"Which loss will be compensated by more thought and greater ability
to labor mentally," said his parent consolingly.
In after years the youth who had wasted his bodily strength became a
worker in words of cheer and hope to others, and hence he had not
wholly lived in vain. He learned to love the angel Truth so well that
she came to his side each day, and gave him sweet counsel and many
lessons for mankind.
But he had purchased the light at a cost which few can afford to give.
XXII.
THE SACRIFICE.
A large party of travelers on their way to a distant country were obliged
to pass through a dense forest to reach it. Their leader went forward,
and, seeing the darkness of the dense woods, was convinced of the
impossibility of his people going through it, without the aid of a
light to guide them. He sat beside the mossy stones at the entrance,
trying to devise some means by which to light up the darkness. There
seemed but one way, and that almost hopeless, as it involved a sacrifice
of life, and he knew too well the nature of the trees to expect any of
them to give themselves up for his travelers. How could he ask it, as he
stepped into the deep wood, and looked on their grand proportions and
rich foliage? His was no enviable position to entreat them to give up the
existence which must be dear to themselves,--to pass from the known to
the unknown life.
Vainly he tried to think of another way to accomplish his purpose.
Pages:
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99