I remember once hearing of a boy who was very, very poor. He
lived in a foreign country, and his mother said to him one day
that he must go into the great city and start in business, and
she took his coat and cut it open and sewed between the lining
and the coat forty golden dinars, which she had saved up for
many years to start him in life. She told him to take care of
robbers as he went across the desert; and as he was going out of
the door she said: “My boy, I have only two words for you, ‘Fear
God, and never tell a lie.’” The boy started off, and toward
evening he saw glittering in the distance the minarets of the
great city, but between the city and himself he saw a cloud of
dust; it came nearer; presently he saw that it was a band of
robbers. One of the robbers left the rest and rode toward him,
and said: “Boy, what have you got?” And the boy looked him in
the face and said: “I have forty golden dinars sewed up in my
coat.” And the robber laughed and wheeled round his horse and
went away back. He would not believe the boy. Presently another
robber came, and he said: “Boy, what have you got?” “Forty
golden dinars sewed up in my coat.” The robber said: “The boy
is a fool,” and wheeled his horse and rode away back. By and
by the robber captain came, and he said: “Boy, what have you
got?” “I have forty golden dinars sewed up in my coat.” And
the robber dismounted and put his hand over the boy’s breast,
felt something round, counted one, two, three, four, five,
till he counted out the forty golden coins. He looked the boy
in the face and said: “Why did you tell me that?” The boy said:
“Because of God and my mother.” And the robber leaned on his
spear and thought, and said: “Wait a moment.” He mounted his
horse, rode back to the rest of the robbers, and came back in
about five minutes with his dress changed. This time he looked
not like a robber, but like a merchant. He took the boy up on
his horse and said: “My boy, I have long wanted to do something
for my God and for my mother, and I have this moment renounced
my robber’s life. I am also a merchant. I have a large business
house in the city. I want you to come and live with me, to
teach me about your God; and you will be rich, and your mother
some day will come and live with us.” And it all happened.
(Text.)--HENRY DRUMMOND.
(3313)
[Illustration: TUBERCLE BACILLI MAGNIFIED SEVERAL THOUSAND
TIMES]