"My dear, I hope you are not going to make that your rule of life," said her mother. "For I am afraid, if you do, yours will not be a very happy one, nor will your friends have much happiness through you."
Mrs. Brown spoke very seriously, and Minnie looked up at her mother in wondering surprise. "It was only a little thing, mother," she said, by way of excuse for Selina.
"Yes, dear, it is, I know, only a little thing. Straws, too, are little things; but by the way they float on the top of a stream they show which way the tide is running, or the stream flowing; and so a little girl, who will push a lame schoolfellow aside to be able to run past her, will be likely to grow up a selfish girl, considering only her own convenience and pleasure rather than the wishes and wants of other people. Now, I particularly wish my little girls to think of the other people as well as themselves, to try and put themselves in the place of the other, and ask themselves what they would like that other to do to them if they could exchange places. Now, how would Selina like it, if she had a lame foot and could not walk very well, to have a strong girl, who could run anywhere, come and push her out of the way? Would you like to see the strong girl running past you and getting to the playground first?"
Selina shook her head, but did not reply audibly.
"Well, now, I want you in future, for mother's sake, to think of this whenever you are going to do something that is not quite kind. Just wait a moment, and say to yourself, 'Should I like it if I was in her place?'"
Mrs. Brown thought this would be enough for the first lesson; but she was resolved that Selina, who promised to grow up like Fanny, should not be left to follow her own inclinations on these small things, lest by-and-by she too should become a cause of bitter pain and suffering to others, instead of a blessing and comfort, such as every girl should be to her parents.
[CHAPTER XIX]
THAT LETTER
"I SAY, Minnie, I've got a letter. I'll show it to you as we go to school."
Selina spoke in a mysterious whisper as they were washing their hands in the scullery, and the little girl looked cautiously over her shoulder, lest her mother should hear what she said.