THE FIELD OF CORN.
An old man had a field, and when he fell ill, he sent for his three sons, that he might take leave of them, and give them his last charge. “My sons,” said he, “there is one thing which, with my last breath, I charge you to do, and that is, to seek out a rich gift which I have left you, and which you will find in my field—” Here the poor old man’s voice grew faint, and his head sank down on his breast in death. The sons were in too much grief for their loss to put in force that which the old man had bade them do, till want drove them to seek for what they thought must be a hoard of gold in the field; so they made a search from end to end of it, till there was not a clod they did not turn, in the hunt. At last they gave it up. “It is strange that the old man should have set us on this long search for a thing that is not here,” said Jack. “Come,” said Dick, “since we have gone through so much toil on the field, we may as well sow it with corn, and so make the most of it.” At this bright thought they set to work to sow the grain, and in due time a crop sprang up, five times as large as those crops which grew there in the old man’s time. The thought now struck the youths that this was the wealth the old man meant, and that it was his wish that they should earn their bread by the sweat of their brow.
Seek till you find, and you will not lose by the toil.