The White Dove. a Parable by Charlotte Maria Tucker

ERNST SEELE was a ruined man, there could be no doubt of the fact. For years he had pursued his trade as a dairyman in a wasteful and careless way, spending much more than he earned, seeming to be prosperous while his affairs were getting into a terrible state of disorder.

Ernst owed no less than three years' rent for his comfortable dwelling to its owner, the absent lord of the manor, and Seele had not laid by a single farthing with which to pay that rent. The foolish and improvident dairyman, with thoughts of debt and difficulty ever preying upon his mind, was like a tree which looks fair at a distance, but which is quite decayed at the core, so that the first strong blast must lay it in dust.