SAMUEL 



SAN ANTONIO 



SAMUEL, sam'uel, the earliest of the He- 

 brew prophets after Moses, and the last of the 

 judges of Israel, who freed his country from 

 foreign oppression and idolatry. Although born 

 in Ramah, he was taken to the tabernacle at 

 Shiloh while still a young child, by his mother, 

 Hannah, who had promised that he should be 

 consecrated to the sen-ice of God. There the 

 boy grew to manhood under the guidance of 

 the high priest, Eli. When Samuel was twelve 

 years old God revealed to him the approaching 

 doom of Eli's house, and by the time the boy 

 had grown to manhood all Israel knew that 

 he was to be a prophet of the Lord. Twenty 

 years after Eli died Samuel led his people to 

 Mizpah, where they prayed and fasted until 

 the Philistines suddenly attacked them. By 

 the aid of God the Israelites gained such a 

 victory over their enemy that they never dared 

 to invade the land again while Samuel was at 

 the head of affairs. From that time on the 

 people, who had been gradually reforming un- 

 der their leader's guidance, faithfully wor- 

 shiped God. 



When Samuel was old he made his two sons 

 judges at Beersheba, but they proved unworthy 

 of their trust, so, upon the request of the Is- 

 raelite elders and people, he anointed Saul as 

 king. Later on God was displeased with the 

 actions of Saul and told Samuel to anoint 

 David as ruler. Soon after this the old man 

 died, while David was still a fugitive from Saul, 

 and was buried in Ramah, all Israel lamenting 

 his loss. According to Hebrew chronology he 

 lived from 1165 to 1060 B. c., but recent authori- 

 ties differ greatly in their opinions concerning 

 these dates. 



The Books of Samuel, which were originally 

 one book written by some unknown author, 

 relate not only the life of Samuel but also 

 describe the reigns of Saul and David, the two 

 kings whom he anointed. They form two 

 books of the Old Testament at the end of the 

 period of judges, and were probably written by 

 some prophet before the fall of Jerusalem. B.C. 



Consult Meyer's Samuel the Prophet; Douglas's 

 Samuel and His Age. 



SAMURAI, sah'moori, the military class 

 during the feudal period in Japan. Originally 

 applied only to the military guards of the 

 Mikado's palace, the term later was used to 

 describe the whole military system of the coun- 

 try. The samurai class included the shogun, 

 or commander-in-chief, the daimios, or feudal 

 nobles, holding land in exchange for military 

 services, and their retainers, including the privi- 



leged "two sword" men, the great fighters of 

 the country. 



The feudal system was abolished in 1871, the 

 daimios gave back to the emperor the land- 

 they held and received pensions for themselves 

 and their retainers. The wearing of swords was 

 prohibited, and the samurai and daimios be- 

 came the "nobility" and "gentry" of Japan. In 

 1912 General Nogi, a famous Japanese of I he 

 samurai class, followed an old samurai custom 

 by committing suicide, along with his wife, 

 as a token of grief at the death of Emperor 

 Mutsuhito. One of the privileges of the sa- 

 murai was that of committing suicide by hara- 

 kiri rather than live to face dishonor. 



SAN ANGELO, an'jehlo, TEX., the county 

 seat of Tom Green County, situated southwest 

 of the center of the state, 239 miles southwest 

 of Fort Worth and 449 miles east of El Paso. 

 It is at the junction of the North, Middle and 

 South Concho rivers and on the Gulf, Colorado 

 & Santa Fe and the Kansas City, Mexico & 

 Orient railroads. Stock raising is the chief in- 

 dustry of the surrounding country. The city is 

 a wholesale distributing center, and has an iron 

 foundry, machine shops, a cottonseed-oil mill, 

 grain elevator and creamery. Prominent fea- 

 tures are a Federal building erected in 1911 at a 

 cost of $130,000, and Saint John's Hospital (Ro- 

 man Catholic). The city adopted the commis- 

 sion form of government in 1915. In 1910 the 

 population was 10,321. The area exceeds four 

 square miles. T.F.O. 



SAN ANTO'NIO, TEX., the oldest, the largest 

 in 1910, and the most romantic city in the state. 

 It is built partly of modern steel and concrete, 

 and partly of adobe houses built in an early 

 day by Mexican settlers, with a background of 

 sunny skies, semitropical foliage and historic 

 relics. San Antonio is situated about midway 

 between the geographical center of the state 

 and its southernmost extremity, in Bexar 

 County, of which it is the county seat, and is 

 on the San Antonio River. Austin, the state 

 capital, is eighty miles northeast, Houston is 

 280 miles southeast, and Laredo is 150 miles 

 southwest. Railway transportation is provided 

 by the Southern Pacific, the International & 

 Great Northern, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, 

 the San Antonio & Aransas Pass, the Gulf 

 Shore and the San Antonio, Uvalde & Gulf 

 lines. Mexicans comprise about twenty per 

 cent of the population, which in 1916 was 123,- 

 831 (Federal estimate) ; the census of 1910 re- 

 ported 96,614. The area is a little less than 

 thirty-six square miles. 



