The Dark Candle
A man had a little daughter an only
and much beloved child. He lived for her. He was his life. So when she became
ill and her illness resisted the efforts of the best obtainable physicians, he
became like a man possessed, moving heaven and earth to bring about her
restoration to health. His best efforts proved unavailing and the child died.
The father was totally irreconcilable. He became a bitter recluse, shutting
himself away from his many friends and refusing every activity that might
restore his poise and bring him back to his normal self. But one night he had a
dream. He was in Heaven, and was witnessing a grand pageant of the entire
little child angels. They were marching in an apparently endless line past the
Great White Throne. Every white robed angelic tot carried a candle. He noticed
that one child's candle was not lighted. Then he saw that the child with the
dark candle was his own little girl. Rushing to her, while the pageant
faltered, he seized her in his arms, caressed her tenderly, and then asked:
"How is it, darling that your candle alone is unlighted?”Father, they often
relight it, but your tears always put it out."
Just then he awoke from his dream. The
lesson was crystal clear, and its effects were immediate. From that hour on he
was not a recluse, but mingled freely and cheerfully with his former friends
and associates.
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