08. THE THIEF AND HIS MOTHER. A Boy stole a book from a schoolmate, and took it home to his Mother. This was his first theft, but under his mother's commendation he continued to pilfer till he reached man’s estate, when, at last, he was taken in the act, and led away to public execution. His Mother followed, tearing her hair in sorrow, whereon the young man said, “I wish to say something to my Mother in her ear.” She approached him when, seizing her ear in his teeth, he bit it off. Upbraiding him for his unnatural act, he replied, “Ah, if you had corrected me when I first stole the school-book, I should not have come to this disgraceful end.” MORAL. Those whose vices are not corrected in youth afterwards suffer greater calamities. [more info]
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