"Just as we were discussing the different methods by which we were made, my mistress (and his) came into the room, and he hurriedly said good-by.
"'You will never see me again. She will take me, and not you. Mine has been a sad life, and it will have a sad end. I hope that you will be happy. You are the only one that has ever tried to comfort me since all my friends were taken away from me; but you could not. Good-by!' And with that, my mistress took him away.
"She went over to the marble basin with the silver faucets, and turned some water in, while she held the pin, not very securely, I suppose, for he tried with all his strength, and gave a leap into the basin. The water carried him swiftly through the hole, and he was seen no more!
"O how I felt! To see one of my own race go to destruction before my eyes was hard to bear! I would have wept, but you know that is impossible to me, but whenever I think of the sad, sad fate of him with whom I was acquainted, for so short time, my brassy heart aches, as it were, and I feel as if I must go and comfort him, lie he in sewer or sea!"
(Just here the pin seemed much moved, and trembled so violently that I put my hand on the edge of the desk, to keep him from falling off.)
Presently he continued: "Let this be a lesson to you, my dear young friend, never to be discouraged, whatever be your lot in life, or you will meet with a sad fate, like my poor acquaintance, the English pin.
"It must have been for about a week then, that my life was rather dull. I was sorry for this; I longed for something to divert my mind from the sad scene I had witnessed. All I could do was to gaze disconsolately at the shining marble basin in the corner of the room, feeling that it was a sort of tombstone erected over the body of my friend, and make a solemn resolve never to become so discouraged with that which it was my duty to bear, as to desire to put an end to my existence, but always to bear patiently the task set before me. And you, my boy, will find your life much happier, if you make the same resolve.
"One day while my mistress' little girl was sitting reading by the window, a gentleman came in who had made his appearance during the last few days, and whom the children called uncle. He invited her to take a walk. She hastily brushed her hair, and hunting around for a smaller pin, evidently, took me reluctantly, to pin her sash with, and hurried down to meet her uncle, who was waiting at the hotel door; for that I had learned was the name of the building.
"They walked along down many streets, until finally they came to one where stores were. Into one of these the little girl went, and bought a paper of pins; as soon as they reached a quieter street, she took me out, so as to fill my place with a smaller pin, and would have thrown me into the gutter, but her uncle stopped her, saying:
"'Give it to me, if you don't want it. Never throw away even so small a thing as a pin, my girl, or you may want one very much, some day.'