A stew-ard is one who takes charge of a house or lands, pays bills, hires work-men, and is the mas-ter's right-hand man. Je-sus said, There was a rich man who had a stew-ard. And word was brought to him that this stew-ard made a bad use of his mas-ter's wealth. So the rich man said to him, What is this that I hear of thee? Let me know how thou hast done thy work, if thou wouldst keep thy place. The stew-ard said to him-self, What shall I do if my lord takes my place from me? I can-not dig, and am too proud to beg. I have made up my mind to do some-thing that will put me on good terms with the rich, so that they will not close their doors to me should I lose my place here as stew-ard. So he sent for all those who were in debt to his lord. And he said to the first, How much dost thou owe? And he said, A hun-dred mea-sures of oil. The stew-ard said, Take thy bill, and sit down and write fif-ty. Then said he to the next one, How much dost thou owe? The man said, A hun-dred mea-sures of wheat. The stew-ard said to him, Take thy bill, and write four-score. [Illustration: THE UN-JUST STEW-ARD.] And the lord praised the un-just stew-ard, for he thought he had done a wise thing. Je-sus said we were to use our wealth so as to make friends who will take us in their homes should we be-come poor. He that is faith-ful in small things is faith-ful al-so in large ones. And he that is un-just in the least, is un-just in much more. No man can serve two mas-ters. As Je-sus drew near to Je-ru-sa-lem those who were with him thought that the king-dom he spoke of was close at hand. He said to them, A rich man had to go to a far land, so he called his ten ser-vants that he might leave his goods in their charge. To the first one he gave five tal-ents. A tal-ent is a large sum in sil-ver. To the next he gave two tal-ents; and to the third one. And he said to them, Make a good use of these gifts till I come back; and then went on his way. Then he that had five tal-ents went out and bought and sold and made five tal-ents more. And the one that had two did the same. But he that had one dug a hole in the earth and hid his lord's mon-ey. When the rich man came back he sent for his ser-vants that they might tell him what they had done while he was gone. So he that had had five tal-ents came and said, Lord, thou didst give me five tal-ents, and see--I have gained five more. His lord said to him, Well done, good and faith-ful ser-vant, thou hast been faith-ful o-ver a few things, I will make thee ru-ler o-ver ma-ny things; en-ter thou in-to the joy of thy lord. Then he that had two tal-ents came and said, Lord, thou didst give me two tal-ents and I have gained two more. His lord said to him, Well done, good and faith-ful ser-vant, thou hast been faith-ful o-ver a few things, I will make thee ru-ler o-ver ma-ny things; en-ter thou in-to the joy of thy lord. [Illustration: THE TAL-ENTS.]