XXII. ON GIVING PLEASURE TO OTHERS.
52. "Selfless" and "Thoughtful"—a Fairy Tale.
"Selfless" and "Thoughtful" were sisters of the little "Gold-wings" ([Story Lesson 1]). I cannot tell you which of the two was the sweetest and best; they were both so lovable, for like "Gold-wings" they were always thinking of others, and especially of how they could give pleasure to the sick and weak. One day, as they sat on a mossy bank in the Fairy wood, "Selfless" asked, "What shall we do next, sister?" and "Thoughtful" made answer, "I have been thinking of little Davie, who is so lame and weak; suppose I go to the Kindergarten and try to get some one to be kind to him". "A good idea," replied "Selfless," "and I will fly over the fields and see what can be done there; then in the moonlight we will meet, and tell each other what we have done." So they spread their pretty wings and flew away.
Now it is night in the Fairy wood, and in the silver moonlight the sisters rest again on the mossy bank and talk.
53. The Bunch of Roses.
"I flew to the Kindergarten," said "Thoughtful," "you know Davie used to attend there before he was ill. Of course no one saw me, and as I hovered over the teacher's desk, little Bessie, a rosy-cheeked maid, came up and laid a lovely bunch of crimson roses upon it for the teacher. The scent was so delicious I could not help nestling down into one of the roses to enjoy it better. The teacher picked up the flowers, not knowing I was there, and as she buried her face in the soft petals, to smell the sweet perfume, I whispered 'Send them to Davie'."
"A smile instantly came over her face, and she said: 'Bessie, a good fairy has whispered a kind thought to me; shall we send your pretty roses to Davie?'"
"'Oh! yes,' said Bessie, 'please let me take them to him with your love, for I gave them to you."
"So the roses were taken to Davie, and how happy they made him to be sure! and the teacher was happy because she had remembered poor Davie, and Bessie was happy to carry the flowers to him, so I came away glad, also; but what have you done, dear sister?"
54. Edwin and the Birthday Party.
Then "Selfless" answered:—
"I flew away over the fields, and there I saw a little boy, dressed all in his best clothes, speeding away across the field-path, and I knew that he was going to a birthday party, and that he was walking quickly so as to be in time; for there was to be a lovely birthday cake, all iced over with sugar; and little pieces of silver, called threepenny pieces, had been scattered through the cake, so of course Edwin wanted to be there when it was cut up.
"I saw a little girl in the fields, also, walking along the hedges looking for blackberries, and in trying to reach a branch of the ripe fruit that grew on the farther side of a ditch, the poor child overbalanced herself and fell in, uttering a loud scream.
"Edwin heard the scream and said to himself, 'I wonder what that is? I should like to go and see, but oh, dear! it will perhaps make me late for the party'. Then the Bad Voice spoke to him, and said, 'Never mind the scream; hurry on to the party," and Edwin hurried on, but his cheeks grew hot, and he looked unhappy.
"Soon the child screamed again, and the Good Voice said, 'Help! Edwin, never mind self,' and with that he turned back, and ran to the place where the sounds had seemed to come from. He soon saw the little girl, who was trying to scramble up the steep side of the ditch, and could not; it needed the help of Edwin's strong hands to give her a good pull, and bring her safely out. Oh, how glad she was to be on the grass once more! Edwin wiped her tears away, and told her to run home; then he made haste to the party with a light, glad heart, and he arrived just as they were sitting down to tea, so he was in time for the cake after all. But even if he had missed it, he would have been glad that he stayed behind to help the little girl."
"What a nice boy," said "Thoughtful". "Did he tell the people at the party what he had done?"
"Oh, no," replied "Selfless"; "his mother told him that people should never boast of kind things they had done, for that would spoil it."
"True," said "Thoughtful"; "but what did you do, dear "Selfless"? It is not boasting to tell me."
"I only helped Edwin to listen to the Good Voice," replied "Selfless," as she looked down on the moss at her feet.
"A good work, too," said "Thoughtful"; "and now, what shall we do next?"
55. Davie's Christmas Present.
"I have been thinking," said "Selfless," "that Christmas will soon be here, and how nice it would be if we could help the children at the Kindergarten to think of Davie, and make ready a Christmas present for him."
"A lovely idea," said "Thoughtful "; "we will go to-morrow, for it wants only a month to Christmas."
Next morning the two fairy sisters came to the Kindergarten, and floated about unseen, as fairies always do. First they rested on the teacher, who was very fond of these unseen fairies, and she began to think of Davie. "Children," said she, "Christmas will be here in a month; shall we make a present for little Davie?"
(Do you know, I believe that doing kind things is like going to parties; when you have been to one party, you like it so much that you are glad to go to another, and when you have done one kind thing, it makes you so happy you want to do another.)
Bessie was the first to answer, and she said, "Oh, yes, it would be lovely to make a Christmas present for Davie; do let us try". And all the children said, "Yes, do let us try".
"It must be something made by your own little hands," said the teacher. "Think now, what could you do?"
"We could make some little 'boats'[12] in paperfolding," said one child. Teacher said that would do nicely, and she wrote it down.
Another child said, "I could sew a 'cat' in the embroidery lesson," and Bessie exclaimed, "Please let me sew a 'kitten' to go with it," and the teacher wrote that down, and remarked that some one else might make the "saucer" for pussy's milk, in pricking. Then others might make a "nest"[13] in clay with eggs in it, and a little "bird" sitting on the eggs, suggested the teacher; and as the "babies" begged to be allowed to help also, it was decided that they should thread pretty coloured beads on sticks, and make a nice large "basket".[13]
"Now," said teacher, "I have quite a long list, and we must begin at once." So they all set to work, and when breaking-up day came, Davie's present was ready. There was a whole fleet of "ships," white inside and crimson outside. The pictures of "pussy" and her "kitten" were neatly sewn, and the "saucer" was white and clean, and evenly pricked, while the "bird" on its "nest" looked as pretty as could be, and the "bead basket" was the best of all—at least the babies thought so.
I have no words to tell of the joy that the children's present brought to little Davie, his face flushed with pleasure as the "boats" and other gifts were spread out before him; it was so delightful to think that the children had remembered him and worked for him.
"Selfless" and "Thoughtful" sat once more on the mossy bank, and rejoiced that the plan had worked so well.
If these little fairies and their sister "Kindness" should ever suggest thoughts to you, dear boys and girls, do not send them away. They will speak to you through the Good Voice, and the happiest people in the world are the people who listen to the Good Voice.
XXIII. CLEANLINESS.[14]
56. Why we should be Clean.
(Show the children a sponge.) Here is a sponge! What do we see all over the sponge? We see little holes. There is another name for these—we call them pores. (Write "pores" on Blackboard.) What comes out on your forehead sometimes on a hot day? Drops of water come out. They come through tiny holes in the skin, so tiny that we cannot see them, and these also are called pores.
Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was to be a grand procession in a fine old city called Rome, and a little golden-haired child was gilded all over his body to represent "The Golden Age" in the procession. When it was over the little child was soon dead. Can you guess why? The pores in his skin had been all stopped up with the gilding, so that the damp, warm air could not get out, and that caused his death.
You see, then, that we breathe with these little pores, just as we breathe with our nose and mouth, and if the pores were all closed up we should die. Now you will understand why we have to be washed and bathed. What is it that the dirt does to your pores? It stops them up, so
(Blackboard)
To be Healthy, We must be Clean.
57. Little Creatures who like to be Clean.
You know that pussy likes to be clean, and that she washes herself carefully, and her little kittens, also, until they are big enough to wash themselves; but there are other creatures, much smaller than the cat, who like to be clean.
Do you know what shrimps or prawns are? I daresay you have often eaten a shrimp! Have you ever counted its ten long legs? On the front pair there are two tiny brushes, and the prawn has been seen to stand up on his eight hind legs, and brush himself with the tiny tufts on his front legs, to get all the sand away. Is not that clever for such a little fellow?
There is another creature, very much smaller than the prawn, that is particularly clean, though we do not like to have it in our houses.
If the housemaid sees its little "parlour" in the corner of a room, she sweeps it away. You remember who it was that said: "Will you walk into my parlour?" It was the spider, and it is the spider who is so very fond of being clean, that it cannot bear to have a grain of dust anywhere about its body. Its hairs and legs are always kept perfectly clean.
Then there is the tiny ant, which is smaller than a fly, and it loves to keep itself nice and clean, so if
(Blackboard)
Shrimps and Spiders and Ants like to be Clean,
Children should like to be Clean.
58. The Boy who did not like to be Washed.
Sydney was a little boy who did not like to be washed. He disliked it as much as the little dog in Story Lesson [No. 4]. When the time came for his bath he screamed and kicked and made such a fuss that at last his mother said he should remain dirty for a while, and see what would happen. So Sydney had no bath when he went to bed at night, neither was he washed in the morning. Of course no one wanted to kiss him, or play with him, for he was not sweet and clean; he had to play all by himself in the garden.
Presently a carriage drove up and stopped at the garden gate; then a gentleman stepped out, walked up to the door, and rang the bell, which was answered by Sydney's mother.
"I have called to take your little boy for a drive," said the gentleman, "but I am in a great hurry; could you have him ready at once?"
Just then Sydney peeped in at the door. Oh! what a little blackamoor he was, not fit for any one to see! His mother had to explain to the kind gentleman how it was that he looked so dirty, and, as nothing but a bath and a whole suit of clean clothes would make him fit to go, he had to be left behind. Poor Sydney began to feel very sad and sorry now, and when the carriage had driven away he ran up to his mother, hid his little black face in her dress, and burst into tears. "Oh, mother," he cried, "do make me a clean boy again; I will never be naughty any more when I am washed." Sydney never forgot the lesson he had learnt that
(Blackboard)
Nobody likes Children to be Dirty.
59. The Nails and the Teeth.
What a good thing it is that we have nice, hard nails to keep the tips of our fingers from being hurt! How sore they would get if it were not for those bright, horny nails, and how well they protect the finger-tips, which have to touch so many things!
Most of the nail is fast to the finger, but at the outer edge there is a little space between the nail and the finger, and if we are not careful this little space gets filled with dirt, and then the nail has a black band across the top, which looks very ugly. When the nails are long, the band is wider, and, although the dirt is under the nail, it shows on the outside, because the nail is transparent, that is, it can be seen through.
Do you like to have your hands clean? Then there must be no black bands to disfigure the pretty, shining nails; our hands cannot be called clean if there is a little arch of dirt at the tip of each finger. Ask mother to cut the nails when they get too long, then you can keep them clean more easily.
Men who do work that soils their hands very much like the chimney-sweep ([Story Lesson 62]) cannot possibly keep their nails clean, but children can.
There was once a little boy who had the funniest finger-tips I ever saw. The nails were so short that there was not the tiniest space between the outer edge and the fleshy part, and so the tip of each finger had grown out like a little round cushion, not at all pretty to look at. If the little boy saw any one noticing his hands, he would hide them away, lest he should be asked what it was that caused the finger-tips to look so funny. I wonder if you can guess the reason? It was because the boy bit his nails. What a horrid thing to do! Was it not? And how do you think his mother cured him? She dipped the tips of his fingers in tincture of bitter aloes, so that when he put them in his mouth he might get the bitter taste, and leave off biting them.
I once heard a gentleman say that he thought it was very rude to put a pencil or anything near the mouth, so what would he think of a child who put his fingers in his mouth, and bit his nails? Baby may suck her little thumb sometimes, perhaps, because she does not know better, but sensible children will remember that it is rude to put fingers in mouth.
(Blackboard.)
Keep your Nails Clean.
Do not put Fingers in Mouth.
Can you think of anything else that should be kept clean besides the nails? In your mouth are two rows of beautiful little, white teeth. At least they ought to be white, but if we do not keep them clean, they often get discoloured and begin to decay and give us pain.
We should each have a tooth-brush, and use it every day to cleanse the teeth, dipping it first in nice, clean water, and when the brushing is done, the mouth should be rinsed several times. The teeth should be brushed up and down from the gums (not from left to right), so that we may get all the particles of food from the tiny spaces between the teeth. If we do this regularly we shall not be likely to suffer much from toothache.
Two white rows of pearly teeth,
What can prettier be?
If you keep them clean and white,
They are fair to see.
(Blackboard.)
Why we brush teeth:—
1. To keep clean and prevent toothache.
2. To make them look nice.