XVII.
GOING FORTH.
A wise parent sent his children to a distant country to learn the lessons
of life which experience alone can teach. Before their departure he
called them to him, and, after providing them liberally with means, told
them that at their return he would listen to their several experiences;
at the same time telling them to use the means which he had given them
well--neither to hoard, nor spend them unwisely; above all, not to bring
them back in their original form, but a full equivalent therefore, either
in spiritual or material things.
A year had scarcely passed, when, as the father sat looking at the
western sky, the youngest son came running breathlessly up the path.
"So soon returned?" asked his father--which caused a look of
disappointment to pass over the face of the youth; and his words were
shaded with regret as he replied, "I thought you would be glad to see
me, and would rejoice that I got through so quickly."
"Not so, my son," replied the father. "You cannot, in the brief time
you have been absent, have performed many, if any, deeds of goodness
compared with what you might have done by tarrying longer; and your
gold--you surely cannot have used it all in so brief a period."
"Why, I've brought all the money back you gave me, father. You see,
I got through without its costing me a penny."
"It grieves me more than all, my son, that you should go through
any country and return no equivalent for deeds and kindness given.
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