“How do you know that he isn’t?” asked Lucy.
“Why, he did not want George to stop. He had got a pole himself, and he did not care any thing about Johnny’s having one.”
“Yes,” said Royal, “so I think.”
“Some children,” said Miss Anne, “when they have anything that they like, always want their brothers and sisters to have something too; and George seems to be one of them.
“And that makes me think,” continued Miss Anne, “of the story of the horse and the picture-book.”
“What is the story?” said Royal.
“Why, it is a story of a little wooden horse, which, instead of spoiling a picture-book, as the dog did, made it much more valuable.”
“Tell us all about it,” said Lucy.
“Very well, I will,” said Miss Anne. “There was once a boy named David. His uncle sent him, one new year’s day, a picture-book. There was a picture on every page, and two on the cover. He liked his picture-book very much indeed; but one thing diminished the pleasure he took in looking at it.”
“What do you mean by diminished?” asked Lucy.