RUN AWAY, BOY!

A young man stood at the bar of the court of justice to be sentenced for forgery. The judge had known him from a child, for his father had been a famous legal light and his work on the Law of Trusts was the most exhaustive work on the subject in existence. “Do you remember your father?” asked the judge sternly. “that father whom you have disgraced?”

The prisoner answered: “I remember him perfectly. When I went to him for advice or companionship, he would look up from his book on the Law of Trusts, and say, ‘Run away, boy, I am busy.’ My father finished his book, and here I am.” The great lawyer had neglected his own trust, with awful results.

– T. De Witt Talmadge

[Reproduced with permission from Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, by Paul Lee Tan,Assurance Publishers, Rockville, MD, 1984. #1625]

This material is published by the Faith Committee of the Character Council of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Reproduction and Adaptation is encouraged.