“I am very sorry, my love,” said her Mother, “if you imagined that I was going to let you keep a School, because it is what I never intended; and I should have supposed that if you had thought a moment about it, you would have seen how many objections there must be to it.”
“I thought you seemed to think it a very nice plan, Mamma,” said Fanny, almost crying.
“It was, indeed, a very nice plan for spending my money,” said her Papa, good naturedly; “but the way to be generous, Fanny, is to consider how much good we have it in our own power to do; and this, if done cheerfully, though ever so little, is better than a great deal more, done at another person’s expense.”
Fanny felt too much disappointed at first to be quite convinced by her Father and Mother’s arguments; she, however, soon grew reconciled, and was very willing to give her two shillings towards the relief of the poor sick woman and her starving children.
VI.
THE VISIT TO LONDON.
A gentleman who lived in the country had three sons,—Henry, Samuel, and John. When Henry was about ten years old, he took them with him to London, which they had never seen before. They arrived late in the evening; and slept at an inn in Fleet Street. They felt very much bewildered by the rattling of the carriages in the street, and by the bustle at the inn; and, perhaps, if they had not been very much tired by their journey, they would not have been able to sleep. They rose, however, the next morning, in high spirits; and were very happy in expectation of all the wonderful things which they supposed they should see during the day.
As soon as breakfast was over, their Father took them out to walk: he was obliged to take great care of them, or they would have been pushed down, while they were looking eagerly at every shop window: indeed, they were so much engaged by the variety of objects about them, that they had proceeded half way up Ludgate Street before they perceived St. Paul’s: all at once Henry stopped, and staring up at the vast building before him, exclaimed, quite loud,—“Dear Papa! Papa! what a grand church!” This attracted the attention of his brothers, who immediately turned away from the shop window at which they were gazing.
The three boys seemed for some time fixt in astonishment at the first sight of an object so different from any thing they had ever seen before. After they had made many exclamations, their Father led them on, and they walked within the enclosed space, where they might converse more freely: at length, John began a more regular conversation, by saying,—“I suppose, Papa, the men who built this great church, or cathedral as you call it, were very—very tall, strong men.”
Father. Why do you think so, John?
John. Because it is so very high; and because the stones it is built with are so large. I don’t think the men that built our new stables last summer could build such a tall church as this. Besides, what would be the use of building it so high, if the men who built it were not taller than you are, Papa?