THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
" 1. And it came to pass, when Solomon, 
the son of David, had finished the Tem- 
13le at Jerusalem, that he prepared a feast 
for his chief craftsmen and artificers, and 
spread the tables with the fatness of the 
land, and with the wine and corn and oil 
thereof. 
2. And the seat of the king was apart 
on a raised dais, facing the head of the 
table, and the two famous pillars of 
bronze, with their beautiful capitals of 
lilies, pomegranates and delicate network, 
stood, one on his right hand and the other 
on his left, and the lintel thereof was a 
canopy over the head of the king. 
3. And Solomon had also prepared a 
seat of honor, and set it on his right 
hand, ready for that craftsman who might 
be pronounced most worthy among all 
who wrought in building the house of the 
Lord. 
4. And when all was ready he called 
unto him his chief architects and master- 
overseers, and the head artificers who were 
■cunning workers in gold and silver, in 
bronze and ivory, and in wood and stone, 
yea, all who had labored in building the 
temple of the Most High, and he said 
unto them : 
5. ' Come now with me and partake of 
the feast which I have prepared. Stretch 
forth your hands; e^at, drink, and be 
merry. The skilled artificer is worthy of 
honor. Is not the laborer worthy of his 
hire ? Muzzle not the ox that treadeth 
out the corn upon the threshing-fioor.' 
6. And when Solomon and his guests 
had arrived at the place of the feast, they 
beheld a man, clad in the garb and 
■covered with the soil of labor, seated in 
the chair of honor not yet aw^arded. And 
the king waxed wroth, and said, ' What 
manner of man art thou ? Why comest 
thou thus unseemly and unbidden to our 
feast, where none are invited save the 
ohief workers on the temple ? ' 
And the man answered and said, ' Please 
you, I came not unbidden. Was it not 
proclaimed that this day the chief work- 
men of the temple dine with the king? 
Therefore am I come.' 
And when the man had thus spoken, 
the guests talked with each other, and he 
who carved the cherubim spake aloud 
149 
and said : ' This fellow is no sculptor. I 
know liirn not.' 
And he who inlaid the roof with pure 
gold said : ' Neither is he of those who 
work in refined metals.' And he who 
wrought in raising the walls said: 'He 
belongs not with those who are cutters of 
stone.' 
And one who labored in shaping the 
timbers for the roof said : ' We, who are 
cunning in cedar wood, and know the 
mystery of joining strange timbers to- 
gether, know him not; he is not of us.' 
Then said Kiug Solomon : ' How sayest 
thou now ? Wherefore should I not have 
thee plucked by the beard, scourged with 
a scourge, and stoned with stones, even 
unto death ? ' 
But the man w^as nowise daunted, and 
he rose from the seat, and came to where 
the wine was set, and took a cup of the 
wine and raised it high and spake aloud, 
saying, 'Oh, king! live forever! ' He then 
drank long until the cup was emptied. 
He now returned to the seat and spake 
to the guests who had rebuked him, and 
said unto the chief of the carvers in stone : 
' Who made the instruments with which 
you carve ? ' 
And he answered : 'The blacksmith.' 
And to the chief of the workers in wood 
he said : 'Who made the tools with which 
you felled the cedars of Lebanon, and 
shaped them into pillars and roof for the 
temple ? ' 
And he also answered : ' The black- 
smith.' 
Then he spake unto the artificer in gold 
and ivory and precious stones, saying: 
' Who fashioned the instruments with 
which you wrought beautiful ornaments 
for my lord the king? ' 
And he, too, made answer the same: 
'The blacksmith.' 
Then said the man to Solomon : ' Be- 
hold, oh king ! I am he whom, when men 
deride, they call blacksmith; but when 
they w^ould honor me they call me Son of 
the Forge. These craftsmen say truly 
that I am not of them ; I am their superior. 
W^ithout my labor first, their labor could 
not be. The great Tubal Cain, whom all 
men honor, taught those who in turn 
taught me my handicraft, and the great 
