She was awakened in the night by her mother sending for Doctor Arnold. Poor Willie was very ill—so ill that for several days no one thought he would live. Oh, how miserable Mary was! She could find no comfort except in running up and down-stairs and waiting upon her aunt and Willie. Dr. Arnold had been informed of the cause of Willie's illness, and the next morning he came into school and told Miss Lyman the whole story, before the minister and all the scholars. All the girls concerned in the trick were obliged to beg Aunt Mary's pardon, and were not allowed any recess for the rest of the term.
Mr. Marvin took Jane out of school, and every one was glad when she was gone, for nobody loved her, not even those who had been the most ready to be governed by her. I am glad to say, however, that Jane herself was sorry when she found out how much harm she had done, and that she had almost caused the death of poor Willie. She went of her own accord and begged his pardon, when he was well enough to see her, and she gladly spent hours in reading to him and amusing him.
But she could not undo the mischief she had done. The lame knee, which might perhaps have been made well, was so strained and inflamed by the long rough walk that it could not be cured, and Willie never walked again without crutches.
Jane learned a great deal from the gentle little Christian boy and his kind mother, and I hope she will grow up a good, useful woman. I think, after all, there was more excuse for her than for Mary. Jane had never known the care and teaching of a good mother. Her mother died when she was a little baby, and she had been brought up by servants and by her father, who was a foolish and bad man. She had always heard him laugh at the Bible as an old book of fables, and at religious people as fools or knaves, and she naturally took her notion from him.
Mary, on the contrary, had every pains taken with her. She had been taught her duty towards God and her neighbor, she had the kindest of mothers, of teachers, and friends, who all tried to influence her for good.
Girls, when you are ready to excuse yourselves for doing wrong by saying somebody "made you," think whether your words are true, and whether if "somebody" had tried to "make you" do right, you would have been as easily led. Remember that God sees your heart, and He will accept no false excuses; and while He is always ready to give you His Holy Spirit to guide you, you have no right to let any human being "make you" do wrong.
"My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not."
LOUISA, OR, "JUST ONE MINUTE." Frontispiece.