"Come," he said to them, "the world
does not belong to you. I believe you have never read the works of
Epictetus, who says, 'true education lies in learning to distinguish
what is ours, from what does not belong to us.' However, you have a
more modern spirit; for you believe that whatever you see belongs to
you, providing you are able to get hold of it."
He was happy; in the warm, noon-day drowse, he felt, like Abraham, the
grace of God within him, and found even in the humblest sparrow enough
to afford him an opportunity to discuss morals with himself.
"There'll be potatoes," said Mr. Tomkins, "enough to last all winter
for the two of us. That's riches, Jeminy; where's your talk now of the
world being poor?"
"Some of these potatoes," said Mr. Jeminy, bending over, "are rotted
from the wet weather."
"To-morrow," said Mr. Tomkins, "I'll borrow a harrow from Farmer Barly.
And next spring I'll plant corn here on the hill. Table corn, that is.
Then we'll have a corn-husking, Jeminy; you and I, and the rest of the
young ones.
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