"Storms, mother! What storms?"
"I mean trials, Minnie. When you are ill used by a schoolmate, and are tempted to be revengeful, you are tried as the tree is tried by a storm. If you remain patient and loving under the trial, you are benefited by it, and will be more likely to endure the next trial you meet. Thus all your little storms, or trials, will be for your good."
"What, always?"
"Yes, Minnie, always, if you act right under them."
"Was it for my good to be pushed into the pond by Ralph Rattler, mother?"
"If it has led you to exercise a spirit of forgiveness towards Ralph, it has done you good."
Minnie paused a moment, as if in deep thought. She was asking herself if she had really forgiven Ralph for pushing her into the pond at the risk of her life. She thought she had. A gush of feeling poured up from her heart. Her eyes filled with tears, and, looking lovingly into her mother's face, she said,—
"I do think, mother, that I have forgiven Ralph."