Cec. Then it must signify Deception.
Pa. It does. I dare say you will at once know this fellow who is running as fast as his legs will carry him, and looking back at his shadow.
Cec. He must be Fear or Terror, I fancy.
Pa. Yes; you may call him which you please. But who is this sower, that scatters seeds in the ground?
Cec. Let me consider. I think there is a parable in the Bible about seed sown, and it therefore signifies something like Instruction.
Pa. True; but it may also represent Hope, for no one sows without hoping to reap the fruit. What do you think of this candle held before a mirror, in which its figure is exactly reflected?
Cec. I do not know what it means.
Pa. It represents Truth; the essence of which consists in the fidelity with which objects are received and reflected back by our minds. The object is here a luminous one, to show the clearness and brightness of Truth. Here is next an upright column, the perfect straightness of which is shown by a plumb-line hanging from its summit, and exactly parallel to the side of the column.
Cec. I suppose that must represent Uprightness.
Pa. Yes—or in other words, Rectitude. The strength and stability of the pillar alone denote the security produced by this virtue. You see here a woman disentangling and reeling off a very perplexed skein of thread.