"Well, well, and how does this benefit me?" impatiently interrupted the pupil.
"Ah!" replied the teacher, "wisdom I see rests not with the young. Dost thou not know that what a slave possesses belongs but to his master? Has not thy father left thee the right to select one article of all his property for thy own? Choose the slave as thy portion, and by possessing him thou wilt recover all that was thy father's. Such was his wise and loving intention."
The young man did as he was advised, and gave the slave his freedom afterward. But ever after he was wont to exclaim:—
"Wisdom resides with the aged, and understanding in length of days."
David, King of Israel, was once lying upon his couch and many thoughts were passing through his mind.
"Of what use in this world is the spider?" thought he; "it but increases the dust and dirt of the world, making places unsightly and causing great annoyance."
Then he thought of an insane man:—
"How unfortunate is such a being. I know that all things are ordained by God with reason and purpose, yet this is beyond my comprehension; why should men be born idiots, or grow insane?"