Let me try, if I can, to tell you so that
you will never, never forget."
For a little the nurse looked away out of the window, up into the leafy
depths of the big trees, and into the blue sky beyond, while the girl
watched her with a look that was pathetic in its wondering, hungering
earnestness. When Miss Farwell spoke again she chose her words carefully.
"Once upon a time a woman, walking in the mountains, discovered by chance
a wonderful mine, of such vast wealth that there was nothing in all the
world like it for richness. And the mine belonged to the woman because
she found it. But the wealth of the mine went out into the world for all
men to use, and thus, in the largest sense, the riches the woman found
belonged to all mankind. But still, because she had found it, the woman
always felt that it was hers. And so, through her discovery of this vast
wealth, and the great happiness it brought to the world, the mine became
to the woman the dearest of all her possessions.
"Tell me, Grace, do you think that anyone could ever replace the
mountains, the ocean or the stars, or any of these wonderful, wonderful
things in the great universe, if they were to be destroyed?"
"No." The answer came in a puzzled tone.
"And do you think, Grace, that anything in all this beautiful world is of
greater importance--of more value to the world--than a human life, with
all its marvelous power to think and feel and love and hate and so leave
its mark on all life, for all time?"
"No, Miss Farwell.
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