I do not venture to ask for a long delay,—­I ask but for thirty days; and if within that time I shall not have given proofs of repentance, disinherit me:  I shall not have a word to say.  I pray you, gentlemen, to intercede with my parents that they may grant this delay of thirty days, and to present them my humble apologies.”  With this he rubbed his head on the mat, as a humble suppliant, in a manner most foreign to his nature.

The relations, after hearing the firm and resolute answer of the parents, had shifted about in their places; but, although they were on the point of leaving the house, had remained behind, sadly out of harmony; when the son came in, and happily with a word set all in tune again.  So the relations addressed the parents, and said, “Pray defer to-night’s affair;” and laid the son’s apologies at their feet.  As for the parents, who would not have disinherited their son even had he not repented, how much the more when they heard what he said did they weep for joy; and the relations, delighted at the happy event, exhorted the son to become really dutiful; and so that night’s council broke up.  So this son in the turn of a hand became a pious son, and the way in which he served his parents was that of a tender and loving child.  His former evil ways he extinguished utterly.

The fame of this story rose high in the world; and, before half a year had passed, it reached the ears of the lord of the manor, who, when he had put on his noble spectacles and investigated the case, appointed the son to be the head man of his village.  You may judge by this what this son’s filial piety effected.  Three years after these events, his mother, who was on her death-bed, very sick, called for him and said, “When some time since the consultation was being held about disinheriting you, by some means or other your heart was turned, and since then you have been a dutiful son above all others.  If at that time you had not repented, and I had died in the meanwhile, my soul would have gone to hell without fail, because of my foolish conduct towards you.  But, now that you have repented, there is nothing that weighs upon me, and there can be no mistake about my going to paradise.  So the fact of my becoming one of the saints will all be the work of your filial piety.”  And the story goes, that with these words the mother, lifting up her hands in prayer, died.

To be sure, by the deeds of the present life we may obtain a glimpse into the future.  If a man’s heart is troubled by his misdeeds in this life, it will again be tortured in the next.  The troubled heart is hell.  The heart at rest is paradise.  The trouble or peace of parents depends upon their children.  If their children are virtuous, parents are as the saints:  if their children are wicked, parents suffer the tortures of the damned.  If once your youthful spirits, in a fit of heedlessness, have led you to bring trouble upon your parents and cause them to weep, just consider the line of argument