Real and Sham Dignity.
When we were boys, building bon
fires on the vacant lots, we had
slogan, "chip or run"-that is, con-
tribute a Share of fuel or get out.
Paul was the sort of honorable soul
who, whether at the tent-maker's
task, aboard a storm tossed craft or in
an adventure by land, bore a full
share of responsibility and effort. He
was no social shirker, warming him
self by fires of other mems building.
m M cd n for -ia1
for full discussion in this incidental
glimpse of our hero when ship
wrecked on Malta.
This man had so much dignity that
he did not need to think about it.
L heard General Charles G. Dawes
once say, There is nothing so really
dignified and great as simple natural
ness" AS we see all sorts of per-
sons, from diplomats at the Washing
ton conference to actresses in the
watching out for their own place of
precedence and their own honor" We
may recall the greatest human being
since Jesus Christ, moving actively
about, despite his age and broken
health, gathering firewood for a
crowd, many of whom were cowardly
ingrates, like the sailors who had tried
to desert the ship in its hour of great
est danger.
Service is the great panacea for
trouble. When hard times of any sort
oVertake us, as the Shipwreck over
took Paul and his company, then is
the hour to get busy at deeds of help
fulness. Only a Weakling or a craven
sinks away and sulks in selfish sor-
row. AS the familiar lines of Edmund
Vance Cook have it,
Did you tackle the trouble that came
With resoIute heart and cheerful?
Or hide your face from the light of day
a Enr1I -f,,l
Oh, n troubles a ton, or a troubles an
And 1t isn't the fact that you're hurt that
counts,
But only, how did you take it:"
\ GentIeman's Chance.
BY way of this trivial task of serving
the common fire, Paul came into a
great opportunity. There is no other
way. A brilliant young British officer,
recovered from his war wound, was
stationed at an easy post in an inland
English city. I found him bitterly re-
bellious at the inadequancy of his
task: he felt that the war office should
give him a rank and a chance worthier
or his proved powers. Yet when I
pointed out to him the remarkable
openings right where he was living, for
just the sort of service of which he
was most capable-work that would
fundamentally further the winning of
the war-he would have none of it.
He wanted position, rather than an
opportunity Not for him the undiG
nlfied gathering of sticks for the COM
mon fire of patriotism and war ideals:
he wanted a situation as official over
seer of Observation-Disclosures! BY just
the difference between his attitude
and that of the shipwrecked apostle
on Malta did my friend fall short of
greatness.
A mans chance is "the next thing
or it is nothing. During the Iroquois
theater fire in Chicago a college stu
dent with his own hands carried twen-
ty-eight women and children to safety;
but in so doing inhaled the fumes that
shortly afterward caused his death. |
When one commiserated his untimely |
end, the young man replied, II ask no |
sympathy ,or pity. Some men get
their chance at fifty, some at forty, |
some at thirty. I got mine at twenty, |
and am happy to die" There is the |
flavor of PauTs, 'I am ready" about |
that.
= Little Snake and Big Service.
A dramatic incident befen while the
crowd, in the cold and
rain, was covering about the fire. Paul
carried bundle of sticks to add 20
the flame. and among them, unnoticed,
was a viper. The warmth revived it,
and it stuck its VenOmous fangS into
the withered hand of the Apostle. !
the natives looked for
him to fall dead, a victim of the di-
vine punishment. When he merely
shook off the creature into the fire
(Which act some sentimentalists
would not be above calling cruelty to
7nimalsD, the tickle crowd decided I
hat this shipwrecked stranger was
god,
Possibly as a result of this. or be-
cause of what Centurian julius re-
ported of him to his fellow Roman
Paul and his party were
lospitab1y entertained for three days
IN the home of the highest Roman
in Malta. The gracious
acknowledgment of this courtesy on
the part of Luke is characteristic.
Paul was a gentleman under all cir
cumstances. His tolerant attitude ro-
ward the ''barbarians." or non-Greeks,
Il iSla Of q niana with his