“O ma! of course I wouldn’t do that, when he had brought them over the ocean for me.”
“Or, suppose Hatty had taken the beautiful silk he bought for her in Canton, carried it to the dressmaker’s, and then worn it without ever thanking him for his kindness; would he have been encouraged to bring her another present, do you think?”
“No, indeed, ma.”
“Shall I tell you what I was thinking when you were trying on your vest?”
Fred held down his head, his cheeks covered with blushes.
“I said to myself, ‘My son feels very indignant because Mrs. Perry did not thank him for carrying home her cat. Now, if he himself had a grateful heart, he would thank me for taking so much pains with his new suit, instead of being so sulky about the trifling annoyance of trying it on. I had better make the vest anyhow since he is so ungrateful.’”
“Did you think that, ma? I’m real sorry. I wont act so again. I have thought ever so much about it; and last night, after you prayed with me, I said to myself, ‘I ought to be a real good boy, ma’s so kind to sit up and work on my clothes.’”
Ned Perry was in the same class at Sabbath school, as Fred Carleton. As they were walking home together, Ned said,—
“I don’t see how our cat happened to run away. Mother said you brought her home.”
“Yes, I did! If she comes again, I sha’n’t try it through all the mud. I got awfully tired.”