Jim Fenton on the Parable of the Ten Talents,

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1659, 12 June 1875, Page 5 (Supplement)

Jim Fenton on the Parable of the Ten Talents,

'I don't know nothin' 'bout it,' said Jim, at the conclusion' ' but ifc seems to me the man was a little rough on the feller with one talent. Twas a mighty small capital to start with, an' he didn't give 'im any chance tJ try it over; but what bothers me most is about the man's trav'lin' into a fur country. They hadn't no chance to talk with 'im about it, and git his notions. It stan's to reason that the feller with one talent would think his master was stingy, and be riled over it.' ' You must remember, Jim, that all he needed was to ask for wisdom in order to receive it,' said Mr, Benedict.

•Ho ; the man that travelled into a fur country stan's for the Almighty, and he'd got out o' the way. He'd jest gin these fellers his capital, and quit, and left 'em to go ifc alone. They couldn't go arter 'im, and he couldn't'a'hearn a word they said. He did what he thought was all right, and didn't want to be bothered. I never think about prayin' till I git into a tight place. It sian's to reason that the Lore don't want people comin* to him to do things that "they can do theirselves. I shouldn't pray for breath ; I sh'd jest hist the •winder. If I wanted a bucket o' water, I sh'd go for it. If a man's got common sense, and a pair o' hands, he hain't no business to be bofherin' other folks till he gits into what he can't git out of. When he's squeezed, then, in cours.e he'll squeal. It seems to me that ifc makes a sort of a spooney of a man to be always askin' for what he can't git if he tries. If the feller that only had one talent had brushed round, he could 'a' made a spec on it, an' had somethin' to show fur it, but he jest hid it. I don't stan' up for him. I think he was meaner nor pusly not to make the best on't, but ho didn't need to pray for sense,.for the man didn't want 'im to use no more nor his nateral stock, an' he knowed if he used that, he'd be all right.'

' But we are told to pray, Jim,' said Mr. Balfour, ' and assured that it is pleasant to the Lord to receive our petitions. We are even told to pray for our dailybread.'

1 Well it can't mean jest that, fur the feller that don't work fort don't git it, an' he hadn't oughter git it. If he don't lift his hands, but jest sets with his mouth open, he gets mostly flies. The old birds, with a nest full o' howlin' young ones, might go on, I s'pose, pickin' up grasshoppers till the cows come home, an' feedin' 'em, but they don't. They jest poke 'em out o' the nest; an' lam 'em to fly an' pick up their own livin'; and that's what makes birds of 'em. They pray mighty hard fur their daily bread, I tell ye, aud the way the old birds answer is jest to poke 'em out, and let 'em slide. I don't see many prayin' folks, an' I don't see many folks anyway ; but I have a consait that a feller can pray so much an' do so little, that he" won't be nobody. He'll jest grow weaker an' weaker all the time.'