The Hidden Words of Bahá\'u\'lláh
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There was once a very rich merchant, who had six children, three sons,
and three daughters; being a man of sense, he spared no cost for their
education, but gave them all kinds of masters. His daughters were
extremely handsome, especially the youngest; when she was little, every
body admired her, and called her The little Beauty; so that, as
she grew up, she still went by the name of Beauty, which made her
sisters very jealous. The youngest, as she was handsome, was also
better than her sisters. The two eldest had a great deal of pride,
because they were rich. They gave themselves ridiculous airs, and would
not visit other merchants' daughters, nor keep company with any but
persons of quality. They went out every day upon parties of pleasure,
balls, plays, concerts, etc. and laughed at their youngest sister,
because she spent the greatest part of her time in reading good books.
As it was known that they were to have great fortunes, several eminent
merchants made their addresses to them; but the two eldest said they
would never marry, unless they could meet with a Duke, or an Earl at
least. Beauty very civilly thanked them that courted her, and told them
she was too young yet to marry, but chose to stay with her father a few
years longer.
All at once the merchant lost his whole fortune, excepting a small
country-house at a great distance from town, and told his children, with
tears in his eyes, they most go there and work for their living. The
BAHA'I TERMS OF USE You have permission to freely make and use copies of the text and any other information ("Content") available on this Site including printing, emailing, posting, distributing, copying, downloading, uploading, transmitting, displaying the Content in whole or in part subject to the following: 1. Our copyright notice and the source reference must be attached to the Content; 2. The Content may not be modified or altered in any way except to change the font or appearance; 3. The Content must be used solely for a non-commercial purpose. Although this blanket permission to reproduce the Content is given freely such that no special permission is required, the Baha'i International Community retains full copyright protection for all Content included at this Site under all applicable national and international laws.