[Illustration: A PICTURE.]
What have we here? That kind-looking old gentleman must have something for
these children; his hand is in his pocket, and they are all gathering
around him. I wonder who he is, and what he is going to give them?
"He's their uncle, may be."
"Or their grandfather."
"Or somebody else that is kind to children."
No doubt of it in the world. He is some one who likes children, you may be
sure. And I suppose he's got a pocket full of sugar-plums or nuts for his
favorites. The little girl who has seized his cane, I rather think, will
get the largest share; but I don't suppose her young companions will be at
all displeased at this, for no doubt she is a very good girl, and beloved
by all. Indeed, if we may judge by the faces of the children, not one of
them will look at what the other receives, to see if he has not obtained
the largest share.
This is not always so, however. I know some little boys and girls, who,
when their parents, relatives, or friends give them cakes, candies, or
playthings, immediately look from what they have themselves to what the
others have received, and, if one thinks his share smaller or inferior,
becomes dissatisfied, and, from a jealous and envious spirit, sacrifices
his own pleasure and that of all the rest. Because there is a square inch
more of cake in his brother's piece, that which he has doesn't taste good.
If he have one sugar-plum less than the others, they become tasteless, and
he throws them all, perhaps, upon the floor.
How bad all this looks, and how very bad it really is! The friends of such
children are never encouraged to make them presents. They rather avoid
doing so; for they know that their greedy, envious, covetous spirit, will
turn the good things they would offer them into causes of strife and
unhappiness.