Five Young Men: Messages of Yesterday for the Young Men of To-day

by Charles Reynolds Brown

He was not one of those men who do in Rome as the Romans do, who do in New York as Broadway does, even though that may mean a less wholesome type of conduct than they are accustomed to put up in their home towns. He was a man of principle wherever he was placed. How can I sin against God!

Heaven be praised for men of principle and for men who are not afraid! A well-to-do Harvard student in one of the dormitories was shaving one morning when a wretched woman of the street slipped into his room through the door which he had left ajar. She shut the door and with her back against it said to him, "Give me fifty dollars instantly or I will scream for help." He looked around at her and said, "Yell away"—and went on with his shaving. He knew that his own life was clean. He had lived as a man of integrity and he felt that his statement would be taken anywhere against hers, because it was worth one hundred cents on the dollar. And she knew it—so she slunk out like a whipped cur. If he had compromised with her or had given her a dollar, he might have been in for endless trouble and disgrace.

But Joseph was not in Cambridge—he was in Egypt. He was not a well-known Harvard student—he was only a slave boy there in the house of his master. When this woman whom he had repulsed made her ugly, lying accusation against him she was believed and he was thrown into prison.

What indeed has now become of his dreams! He was a stranger in a strange land. He was a slave who had been jailed on an ugly charge. He must have felt that he was a long way from becoming the tallest sheaf in the field or the brightest star in the sky.

He was also tested by the ingratitude of those whom he had befriended. While he was in jail he did not for one hour give up his hope of advancement. He kept right on, attending the school of those instructors whose names are printed in the catalogue as Professor Adversity, Professor Difficulty and Doctor Discipline. He found them most capable teachers. They did not teach him much of that which is found in text-books, but they were teaching him to be a man, which after all is the main object of all education.

When Joseph was knocked down he did not wait for some Red Cross nurse to come with "first aid to the injured." He got right up and was there on the mat ready for the next round. And the young fellow with that sort of stuff in him learns, I care not how soft, callow and conceited he may have been in his "prep. school" days.

He was in prison, but since nothing better offered he would show himself the best prisoner behind those bars. He bore the false accusation of that lying woman without a word of recrimination lest he should injure the honour of his master, who had befriended him when he was in his employ. He spent his days not in laziness nor in vice, not in repining and dejection. He bore himself with such a thoughtful, unselfish spirit that he won the favour of the warden and was made a kind of overseer among the prisoners of his ward.

He won the regard and confidence of his fellow prisoners by his sympathetic interest in their welfare. When they were perplexed they came to him. The butler and the baker from Pharaoh's household were imprisoned for some fault, and when they dreamed Joseph interpreted to them their dreams in skillful fashion. And when the butler was pardoned out a few days later, according to Joseph's prediction, he promised to remember his friend when once more he stood in Pharaoh's presence.

But after the manner of many he forgot all about his fellow prisoner in the joy of his own release. Joseph still lingered in jail. How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless friend! There in the jail he drank to the dregs the cup of ingratitude.

But read on, read on! The Lord has not let His voice fall yet. This is not a period—it is only a comma or semicolon. The mills of the gods grind slow, but they grind; and to every man who merits it a good grist comes at last. Read on!