, 1878-01-04
A Parable.

was not in this world that he was born,
but in world very much like this IN
some respects, and very different In others.
The world in which this great genius was
born was governed 10y benefcent ana
wise Ruler, who had such wisdom and
such power that he decided, before each
being was born, for what purpose he
would best be fitted in life he then put
him in the place best suited to the work
he was to do; and he gave into his hands
n set of instruments to do the work with.
There was one peculiarity about these
Instruments they could never be re-
placed; on this point the great and wise
Ruler was inexorable. He said to every
being who was born into his realms:
"Here is your set Of instruments to
work with; if you take good care. of them,
they will last q lifetime; if you let them
get rusty or broken, you can perhaps
have them frightened up little or
mended; but they will never be as good
asnew, and you can never have another
set. Now you see how important it is
that you keep them always In good
order"
This man of whom speak had a com
plete set of all the tools necessary for
sculptor's work, and also complete set
of painters brushes and colors He was
wonderful man; for he could make
very beautiful statues, and be could also
paint very beautiful pictures. He became,
while he was very Young, famous and
everybody wanted something that he had
carved or painted.
Now do not know whether it was
that he did not believe what the good
Ruler told him about his set of instru-
ments, or whether he did not care to keep
on working any longer; but this is what
happened: he grew very careless about
his brushes, and let his tools lie out over
night where it was damp He left some
of his brushes full of paint for weeks, and
the paint dried in, 30 that when at last he
tried to wash it out, out came the bristles
by dozens, and the brushes were entirely
ruined. The dampness of the night air
rusted the edges of some Of his very finest
tools, and the things which he had to use
to clean off the rust were so powerful that
they ate into the fine metal of the tools,
and left the edges so uneven that they
would no longer make fine strokes.
However, he kept on painting, and
making statues, and doing the best he
could with the few and imperfect tools
he had left. But people began to say,
"Whst is the matter with this mans pict-
ures3 and what is the matter with his
statuesl He does not do half as good
work as he used to!"
Then he was very angry, and said the
people were only envious and malicious;
that he was the same he always had been;
and his pictures aud statues were as good
as ever. But he could not make any
body else think SO. They all knew
better.
One day the Ruler sent for him, and
said to him:
"Now you have reached the prime of
your life; it is time that you should do
some really great work. l want grand
statue made ior the gateway of one of my
cities. Here is the design. Take it home
and study it, and see if you can under
take to execute it."
As soon as the poor sculptor studied
the design, his heart sank within him;
there we're several parts Of it which re-
quired the finest workmanship of one of
his most delicate instruments; that in-
strument was entirely ruined by rust; the
edge was all eaten away in notches. In
vain be tried all possible devices to bring
il again to fine, sharp edge. Nothing
could he done with it. The most expe.
rienced workmen shook their heads as
they saw it, aud said:
mo, no, siri IL is too late; il you had
brought il to US at first, we might posi-
bly have made il sharp enough for you to
use little while with great care; but IL
is past help now" Then ne ran frantic.
al ly around the country, trying to Dor.
row similar instrument from some one.
But one Of the most remarkable peculiar.
iiies about these sets Of instruments Civ
sn by the Ruler oi this world am speak.
log Of Was, that they we're Of no use AZ all
10 The hands Of anybody except the one
% whom the Ruler had given them.
They were not fitted 10 his hand; he
could not make the kind Of stroke he
wanted to make with them. So he went
sadly back 10 the Ruler, and said.
"Oh, sir. am most unhappy! | can
not execute this besutiful design for your
statue"
"But why cannot you execute itin said
the Ruler.
~Alas, SIR" said the unfortunate man
"by some sad accident one Of my finest
tools was 81 rusted that IL cannot Le re.
stored. without thar tool il is impos.
ible to M IKE this statue
Then the Ruler looked very severely at
him, and said
"Oh, Sculptor! accidents very seldom
happen to the wise and careful"