Little Brass Nails…

Perhaps all of us pursue some things which, after we acquire them, seem somewhat shallow or shoddy or at least unessential. And then we wonder why we wished for them so much and worked for them so hard, and passed up more worth-while things we might have had.

There is a parable by John Ruskin that has much to suggest concerning this subject. He said it was a dream, but we rather surmise it was a dream he deliberately dreamed for the purpose of putting over a point:

“I dreamed,” he said, “that I was at a child’s…party, in which every means of entertainment had been provided…by a wise and kind host…The children had been set free in the rooms and gardens, with no care whatever but how to pass their afternoon rejoicingly…There was music…all manner of amusing books…a workshop…a table loaded with everything nice to eat…and whatever a child could fancy…but in the midst of all this it struck two or three of the more ‘practical’ children that they would like some of the brass-headed nails that studded the chairs, and so they set to work to pull them out.

In a little while all the children, nearly, were spraining their fingers in pulling out brass-headed nails. With all that they could pull out they were not satisfied; and then everybody wanted some of somebody else’s. And at last the really ‘practical’ and ‘sensible’ ones declared that nothing was of any real consequence that afternoon except to get plenty of brass-headed nails…And at last they began to fight for nail heads, …even though they knew they would not be allowed to carry so much as one brass know away with them. But no! it was, ‘Who has most nails? …I must have as many as you before I leave the house or I cannot possibly go home in peace.’

At last they made so much noise that I awoke, and thought to myself, ‘What a false dream that is of children…Children never do such foolish things. Only men do.'” And so ended Ruskin’s dream of the children and the little brass nails.

One of the greatest gifts of God is a sound sense of values. It is a gift of inestimable worth for those who have a limited time to live which, so far as the limits of this life are concerned, includes all of us. And yet, even as the foolish children referred to, it would seem that much to much of our time may be taken in struggling for little brass nails, which we cannot take home with us at the end of the day.