Moral: Industry is itself a treasure.
A wealthy old Farmer, who had been declining in health, perceived that he had not many days to live. He called his sons to his bedside. “My dear children,” said the dying man, “I leave it with you as my last injunction not to part with the farm which has been in our family for a hundred years. To disclose a secret which I received from my father, and which I now think proper to communicate to you, there is a treasure hidden somewhere in the grounds; though I never could discover the particular spot where it lies concealed. However, as soon as the harvest is in, spare no pains in the search, and I am well assured you will not lose your labor.”
The wise old man was no sooner laid in his grave than his sons went to work. With great vigor and enthusiasm, they turned up every foot of ground belonging to their farm. Although they did not find the treasure, their lands yielded a far more plentiful crop than those of their neighbors. At the end of the year, when they were settling their accounts and computing their extraordinary profits, one of the brothers, more astute than the rest, said, “I would wager that this was the concealed wealth our father meant. At least we have found by experience that industry is itself a treasure.”
