ing. 'My son is away; when I am dead he will not be here
to take charge of my affairs; my slaves will plunder my estate, and to
gain time will even conceal my death from my son, and deprive me of the
sweet savour of mourning.' To prevent these things he bequeathed his
property to his slave, well knowing that the slave, believing in his
apparent right, would give thee speedy information, and take care of the
effects, even as he has done."

"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?"

Then the mosquitoes annoyed him, and the king thought:--

"What can the mosquito be good for? why was it created in the world? It
but disturbs our comfort, and the world profits not by its existence."

Yet King David lived to discover that these very insects, and the very
condition of life, the being of which he deplored, were ordained even to
his own benefit.

When he fled from before Saul, David was captured in the land of the
Philistines by the brothers of Goliath, who carried him before the King
of Gath, and it was only by pretending idiocy that he escaped death, the
king deeming it impossible that such a man could be the kingly David; as
it is written, "And he disguised his reason before their eyes, and
played the madman in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the
gate, and let his spittle run down upon