THE GOLD THIMBLE.
THE GOLD THIMBLE.
Mr. Lee had a gardener whose name was Long. He lived in a little cottage near the great house of his employer. He was a very good gardener, and Mr. Lee valued him highly for his knowledgeof plants, and for the fidelity with which the man served him.
Mr. Long had a family, but only three of his children remained at home. The others worked in the mills, or had places in the city. Mary, the youngest, was about Flora Lee’s age; and the other two at home were fourteen and sixteen.
Early in the winter Mrs.Long was taken sick, and for several weeks was confined to her bed. During this illness Susan took care of her mother, and did the house work besides, with the help of her father and her brother John.
Mrs. Lee thought this was too much for a girl of sixteen, and she wanted to send one of her servants down to the cottage to do the hardest of the work; but Susan declaredshe could do the whole very well indeed, and did not need any help.
At the same time she said that Mary gave her some trouble, and was a great care to her. Mrs. Lee, finding she could do no more, offered to take the troublesome little girl home with her, and keep her for two or three weeks.
Mrs. Lee did this kind act in a very quiet and prettyway. She did not tell Susan she would take her sister in order to make less work in the family, for she saw that she took pride in doing it all herself. But she invited Mary to go up to her house and spend two or three weeks with Flora.
I do not think it is wicked to do a kind act in this way, for it can hardly be called deception. Some people do theirgood deeds so that every body may see them; and some do all their kind acts so that no person’s feelings shall be hurt.
The New Testament tells us not to let the right hand know what the left hand doeth; that is, we must not parade our deeds of charity and kindness before the world. If you had a little friend who was very poor, but very proud, you might do something for himin such a way that he would not feel as though he was accepting a gift.
Susan was very glad of this relief, and Mary was very glad to go up to the great house, and walk through its handsome rooms, and over its rich carpets. For the first day she could do nothing but walk through the rooms and look at the fine things she saw. There were a great manybooks with pretty pictures in them. The walls of the parlor and sitting room were covered over with fine paintings, and on the mantel-pieces were beautiful statues. There were, indeed, so many nice things to be seen, that one day was scarcely enough to allow her to look at them as much as she wished.
But my story is not about fine pictures, and statues, andcarpets, and sofas. It will be a story within a story which Mr. Lee told to the children, with the reason why he told it; and I hope my young friends will learn the same good lesson from it that poor Mary Long learned.
When Mary had been at Mr. Lee’s a few days, and got used to the fine things there, Flora missed a little gold thimble, which one of heraunts had given her as a Christmas present.
Flora felt very badly when she found that the thimble was gone; not because it was gold, and worth two or three dollars, but because it was the gift of her aunt.
“Don’t cry, Flora,” said Mrs. Lee. “You will probably find the thimble again. If you do not, crying will not mend the matter.”
“But aunt Sarah gave it to me, and I wouldn’t lose it for any thing,” sobbed Flora.
“Where did you leave it, my child?”
“On the table in the parlor. I put it there while I opened the blind; and when I came out I forgot all about it. Then I went to look for it, and couldn’t find it any where.”
“Are you quite sure youleft it there? Think again for a moment.”
“Very sure, mother.”
“Don’t be too sure, Flora,” added her mother, with a smile. “You know you were very positive, the other day, that you left your scissors in the basket; and then you found them in your play room—just where you had put them yourself.”
“I know it, mother; but Ifeel pretty sure, this time, that I left the thimble on the table.”
“I think you had better look in every room you have visited since you lost it. How long ago was it?”
“About an hour, I should think. I never thought of it till just now.”
“Well, you look in every place you have been, and if you don’t succeed in findingit, I will help you search for it then.”
Flora went immediately to the play room, and then to the kitchen, the dining room, and a dozen other places; but the gold thimble was not to be found. Then she tried to think where else she had been, and went over the ground a second time.
“I can’t find it, mother. I have looked every where,” saidshe, as she joined her mother in the sitting room.
“It must be in the house somewhere. It cannot have been stolen. None of the servants have been in the parlor; and if they had, I am sure they would not steal any thing that belongs to you, Flora.”
“I don’t think any one stole it, mother. How wicked that would be!”
“Have you seen the thimble, Mary?” said Mrs. Lee, as she turned to the gardener’s daughter.
“No, marm. I haven’t seen any thing of it, as true as I live and breathe,” replied Mary, speaking in a very earnest manner.
Mrs. Lee looked at her when she used these strong words, and she was sad, for there was something in Mary’s mannerthat did not seem to her just right. But she said no more, and went immediately with Flora to search again for the lost thimble.
If Mary had answered with a simple “No,” perhaps Mrs. Lee would not have suspected her; as it was, she could not help thinking that the child had taken the thimble. Jesus said, “Let your communications be, Yea, yea; nay, nay;for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”
Those words, “as true as I live and breathe,” children, came of evil.
Telling the Story.
Telling the Story.
Telling the Story.