SELLING A BOY.
Once there was a man who was very poor. He had to work very hard to get money; but he found it very hard to get money enough to buy bread for himself, and his wife, and his little boy. So he thought he would go and see if he could not sell his little boy. He took him up in his arms, and went out into the street, and walked along until he came to a shoemaker’s shop. He thought that perhaps the shoemaker would like to buy him.
So he stopped and looked in at the window, and said,
“Shoemaker,—Mr. Shoemaker,—do you want to buy a little boy?”
And the shoemaker said, “Is it a good little boy?”
And the man said, “Yes, he is an excellent little boy. He always obeys me exactly, and he is kind and gentle, and not troublesome, and he tries to do right; if you buy him, by and by when he grows up, he can work with you, and help you make shoes.”
“Well,” said the shoemaker, “I will give you a dollar for him.”
“A dollar,” said the man, thinking, “shall I take a dollar for my little boy? Then I should go home alone, and have nobody to play with me, and get up in my lap, and hear me tell stories. No, no, no, I will not sell my little boy for a dollar.” So he walked on.
Presently he came to a carpenter’s shop. He stopped at the window, and said,
“Carpenter,—Mr. Carpenter,—should you like to buy a little boy?”