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!

There came a night when Pharaoh dreamed. The monarch saw seven fat
cows come up out of the River Nile, which was the source of all
fertility there in the Delta. Then he saw seven lean cows come up out
of the river and they ate up the seven fat cows and yet remained as
lean and hungry as they had been before. In the morning Pharaoh called
for his wise men and his magicians, but they could make nothing of it.

Then the chief butler remembered his fault. He remembered Joseph who
had interpreted his own dream in yonder prison. He told Pharaoh of
that strange experience, and the monarch promptly sent for this gifted
young Hebrew. "Seest thou a man diligent in his business he shall
stand before kings." Joseph had shown himself diligent in his business
as a servant in the house of Potiphar, and as a prisoner he had made
himself useful to the warden of the jail.