The Fever of Life by Fergus Hume — Read

"Oh, what becomes of our prodigal sons When worried by troublesome debts and duns. When fatherly loving is quite worn out, And how to exist is a matter of doubt? Well, some go writing in London town, A few rise up and a lot fall down, Many as squatters go south of the line And 'tend to their sheep instead of their swine, Dozens in African jungles now rest, Numbers ranch in the far wild west; But have they full or an empty purse, Have they lived decently or the reverse, Married or single, wherever they roam Our prodigal sons in the end come home. "

When Mr. Clendon, Vicar of Deswarth, preached on the parable of "The Prodigal Son" he little thought that it would one day be applicable to his own offspring. Yet such was the case, for Tobias Clendon -- called after that celebrated character in the Apocrypha -- came home from Oxford, where he was supposed to be studying for the Church, and resolutely refused to become a curate, with the chance of a possible bishopric somewhere about the forties. The fact is, the young man had contracted the fatal habit of scribbling, and having had a few articles on dogcarts, poetry, Saint Simonism -- such was the wideness of his range -- accepted by friendly editors, had resolved to devote his energies to literature. He had not ambition enough to become a great writer, nor enough modesty to sink to the level of a literary hack; but seeing a chance of earning his bread and butter in an easy fashion, he determined to take advantage of it and get through life as happily as possible.