"Well, why?"
"Because, God did not make them, Norton."
"Yes, he did. Doesn't he make everything?"
"In one way he does, to be sure; but then, Norton, if everybody did just right, there would be no poor people in the world; so it is not something that God has made, but something that comes because people won't do right."
"How?" said Norton.
"Why Norton, you know yourself. If everybody was good and loved everybody else as well as himself, the people who have more than enough would give to the people who are in want, and there would not be uncomfortable poor people anywhere. And that is what the Bible says. 'He that hath two coats,'—don't you remember?"
"No, I don't," said Norton. "Most people have two coats, that can afford it. What ought they to do?"
"The Bible says, 'let him impart to him that hath none.'"
"But suppose I cannot get another," said Norton; "and I want two for myself?"
"But somebody else has not one? suppose."