74. The Child on the Coach.
It was summer, and we were riding on the top of the coach through one of the loveliest parts of Scotland. The coach had five seats with four persons on each, so you may easily find out how many people there were. On the next seat to ours sat a lady with a little spoilt boy, about four years of age, who was very hard to please, and very discontented and unhappy. You will not be much surprised to hear that presently he began to cry, for spoilt children often do that, but I do not think you could ever guess the reason. His mother was speaking to a lady on the seat behind, and when the child was asked, "What is the matter?" he said, "Mamma is not attending to me when I speak to her," and that was why he cried. He wanted his mother to attend to him, to speak to him all the time, and that was selfish. He was only a very little child, but he thought too much of that ugly word—self, and that was why he was so discontented and unhappy.
I knew another little child who was always wanting some one to play with her; she never tried to amuse herself, but was continually teasing her mother to join in her games. It is better to be like little Elsie ([Story Lesson 21]) who when only a year old thought of the comfort of others.
75. Edna and the Cherries.
One day a lady called at a cottage where there lived a little girl, named Edna, who was playing on the hearth-rug with another little girl, Lizzie. The lady had come to see Edna's grandmamma, but she had not forgotten that Edna lived there, and she brought out of her basket a little paper bag full of ripe cherries, and gave them to the child. Edna did not forget to say "thank you," then she took the little bag, put it on a chair, and peeped inside; she was only two years old, and could not have reached the table. As soon as she saw the pretty, red cherries, she toddled to her little friend, and holding out the bag, said, "Lizzie some". When Lizzie had taken a handful, she went to her grandmother, and said, "Grandmamma some," and then with a shy, little glance at the lady, she placed the bag in her lap, and said, "Lady some".
Last of all she helped her dear little self, and so we say that Edna was unselfish, that means not selfish. Baby Edna did not know about the Temple we all have to make, but she was building it just the same. Perhaps "Selfless" and "Thoughtful" were helping her to find the stones!
(Blackboard.)
Think First of Others, Last of Self.
76. The Boy who liked always to Win.
We all like to win when we play games, and that is quite right, but Johnny liked so much to win that he was cross and unhappy if any one else was winning, and did not enjoy the game at all; I am afraid that he even cheated sometimes to win. Now all that was downright selfish; it reminds one of a story—a sort of fairy-tale—about Minerva and Arachne.
Arachne said to Minerva, "Let us see who can spin the best". So they began to spin, and when Minerva saw that Arachne was beating her at the spinning, she struck her on the head with a spindle, and turned poor Arachne into a spider. It is a pity when people are so anxious to win that it makes them selfish.