Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1870-06-22
The King and the Widow.

The king lay sloopIcss on his bed, thinking,
thinking.
"What shall DO ~ said he to himself
" My reign is marked by nothing great. |
am no warrior, and can't hand my name down
to postcrity as q conqueror. There are no
enemies to fight no battles TO contest, and no
victories TO be obtained But one thing
can do | can build great, magnificent,
marble church 1t shall have towers and
spires, and every thing that can make it
grand and noble I will spare no expense
and no pains. will build it wholly myself
and have all the honor of il. 1t shall stand
for ages, perhaps as long as the world shall
last (who knows p, a monument Of my name F;
for / will have my name inscribed in its front
So the generations that come and 90 will hon
or me as long as the building stands What
higher elorly could he desire2'
As soon as the morning returned, the king
began his work. He called around him the
best architects offered great rewards for the
best plans, collected the best materials, and
brought the very best workmen. Every thing
seemed to aid him. The plan was admired,
the piety Of the king was extoled, his gene
rosity was in eyorybody's mouth. The huge
stones were drawn and measured and hewn.
At length, after years Of time and labor,
the walls went up, and the roof was put on,
and the church was drawing near completion.
To make the glory the greater, the king had
great stone in the front, on which his name
was engraved
Now, in order to nave all the glory Of it
he had proclaimed that no one should con-
tribute farthing or do any thing towards
building the church.
When the edifcc was nearly finished the
king again lay on his bed, thinking about his
/ beautiful church and what monument of
glory to his name it would forever remain.
And as he thought and reioiced over it, he
fell asleep and as he slept, he dreamed
He dreamed that he was standing before
the new church gazing on his name, engraved
so large and plain And while gazing an
angel seemed to come and instantly wipe out
his name, and in its place write the name Of
poor widow. Again he had his own name
put in, and again the angel wiped it out and
put in the name Of the poor widow. So he
did three times, till the king was afraid to try
it again.
In the morning the king awoke, troubled
mad and enraged. He inquired if anybody
knew of such widow At length they found
her living in a little room, far down one Of
the alleys Of the city. She was brought by
the officers before the king In a fury he
inquired, " How dared you to do any thing
towards building that church, when you knew
I had forbidden it ?"
Sire" said the widow, meekly, Sire,
did not presume to do any thing for th'
church, but / wanted to do some little thing
for the dear Saviour for whom the churcf
was built 60
Well what did you do ?"
Alas, Sire, all | could do was to give a
wisp Of grass to one Of the horses that drew
the stones -
All, woman" exclaimed the king, 81
see how it is, and what the angel means
You wanted to gorify your Lord. | wanted
to glorify myself My name shall be erased
from the tablet and yours put in its place.
And so it was done Them that honor
me will honor Kings can't bring so mucl
glory to God by their wealth, as can the poor
widow with her two mites, or her wisp O
grass.-N S. S. Teach her.