“Pa’ gave me a penny, this morning, and I bought it with this. I thought you would like to have one.”
“You are very good, my son, to think of your sick mother. And you wouldn’t spend your penny for cake or candy; but denied yourself, that you might get an orange for me? Mother loves you for this manifestation of your self-denial and love for your parent.” And she kissed him.
William heard all this, and it made him feel very bad indeed. Oh, how he did wish that he had bought something for his mother with the pennies his father had given him! But it was too late now.
The pain he felt, however, was useful to him. It taught him to know that we may often obtain far greater happiness by denying ourselves for the sake of others, than in seeking alone the gratification of our own appetite; and he seriously resolved he would try in future to do better.
HENRY AND HIS SISTER.
