"'They are writing a piece of poetry.'
"'They seem to be very busy; they are very industrious, good boys.'
"'Oh no! it is not by any means certain that they are good boys.'
"'I mean that they are good boys now; that they are doing right at this time."
'That is not certain; some of them are doing right and some are doing very wrong, though they are all writing the same piece of poetry.'
The stranger would perhaps look surprised while I said this, and would ask an explanation, and I might properly reply as follows:
'Whether the boys are at this moment doing right or wrong depends not so much upon what they are doing as upon the feelings of the heart with which they are doing it. I acknowledge that they are all doing the same thing outwardly; they are all writing the same extract, and they are all doing it attentively and carefully, but they are thinking of very different things.'
'What are they thinking of?'
'Do you see that boy?' I might say, pointing to one of them. 'His name is M. He is writing for money. He is saying to himself all the time, "I hope I shall get the quarter of a dollar." He is calculating what he shall buy with it, and every good or bad letter that he makes, he is considering the chance whether he shall succeed or fail in obtaining it.'
'What is the next boy to him thinking of?'