A father had a prodigal son, and the boy had sent his mother down to the grave with a broken heart. One evening the boy went out as usual to spend the night in drinking and gambling, and his old father, as he was leaving, said, "My son, I want to ask a favor of you tonight. You have not spent an evening with me since your mother died. Now please stay at home with me?"
"No," said the young man, "it is lonely here, and there is nothing to interest me, and I am going out."
The old man prayed and wept, and at last said, "My boy you are killing me as you have killed your mother. These hairs are growing white, and you are sending me too, to the grave."
Still the boy would not stay, and the old man said: "If you are determined to go to ruin, you must go over this old body tonight. I cannot resist you. You are stronger than I, but if you go out you must go over this body."
And he laid himself down before the door, and that son walked over the form of his father, trampled the love of his father underfoot, and went out.