"That is true, Harriet, and the happiness you feel in doing what is right, you will always feel; for that which makes you happy will not change; what is right to-day, will be right to-morrow, and the next day, and the next."
We walked on a little way in silence, and then Harriet said, looking up at me with a smiling, pleasant face, "Then, Aunt Kitty, after all, it was not very wrong for me not to give my money to Alice at once?"
"It was not wrong at all, my dear, for you not to give it till you had asked yourself whether it was right to do so; but you might have asked this question as soon as you felt sorry for Alice, and then you would have done in the morning what you waited till night to do, and have felt just as happy on account of doing it. I would be very sorry to have my little girl suppose that when she sees anybody in distress, she must wait a great while to think the matter over, before she does any thing for them. There is only one question you need ask, before you try to help them, and that is—What is it right for me to do? This, you can ask immediately, and you need not wait long for an answer—conscience will tell you very honestly and very quickly what is right."
Now perhaps some of my little readers may not know as well as Harriet did, what I mean by conscience, so I will tell them. I mean something within you, which makes you know whether you have been good or bad children, before anybody else says any thing about it.
"But, Aunt Kitty," said Harriet, "how is my conscience always to know what is right or wrong?"
"There are many ways, Harriet, in which conscience may learn something about it; but the easiest and simplest way of all is by reading your Bible, and trying to understand and remember what that tells you to do or not to do. When conscience is thus taught, if it tells you that what a feeling would lead you to do, is right, you must do it at once, without thinking any farther about it; and if conscience tells you a feeling is wrong, you must try to get rid of it at once."
"Get rid of it, Aunt Kitty!" said Harriet, with a wondering look, "how can I get rid of a feeling?"
"The best way, my dear Harriet, is by refusing to do any thing it would have you. Thus, if you are angry with any one, and the feeling of anger would have you say some of those hard words to them which I spoke of just now, refuse to say them, or if possible even to think them over in your own mind, and you will very soon get rid of your anger."
Harriet did not say any thing for some minutes. When she next spoke, it was in a very low and somewhat sad tone.
"Aunt Kitty, I am afraid I cannot do all you tell me, for I have tried sometimes, when I have been angry, not to say any thing, and I could not help talking."