Among the Jews the coney was regarded as one of the unclean animals,
"because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof, he is unclean"
(Lev. ii. 5). But, in actual fact, he does neither. All ruminating
animals are furnished with a complex stomach for chewing the cud; but
this is not the case with the elephant, the coney, and the hippopotamus.
They neither chew the cud nor part the hoof. But the coney has a habit
of sitting on a ledge of rock and working its jaws from side to side as
if it really did chew the cud, so that a careless observer would readily
mistake it for a ruminating animal. This movement of the jaws is a very
important one. According to J. G. Wood, the coney performs it
instinctively, in order that the chiselled edges of the upper and lower
teeth may be preserved sharp by continually rubbing against each other,
and that they may not be suffered to grow too long, and so to deprive
the animal of the means whereby it gains its food.
The coney knows what every good tradesman knows, that sharp tools are
the secret of all high-class work. No boy ever cut his finger with a
sharp knife, but always with a blunt one. And what a sharp knife is to
the finger, a sensitive conscience is to the life. If the heart be kept
true and tender, and the mind alert and keen, the conscience will never
sting and lacerate the soul. It is only the wicked who flee when no man
pursueth, and whose conscience is like the worm that never dies. "Leave
her to Heaven," said Hamlet of his guilty mother, "and to those thorns
that in her bosom lodge to prick and sting her." But the righteous are
as bold as a lion. Like Paul, they have the approval of a good
conscience, and
"A heart unspotted is not easily daunted,
Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just."
And the young people will not forget that tools are kept sharp by
exercise, not by allowing them to rust like a sluggard's spade, which no
true gardener would touch; but by keeping them sharp and bright like his
own steel blade, which is warranted to cut through any sod. Yes, keep
the powers of your mind strong and active through diligent application
at school, and the faculties of your soul responsive by kindness,
obedience, and prayer, and you will find that this is no mean part of
the wisdom that will enable you to succeed in life. For at school, in
business, and in religion, we have need of sharp tools.