another dish, and it was a dish of. nuts. (Song vi. 11.) Then said some at the table, Nuts spoil, tender teeth, especially the teeth of children: which when Gaius heard, he said:—
Hard texts are nuts (I will not call them cheaters),
Whose shells do keep their kernels from the eaters:
Ope then the shells, and you shall have the meat;
They here are brought for yet to crack and eat.
Then were they very merry, and sat at the table a long time, talking of many things. Then said the old gentleman, My good landlord, while we are cracking your nuts, if you please, do you open this riddle:—
A man there was, though some did count him mad,
The more he cast away, the more he had.
Then they all gave good heed, wondering What good Gaius would say; so he sat still a while, and then thus replied:—
He who bestows his goods upon the poor
Shall have as much again, and ten times more.
Then said Joseph, I dare say, sir, I did not think you could have found it out.
Oh 1 said Grains, I have been trained up in this way a great while; nothing teaches like experience. I have learned of my Lord to be kind, and I have found by experience that I have gained thereby. "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maheth himself poor, yet hath great riches." (Prov. xi, 534; xiii. 7.)
Then Samuel whispered? to Christiana, his mother, and said, Mother, this is a very good man's house; let us stay here a good while, and, let my brother Matthew he married here to Mercy, before we go any further. The which Gaius, the host said, overhearing, said, with a very good will, my child.
So they stayed here more, than a month, and Mercy was given to Matthew to wife. While they stayed here, Mercy,
