“And,” chimed in Lois, “I just know we earned it.”
“What were some of the things?” asked father.
“Why, the truly smiling, when you wanted to cry; and thinking kindly about people who seem not so very pleasant; trying to understand how they feel; being patient and willing and cheerful and obedient; without any ‘wait a minutes,’ or ‘I’d rather nots,’ or ‘whys,’” both children excitedly explained.
“Jeanie says ‘whys’ are all right, but its wise to remember the ‘musts.’ You know, reading pages of French, that have no story in them, and playing the exercises that make your fingers strong but have no tune, and learning ‘six times’ so you know it anywhere you begin,” sighed Lois. “Seems to me I earned as much as a dollar learning ‘six times.’”
“I am certain you did,” sympathized father.
“And you know,” went on Dorothy, “it wasn’t the just looking pleasant, it was the feeling pleasant.
“I always wanted Jeanie to curl my hair, and Mary can do it just as well, and Jeanie is often busy, so I was sure Mary pulled, and Mary was certain she did not intend to pull, and we were both troubled, until Jeanie said there was a tangle that I alone could untangle.
“Now I like Mary to curl my hair, and she is so kind and funny. We are going to keep on working, and Jeanie says we will have a big bank account by the end of another year.”
The pause that followed was a thoughtful one. It was broken by the doctor asking: “Has anyone heard Jeanie express any Christmas desires?”
“I asked her what she would like me to give her,” said Dorothy, “and she said, ‘I would like your undivided attention to your sewing about half an hour each day.’ She said, ‘that would be a gift worth having.’