The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-06-10

! Seeist thou man diligent in his bus
5 mess? He shall stand before kings
Prov. 1929.
CHIPS FROM THE OLD BLOCK.
Jacob brought much more than he
expected from Haran. Those years of
battling with dishonesty had filled his
tent with children whose entry into
Canaan held little helpfulness for its
inhabitants. Swift to strike, ungov-
ernable in temper, self-willed and
cruel they were problem to the pa
triarch even tho they were source
of power. Joseph was not more than
five or six when his father crossed the
Jabbok and while the difference in
motherhood must not be forgotten,
there must be another explanation for
the character of the boys. For JOS
eph is princely in his make up and an
idealist in his thinking. Yet all are
chips from the old block of Jacob.
The elder boys had been guided solely
by the hatreds of Haran, and Jacob
had been too busy to give them much
attention. He who cheated Laban was
anything but a model for his boys
honesty He who tricked his way to
success; who played the game with
the best of the Haranites and chuck
led over his winnings; who forgot
Bethel in his business should not have
been surprised at seeing the same
traits developed in the boys who
called him father. With Joseph it
was different. Jabbok had interviewed
and Bethel had been climbed for a
renewal of the conservation of the
earliest day. Jacob was now Israel, a
prince with power with God and men.
Moreover the boys had taken over the
herding of the sheep so that there
were many days when no task occu-
pied the hands of the energetic Jacob.
Rachel was dead and the whole heart
of their father was wrapped up in her
children of his love. To Joseph, just
entering his teens, he gave all the
best of both Bethel and Jabbok, with
long hours spent in hiking about the
country, in sleeping together out I'M
der the stars, in lying luXuriously
beside the lone camp fire from which
the odor of the fish new caught, or
the bird new shared stirred the hum
ger of them both. Resourcefulness,
ability to stand hardship, the willing
ness to work and do his share were
all learned in these forming days.
Best of all the God of his father be-
came the reality of his life. He was
a chip from Israel's finest develop
ment while the rest of the boys who
claim no admiration from any of US
were from his worst. They are not
to be defended but they can be ex-
planned.
DIGGING STEPS IN THE SIDE OF
THE SLAVE PIT.
No one likes to be told on, still less
to have ones future discounted but
when one doing it is paraded as a
model then Little Lord Fauntelroy is
pretty certain to have a bad hour
somewhere. Models not big enough
to take care of all contingencies are
in perilous situation as Joseph die
covered. Jacob was attempting to
make him prig after all the good
things he had done for him. Sixty
miles on an errand reveals the de-
pendability of the youngster and the
distance gave the opportunity for the
exercise of the worst passions of his
brothers who sold him into slavery
and lied to cover it, even as Jacob had
done. In Egypt, in the midst of a
civilization ages beyond that of the
skin tent Joseph was put in school in
the finest surroundings possible, the
household of cultivated, trusted Off
GER of the Court. Not knowing word
of the language Joseph used his keen
wits and resourcefulness to good ad-
vantage and instead of being sullen
served with his gang" in a way that
caught the attention of the overseer.
"You got bargain in that Hebrew
boy" he told Potiphar and his master
began to watch him, noting the diff
ference from the attitude of fear of
the ordinary slave. Presently as he
learned speech he was made the head
of the gang" then he was promoted
to the house staff and presently he
was the chief steward under whose
direction all the affairs of the mems
household came. He was digging out
instead of in and rejoiced in the
friendliness of the household that
salved not little the inconsistencies
that crept under the darkness. Par
ticularly was he pleased with the
pretty wife of the Courtier, so differ
ent from the women of the tents with
their tousled hair and roughened
hands, and shoulders stopped with
burdens. Fresh from her bath Of
perfumed water, clad in silken attire
and ready for court function she
was dream of beauty to the lad Of
the tents and his open admiration
pleased her immensely while his deft