Tom goes off, in apparent content. In reality, he is sorely disappointed; but he is a good child, and does not wish to make his father unhappy. The promise for to-morrow helps him to bear the trial tolerably well. The next evening, he is more backward about asking. He hangs around his parent’s chair for some time, in hopeful suspense, but as the longed-for plaything does not appear, he ventures timidly upon a diplomatic “feeler”—
“Father, maybe you’ve forgot your promise, again?”
The father has had a harassing day—filled with carking care—and the smouldering temper needs but a spark to influence it.
“Boy!” he says, hastily, “if you ever say ‘ball’ to me again, you shall not have it at all! I will not be teased out of my life about your jimcracks!”
Tom shrinks back, as if he had been struck in the face; creeps silently off to his little room, and there, in solitude, cries as if his heart would break. He has had a blow. It is not so much the loss of the toy, but his is a sensitive nature, and his father’s words were sharp swords. He meant to be very good, very patient. Nothing was further from his thoughts than to annoy his usually kind parent. Mingling with, and embittering his grief, is a burning sense of injustice. He knows that the injury was undeserved.
“Father wouldn’t have talked so to a grown man! It’s just because I’m a poor little boy, and can’t help myself!”
I fear there is too much truth in this shrewd conclusion of Tom’s. We would not dare insult those of our own age, as we do our children.
“That boy is growing sulky!” growls the father. “Did you see how glum he looked because I forgot a paltry plaything? I must take him in hand!”
Then is the time for you, the mother of the wronged child, to speak up boldly in his behalf. Represent kindly, but candidly, to your irritated lord, the true value of the promised gift to the boy, and the greatness of the disappointment.
“And after all, Papa, we can not expect Tom to exercise much self-control or self-denial yet. Remember, he is just five years old, and babies will be babies, you know!”