THE TALENT THOU GAVEST
“Big Lord,” he spoke, “the talent Thou gavest me brought a great deal of woe with it. Let Thy angel here, O Big Man, bear witness now that I return to Thee Thy talent. And do Thou let me depart in peace, to make the best use I can of the half-talent which is mine. …”
He opened his hands and spread his palms over the open grave, as though he dropped something into it; and having prayed he took off his coat, his waistcoat, and his india-rubber cuffs, and cast the earth back into the grave.
He returned to his mother’s cottage, and he shaved off his beard, and brought forth from his box the black coat he wore in the pulpit; and in the morning he clothed himself in his preacher’s raiment, and wrote this message:
“Beloved brothers in God of Capel Salem, which is in the Castellybryn:
“Your judge has found the way. Halelujah! Amen! Glory! Rejoice with me,
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