'What are the
chief cares of a young convert?' asked such a convert at an aged
Carthusian. 'I said I will take heed to my ways that I trespass not with
my tongue,' replied the saintly father. 'Say no more for the present,'
interrupted the youthful beginner; 'I will go home and practise that, and
will come again when I have performed it.'
Now, whatever faults that tall man had who took up so much of Faithful's
time and attention, he was a saint compared with the men and the women
who have just passed before us. Talkative, as John Bunyan so scornfully
names that tall man, though he undoubtedly takes up too much time and too
much space in Bunyan's book, was not a busybody in other men's matters at
any rate. Nobody could call him a detractor or a backbiter or a
talebearer or a liar. Christian knew him well, and had known him long,
but Christian was not afraid to leave him alone with Faithful. We all
know men we feel it unsafe to leave long alone with our friends. We feel
sure that they will be talking about us, and that to our hurt, as soon as
our backs are about.
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