78 



THE RAT 



food left lying out in the open, then I have realized 

 how beautiful and attractive a virtue is true modesty, 

 and have kept myself in the background. And if 

 I may venture on translating my own rules of 

 conduct into good advice for you, I would say : 

 ' Be the first to enter the schoolroom and the 

 last to come out.' It only means a minute at 

 each end, and those two minutes may save you a 

 licking. 



Throughout a long life I have always thoroughly 

 appreciated the fact that my own life was more 

 valuable to me than that of another. 1 believe 

 that you hold other views, but then you possess 

 such a multitude of other things that you must 

 rather lose sight of the value of life. As I have 

 already observed, life is my only possession. There- 

 fore, when sister, cousin, brother, wife, aunt, or 

 mother have fallen into trouble, while I have 

 escaped, I have shed a tear of grief — 1 confess the 

 weakness freely — but I have also breathed a sigh 

 of thankfulness when I realized that, but for the 

 display of reasonable caution, the victim might 

 have been myself, and the tear in the eyes of 

 others. A sigh of thankfulness is better than many 

 pocket-handkerchiefs to dry the tears of sorrow. 

 Let me recommend that profound truth to your 



