“I shall buy a handsome inkstand for father’s desk. You know he broke his large one the other day, and is using an old one of mother’s now. I will try to get one just like that which he broke. For mother I will buy a beautiful rose-bush to put upon her flower-stand. For Betsey I shall have a nice warm hood. I am to buy the materials, and mother has promised to help me make it. There will still be as much as a dollar and a half remaining, and mother says that if this is expended prudently it will do a great deal of good. I have not quite decided what to do with it, but I think I shall make a nice warm coverlet for that poor old man and his wife whom we went to see last week. I heard the old woman telling mother that she often suffered dreadfully with rheumatism during the winter; and when I looked around and saw what a miserable shanty they have to shelter them, I could hardly keep from weeping.”
“But I dare say that some one else will give them a coverlet,” replied Isabel, with a look of disappointment, “and I want you to put your money with mine, and buy a pretty present for our teacher. We can get a very pretty work-box for three dollars, and I am sure she would be very much pleased.”
Mary was silent for a few minutes. She loved her teacher very much, and thought it would be very pleasant to make her a present; but then the remembrance of the poor old couple in the wretched shanty came strongly to her mind, and she said, decidedly, “No, Isabel, I cannot do it. I should be very glad to make Miss Spencer a present, and perhaps mother will show me how to make a needle-book for her, but the poor people need a coverlet more than she needs a work-box.”
“That is no rule, Mary. We cannot always give to those who need it the most. All of the girls are going to call at Miss Spencer’s house on Christmas morning, and each one will take her a little gift. If you will only join with me, our present will be prettier and more valuable than any other she will receive.”
“I do not care about that, Isabel. Miss Spencer will not value the gifts for the sake of what they cost. She will be pleased to find that we think of her and love her. But I am sure she would rather I would spend my money in doing good. You know we both agreed to save a part for the poor.”
“I know we did, but some other time will do as well as Christmas,” replied Isabel. “If you will not help me to buy the work-box, I will buy it myself, and not spend so much on my other presents. I saw a beauty for three dollars, the other day, and I am determined to have one like it.”
“Father says that we ought to try to do all the good we can upon Christmas day,” answered Mary, gently. “You know it is the anniversary of the day when the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world, that He might do more good to men; and if we love to do as He teaches us, we shall be willing to give up our own pleasure for the sake of helping others.”
Isabel felt that she was in the wrong, but she was not willing to acknowledge it, and therefore replied rather crossly that Mary could do as she pleased, but she had no idea of spending her money in Christmas gifts for the poor.
The girls therefore said no more to each other upon the subject. They were both very busy in their preparations for Christmas, however, and long before the important day arrived everything was in readiness. The work-box for her teacher had taken so large a portion of Isabel’s money, that her gifts for her other friends were necessarily trifling, but she did not regret this when she thought how pleased Miss Spencer would be with so valuable a present, and how astonished her young companions would appear at her generosity.
Mary had, with the advice of her mother, expended the part of her money which she had set apart for the poor, so judiciously, that it went much farther than she had anticipated. Some partly worn dresses served for the outside of the coverlet, and with the money thus saved, many other comfortable things were procured. The happy little girl danced for joy when all was completed, and she thought how much good even her small hands could do.