[View Figure]
A TALE ABOUT THE FUTURE.
THE WAY TO PROSPER, OR IN UNION THERE IS STRENGTH, AND OTHER TALES.
BYT. S. ARTHUR.
PHILADELPHIA J. W. BRADLEY, 48 NORTH FOURTH STREET.
1851.Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by T. S. ARTHUR, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. STEREOTYPED BY GEORGE CHARLES. KING & BAIRD, PRINTERS.
PREFACE.
THE purpose of the Author in writing this book, has been to show the power of virtue, harmony, and fraternal affection among the younger members of a family, in securing their future well-being and prosperity. "In Union there is Strength." So trite is this saying, that the world seems almost to have forgotten its value, or no longer to regard it as a practical principle. The old man, who, as the story goes, brought to his children a bundle of sticks, understood the meaning of this sentiment fully. "Take, my sons," said, he, "each of you a stick and break it." The children obeyed, and the fragile rods were broken in their hands with scarcely an effort. Then he gathered the sticks together into a single compact bundle, and bade them try again; but union had given strength to the slender branches, and though each tried with his utmost power, yet the bundle of sticks was scarcely bent, much less broken. "Let it be thus with you in life, my children page: 6-7[View Page 6-7] ren," said the father. "Stand close together, mutually sustaining each other, and you need have no fear of those who are against you."
The tendency of what is opposite, is also shown, by a contrast of character, in this volume; so that while the book gives motives for fraternal union, it pictures the sad consequences of discord in families, and shows how selfishness, ill-nature, and disregard of a brother's welfare, are evil seeds sown in early life, to yield, in after years, a plentiful harvest of disappointment, shame and misfortune.
