A FABLE by A. Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 25, 1873

A FABLE

By A. Smith

Humility.

A FABLE.

In a field of wheat there were three spires (which I will call, by way of distinction, A, B, and C) that grew contentedly together, until they heard a rumor among their neighbors that the master of the field esteemed humility as a very desirable virtue.

The three spires at once determined to bring themselves into notice. A began by carefully examining her leaves and stalk, clearing them of rust and the larva of insects. She sought that nourishment that would best promote a healthy growth of all her parts, and, although some of her proud neighbors were already overtopping her, she did not feel envious toward them, nor would she put out a leaf in their way, but contented herself with pursuing the even tenor of her way, ever keeping her master's will in view. B suffered the worms to feed at her roots, and the insects to defile her branches. She would exclaim, “I am of no account; I am a cipher; it matters not what becomes of me.” However, she felt somewhat indignant, when one of her neighbors remarked in her hearing, “I believe what B says of herself is true.”

C took a good deal of satisfaction in displaying a few coarse, untidy leaves, as proof of her humility. She could talk scarcely five minutes with her neighbors without making some uncouth remark about their articles of apparel, calling them rags, &c., and ending by recommending her own as a model of plain attire. She would not speak to one of her neighbors who remarked that she thought C was proud of her humility.

The time of harvest came, and the master walked through the field, selecting the best heads for seed. He found A to have developed a perfect head of plump, white wheat, which he at once secured for the future new growth. B had developed a head of smut, which he trampled under his feet, and C, a head of chess, which he plucked and commanded to be cast into the fire; remarking, as he did so, “The humble shall be exalted, but the proud shall be abased.”

Reader, the moral is apparent.

A. Smith.