Australian Tales - Setis

God, and to lead a ‘sober, righteous, and godly life,’ herself? Is it not
fiendish of you to try and crush her, and starve her little ones, simply
because she has opened a lollipop-shop in the same street in which you
trade?
Cheer up, poor widow! Be not afraid: you have an Almighty Friend
above, whose unchangeable word is pledged to protect and provide for
you and your fatherless children. “Commit your way unto Him; trust also
in Him;” and the malignant whisperings of your foes shall be as
powerless to injure you as the hissings of a toothless viper.
That burly trader, too, whose purse is heavier than a sack of potatoes,
might well afford to spare his abuse of the striving young man, who has
opened a shop next door but one to him; in the hope of earning an honest
living, with “Live and let live” for his motto. Be assured, Mr. Bigbody,
that your grudgery will recoil upon yourself. Your policy will be
unprofitable, in a pecuniary sense, to say nothing of a far higher sense in
which you will be a sad loser, if you encourage such evil passions in
your heart. You know it is unjust to injure your neighbour in the opinion
of his creditors and his customers; and if your bulky purse tempts you to
laugh at the law of libel, let me remind you that there are infinitely
higher laws, which you cannot break with impunity. I have seen the
boasted hoards of purse-proud men leak away like wild honey from a
cracked calabash, and leave them more miserable than a starving
blackfellow. But whether your money is taken from you, or you keep it
until you are taken from it, is a matter of small moment, compared with
the judgment which awaits you, where ready cash cannot bribe. You
need not be offended with me, Mr. Bigbody, for my straight-forward
comments. I do not dislike you, but I cannot like your unprincipled
doings. Take my advice, like a sensible man, mind your own business in
future, and let your struggling neighbour earn an honest loaf if he can:
there is room enough in the city for you both.
* * * * *
A wise man has remarked, that “envy is the most inexorable of all
passions. Other sins have some pleasure attached to them, or seemingly
admit of an excuse: envy wants both. Other sins last but for a while: the
appetite may be satisfied; anger remits, hatred has an end — but envy
never ceases.” A far wiser man has declared that “wrath is cruel, and
anger is outrageous;” and he adds the enquiry, “but who is able to stand
against envy?” The same high authority says that “a sound heart is the
life of the flesh, but envy the rottenness of the bones.” Verily there are
thousands of tons of such rotten bones in the world (carrying living
souls, too), which taint the moral atmosphere, and breed “plague,
pestilence, and famine; battle and murder, and sudden death,” from