Cast a Line for Yourself.
A BOY stood watching some anglers on a bridge. He was poor and dejected. At last, approaching a basket well-filled with wholesome-looking fish, he thought, “If now I had these, I should be happy. I could sell them at a fair price and buy me food and lodgings.” “I will give you just as many and just as good fish,” said the owner, who chanced to overhear his words, “if you will do me a trifling favor.” “And what is that?” asked the other, eagerly. “Only to watch this line till I come back. I wish to go on a short errand.” The proposal was gladly accepted. The old fisherman was gone so long that the boy began to be impatient. Meanwhile, however, the hungry fish snapped greedily at the baited hook, and the boy lost his depression in the excitement of pulling them in, and when the owner of the line returned he had caught a large number. Counting out from them as many as were in the basket and presenting them to the boy, the old fisherman said, “I fulfill my promise with the fish you have caught to teach you, whenever you see others earning what you need, to waste no time in fruitless wishes, but to ‘Cast a line for yourself.’”—Sel.