"I'm ashamed to say it was. But as a wise old fellow once said, 'It is necessary to do right; it is not necessary to be happy.'"
Rose pondered over the saying as if it pleased her, and then said, with a clear, bright look,—
"A real sacrifice is giving up something you want or enjoy very much, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"Doing it one's own self because one loves another person very much and wants her to be happy?"
"Yes."
"And doing it pleasantly, and being glad about it, and not minding the praise if it doesn't come?"
"Yes, dear, that is the true spirit of self-sacrifice; you seem to understand it, and I dare say you will have many chances in your life to try the real thing. I hope they won't be very hard ones."
"I think they will," began Rose, and there stopped short.
"Well, make one now, and go to sleep, or my girl will be ill to-morrow, and then the aunts will say camping out was bad for her."