“The nearest? Yes; but not the best. It would have been far better to go around by the path.”
“I heard you tell Cousin Lucy the other day that folks must never mind if there were thorns in their way,” said little Rose, almost sobbing again, for she had thought that at least her mother would praise her courage and philosophy.
Her mother smiled, but presently looked grave.
“My darling,” she said, “it is true we must not mind thorns if they are in the path of duty. But when they grow in any other path, we have a right—indeed, we ought—to avoid them if we can.”
“But wasn’t I in the path of duty when I tried to get the raspberries, mamma? You said that I might pick all that grew down there.”
“You were not doing wrong in trying to get them.”
“Isn’t that the same as duty?”
“Not exactly. Would it have been wrong for you to do without them? Or would you have been to blame for going by the path?”
“Oh no,” said Rose; “it would not have been wrong, for nobody said I must get them, or that I must go through the currant-bushes.”
“Then you see it was not duty.”