"Emma is only a baby, Joseph, and didn't know any better. If you hadn't struck her, papa would have bought you another one. But, Josey, you gave way to your anger, and told your darling little sister that you didn't love her."
"I think she's too big to tear my pictures out," he said, sighing.
"She must be taught to let your things alone," answered mamma, "and you must remember to put them out of her way; but all the pictures in the world wouldn't excuse you for treating her so unkindly. Don't you remember that pretty verse you learned last Sunday? 'Be kindly affectioned one to another, in honor preferring one another.' Papa explained to you what it Meant."
"I'm sorry, mamma; but I want my pretty book."
"I'm sorry, too."
She said these words in such a sad tone that Joseph softened at once. He threw his arms around her neck, exclaiming,—
"Mamma, I'm going to be good and love God like little Samuel in the temple."
She held him close to her breast, whispering, "'He who loveth God, loveth his brother also.' This is what St. John tells us. 'If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.'"
"Oh, mamma! I'm real sorry."
"And he says, too, 'My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.'"