All was done in love, anxiety, timidity, stupidity, and
impatience. They were stupid in little things; and he that is stupid
in little will be stupid also in much.
Presently old Mr. Pontifex died, and then came the revelation of the
little alteration he had made in his will simultaneously with his
bequest to Ernest. It was rather hard to bear, especially as there was
no way of conveying a bit of their minds to the testator now that he
could no longer hurt them. As regards the boy himself anyone must
see that the bequest would be an unmitigated misfortune to him. To
leave him a small independence was perhaps the greatest injury which
one could inflict upon a young man. It would cripple his energies, and
deaden his desire for active employment. Many a youth was led into
evil courses by the knowledge that on arriving at majority he would
come into a few thousands. They might surely have been trusted to have
their boy's interests at heart, and must be better judges of those
interests than he, at twenty-one, could be expected to be: besides
if the son of Rechab's father- or perhaps it might be simpler under
the circumstances to say Rechab at once- if Rechab, then, had left
handsome legacies to his grandchildren- why, Jonadab might not have
found those children so easy to deal with, etc.
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