Читать книгу The Young Pilgrim: A Tale Illustrative of "The Pilgrim's Progress" онлайн

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“I say, Mark,” cried Jack, “what did the parson pay you for listening to him for an hour?”

“How much did you get out of him?” said Madge.

“Any money?” asked Ann Dowley, looking up eagerly.

Mark laid sixpence on the table.

“I daresay that you might have got more,” said Ben.

“I did get more—but not money.”

“What, food, or clothes, or—”

“Not food, nor clothes, but good words, which were better to me than gold.”

This announcement was received with a roar of laughter, which did not, however, disconcert Mark.

“Look you,” he said, as soon as they were sufficiently quiet to hear him, “look you if what I said be not true. You only care for things that belong to this life, but it is no more to be compared to the life that is to come than a candle to the sun, or a leaf to the forest! Why, where shall we all be a hundred years hence?”

“In our graves, to be sure,” said Ben.

“That is only our bodies—our poor, weak bodies; but our souls, that think, and hope, and fear, where will they be then?”

“We don’t want to look on so far,” observed Jack.