BEN F. VICK, JR.
An old man, trav’ling a lone highway,
Came at evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast and deep and wide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream held no fear for him;
But he paused when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” cried a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting your strength with your building here.
Your journey will end with the ending day,
And you never again will pass this way.
You have crossed the chasm deep and wide.
Why build a bridge at eventide?”
And the builder raised his old gray head.
“Good friend, on the path I have come,” he said,
“There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet will pass this way.
This stream which has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired boy many a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim.
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”
My sincere interest in the welfare of boys and girls has inspired me to print the foregoing poem.
Every parent has a child who is following. Boys are more inclined to imitate their fathers, while girls are influenced more by their mothers. Therefore, every person who is in any way in a position to influence children should be careful about the example which he sets for them.
We may sometimes pass by temptations without any trouble because of the long experience we have had with the trials and tribulations of life; but, like the old man of the poem who passed over the chasm without trouble but turned and built a bridge for the youth who was following him, parents should be daily concerned with the matter of building a bridge for their children who are following.
We should not become so entangled with the affairs of this life that we neglect our children. Sometimes young parents are so busy trying to collect the material things of this life that they sell the souls of their children for a few miserable dollars, just as Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. The Bible tells us that he sought repentance but found no place for it. Fathers and mothers who neglect the spiritual training of their children while striving after this world’s goods will certainly seek repentance later; but, like many who have pursued that folly before them, they will find no place for repentance; i.e. there will be no chance to restore what they have lost. A castle made of gold and ivory will not recompence for the bitter wails of a lost soul in torment.
The Bible gives us a somewhat detailed story of the actions of Lot when Abraham told him, in order to avoid trouble, “Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me.” The record tells us that Lot looked across the fertile valleys of the Jordan and saw that it was good for cattle; and he “pitched his tent toward Sodom.” In his selfish haste to obtain the material blessings that the road to Sodom could afford, he lost all his family, except two daughters.
Fathers and mothers would give a million dollars to heal their children of some physical malady but will neglect a spiritual cancer that is eating the souls of their children away in order to accumulate only a small fraction of a million.
Jesus said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”