THE MAN CHAPTER I THE EXECUTIVE IT WAS very late in the afternoon. If you would like to learn the measure of a man, that is the time of day to watch him. We are all half an inch taller in the morning than at night; it is fairly easy to take a large view of things when the mind is rested and the nerves are calm. But the day is a steady drain of small annoyances, and the difference in the size of men becomes hourly more apparent. The little man loses his temper; the big man takes a firmer hold. It was very late in the afternoon in Galilee. The dozen men who had walked all day over the dusty roads were hot and tired, and the sight of a village was very cheering, as they looked down on it from the top of a little hill. Their leader, deciding that they had gone far enough, sent two members of the party ahead to arrange for accommodations, while he and the others sat down by the roadside to wait. After a bit the messengers were seen returning, and even at a distance it was apparent that something unpleasant had occurred. Their cheeks were flushed, their voices angry, and as they came nearer they quickened their pace, each wanting to be the first to explode the bad news. Breathlessly they told it-the people in the village had refused to receive them, had given them blunt notice to seek shelter somewhere else. The indignation of the messengers communicated itself to the others, who at first could hardly believe their ears. This back-woods village refuse to entertain their master-it was unthinkable. He was a famous public character in that part of the world. He had healed sick people and given freely to the poor. In the capital city crowds had followed him enthusiastically, so that even his disciples had become men of importance, looked up to and talked about. And now to have this country village deny them admittance as its guests "Lord, these people are insufferable," one of them cried. "Let us call down fire from Heaven and consume them." The others joined in with enthusiasm. Fire from Heaven-that was the idea! Make them smart for their boorishness! Show them that they can't affront us with impunity! Come, Lord, the fire There are times when nothing a man can say “ is nearly so powerful as saying nothing. Every executive knows that instinctively. To argue brings him down to the level of those with whom he argues; silence convicts them of their folly; they wish they had not spoken so quickly; they wonder what he thinks. The lips of Jesus tightened; his fine features showed the strain of the preceding weeks, and in his eyes there was a foreshadowing of the more bitter weeks to come. He needed that night's rest, but he said not a |