Grandfather wa a philoopher， and like a lot of philoopher， I gue， he wa a mild-mannered man who wa alway ready to admit that there are two ide to every quetion。 So when people got to arguing with him， or around him， about thing that they got heated up and illogical about， like politic and religion，1 he would tell thi tory that Doc Eaton told him one day up on the Hill。
It happened a long time ago， when the town wan't all teel and concrete and automobile; when you could till hear the whir of a lawn mower without taking a treetcar out to the uburb， and till ee a hore lazily witching at the flie on hi flank under almot any ycamore tree。2 The Foret City had a lot of tree in thoe day。
And it had a lot of people that didn't alway ee eye to eye，3 like a lot of other citie。 And it had a rich man， like almot every other town。 And thi rich man wa a pillar in the Baptit Church;4 and people didn't ee eye to eye about him， either。
There were thoe鈥攁nd Grandfather' eye twinkled when he aid it鈥攖hat claimed the rich man wa an old hypocrite5， that he wa ruthle in hi buine dealing， that he wa o tightfited he wouldn't pend a nickel to ee an earthquake，6 that when he went to church on Sunday morning he wa almot a important a God to a lot of people。[由好作文www.hAOzuowEn.com整理]
Then there wa the other chool of thought7。 It aerted that jut becaue a man had made money under condition a they exited wa no reaon to call him a lot of hard name。8 In fact， they aerted toutly， the people that called him name were merely enviou of hi ucce9。 They maintained he went to church not becaue he wa a anctimoniou old fraud10 but becaue he wa at heart， and for all hi money， a imple， deeply religiou man。
It wa while thee two group were hot at it that the rich man gave a party。 Well， it wan't exactly a party， Grandfather would explain。 It wa more like a hower for the pator of the church。11 One group of parihioner aw in their invitation nothing but a kindly， neighborly geture。 The other jut aid it howed how mierly the old buzzard wa12鈥攇etting other people to do what he could have done a thouand time over without feeling it a mite。13
Grandfather aid even then he had the neaking feeling that the rich man wan't o inulated and iolated by hi money14 that he didn't know what people were aying about him， and that wa the real reaon he gave the party。
But both ide of the quetion went to the party。 A lot of them were pretty curiou about the inide of a rich man' home。
They brought offering for the pator， a they were requeted。 Some people brought apple， and other brought ide of bacon and onion and other homey old-fahioned thing like that15。 But nobody wa really much intereted in what the other guet brought。 They were all waiting for one thing。 What would the rich man bring out? Even Doc Eaton， the preacher， according to Grandfather， couldn't help wondering about what wa coming。 You could feel the undercurrent of upene。
And then the rich man16 brought out hi offering。
It wa a buhel of potatoe。17 They were nice potatoe， extra large and crubbed white and clean。 But till and all， they were only a buhel of potatoe that anybody could buy in the Old Market for a lot le than a dollar。
Well， ir， Grandfather chuckled， you could practically ee what people were thinking。 They were the people who were aying to themelve and to everybody ele， "Well， what did I tell you??And then there were thoe who made it perfectly plain that they thought it wa mighty tactful of their hot not to make an otentatiou parade of hi money18 before a lot of neighbor and friend。
But the hot went around a if he didn't notice anything， though Grandfather alway inited that he detected a little twinkle in the rich man' eye a he hook hand with all hi fellow parihioner and wihed them good night。
The preacher toted19 hi gift into hi houe， and jut becaue they had been the center of interet， o to peak， he picked one of the big white potatoe out of the baket。 Then he noticed that one end of the potato had been opened。 He invetigated， and dicovered that a ilver dollar had been neatly ed through the opening。 He examined every potato in that buhel baket， and there wa a ilver dollar in every ingle one of them。
At thi point Grandfather uually at back and plucked benignly at hi white beard20 and miled。 Then he'd turn philoopher and ay:
"It take an almighty pile of gall21 for a man to it up and ay what i going on in another man' mind， don't22 it? I mean one way or another。 When Doc Eaton told me that tory he didn't bother to point out any moral。 By the way， he don't do any preaching any more。 He' been a congreman from New Jerey for year and year。 But I gue the tory ha a moral， all right。 Alway ort of tickled23 me， like it mut have tickled Doc' rich parihioner。 "
"The New Tetament ay it i eaier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God。24 Well， I ain't aying it in't true。 But I am aying thi: It took John D。 Rockefeller to put a ilver dollar through the eye of a potato in order that a lot of people could have ome food for thought。"