Page:Max Havelaar; or, the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company (IA dli.granth.77827).pdf/148

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Max Havelaar
129

how the large tree pushes away and kills the little tree. Therefore I shall look to those amongst you who excel in virtue, to try to become better than I am.

“I heartily salute you all.

“When the Governor-General commanded me to come to you as Assistant Resident in this district, my heart rejoiced. You know that I had never set foot on Bantam-Kidool; therefore I have obtained information about your district, and have seen that there is much good in Bantam-Kidool. Your people possess rice-fields in the valleys, and there are rice-fields on the mountains. And you wish to live in peace, and you do not desire to live in those districts that are inhabited by other persons. Yes, I know that there is much good in Bantam-Kidool.

“But not on that account alone did my heart rejoice; for elsewhere, also, I should have found much good.

“But I discovered that your population is poor, and therefore I rejoiced with all my soul.

“For I know that Allah loves the poor, and that He gives riches to whomsoever He will try; but to the poor He sends all who speak His word, that they may rise in the midst of their misery.

“Does not He give rain when the blade would otherwise wither, and a dewdrop in the cup of the thirsty flower?

“And is it not sublime to be sent to seek them that

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