Lesson:

1. A man had seven sons, who were always quarreling. They left their studies and work, to quarrel among themselves. Some bad men were looking forward to the death of their father, to cheat them out of their property by making them quarrel about it.


2. The good old man, one day, called his sons around him. He laid before them seven sticks, which were bound together. He said, 'I will pay a hundred dollars to the one who can break this bundle.'


3. Each one strained every nerve to break the bundle. After a long but vain trial, they all said that it could not be done.


4. 'And yet, my boys,' said the father, 'nothing is easier to do.' He then untied the bundle, and broke the sticks, one by one, with perfect ease.


5. 'Ah!' said his sons, 'it is easy enough to do it so; anybody could do it in that way.'


6. Their father replied, 'As it is with these sticks, so is it with you, my sons. So long as you hold fast together and aid each other, you will prosper, and none can injure you.


7. 'But if the bond of union be broken, it will happen to you just as it has to these sticks, which lie here broken on the ground.'





Home, city, country, all are prosperous found,


When by the powerful link of union bound.





DEFINITIONS


1. Cheat: Deceive, wrong.


1. Property: That which one owns - whether land, goods, or money.


2. Bundle: A number of things bound together.


3. Nerve: Sinew, muscle.


6. Prosper: Succeed, do well.


7. Union: The state of being joined or united.