He is a steady boy and it is
reasonable to count upon his putting in eleven months a year at his
work, allowing one month for vacation. His gross financial value to
his mother for the year, therefore, is not less than $280. It costs
her about $12.50 a month to provide his food and clothing. That takes
off $150, so his net financial value a year is $130, which is six per
cent. on $2,166. Thus you see that fourteen-year-old boy is a paying
investment on considerably more than the average cost of a
sixteen-year-old boy, and I do not wonder that that fellow's mother
would not take a million for him, for the money part of his value is
the least of all.
But this is not by any means an accurate way to arrive at a boy's real
value. The more fortunate boy will be going to school nine months of
the year. He is preparing for a later very much higher value than the
boy who is denied an education, and while he may not be earning money
now, he is earning a certain knowledge, skill, and development which
will give him equipment of high value. At any rate, sooner or later,
fellows, you find yourself with a capacity for earning and
accumulating money. And, remember, in your relation to your money,
that after all it is not _yours_, but God's--no matter how it comes
into your hands.
In Luke 16 is the account of Dives, whom God permitted to be rich, but
who made the fatal mistake of using his wealth for the sole purpose of
gratifying himself.
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