Not infrequently it happens that the selfish child has a continual
example of selfishness before him in his own parents.
[Sidenote: Parental Example]
Not far from the rural school house in District Number 10 was the fine
residence of Mr. Allen, one of the directors of the school. His rearing
of thoroughbred stock had made his name known throughout the state and
had added thousands to his bank account. When his little son, Homer,
started to school for the first time, he was oversupplied with pencils,
erasers, tablets of all varieties, penholders, stencils, paints, colored
crayons and every known aid to first grade work.
Attending the same school was a large family of very poor children named
Perkins. The Perkins’ children were poorly, but cleanly, clad in the
cheapest of clothing. They had only a few of the necessary textbooks and
half of a lead pencil was made to serve two of the family, the parents
reasoning that two of them wouldn’t surely need lead pencils at the same
time. Joseph and Clarence Perkins were in the first and second grades,
respectively. They had the third of a lead pencil to be used in common
and a piece of a broken slate (with a two-inch pencil) to be used
instead of a tablet.
Miss Shuttlesworth, a young teacher, felt truly sorry for these two
bright, little boys because they were thus handicapped in their work,
and she allowed them to borrow from other children during periods when
both should be writing at once.
She even fell into the habit of saying, “Joseph, borrow a pencil from
Homer and put your problems on this piece of paper.” Generous and kindly
herself it did not occur to her that Homer was reluctant to loan one of
his many pencils.
One day Laura Manning, a sixteen-year-old pupil who came past the Allen
farm on her way to school, said to Miss Shuttlesworth, “Mrs. Allen said
to tell you she would like to have you come and see her soon.” Miss
Shuttlesworth foresaw from Laura’s manner of delivering the message that
the errand would not be a pleasant one. She had evidently offended Mrs.
Allen in some way, but how she could not conceive. She had never been in
the Allen home nor had she ever seen Mrs. Allen.
As soon as school closed she made her way to the Allen residence and was
not surprised to have Mrs. Allen greet her coldly and haughtily, boldly
glaring at her and beginning a speech something like this: “I want you
to understand that Homer is not to lend anything of his to the Perkins’
children. We are able to buy anything he needs but we don’t intend to
buy for the whole school.” Having more than exhausted this subject Mrs.
Allen went on to state that Homer’s seat must be changed because his
desk was defective in some way. Miss Shuttlesworth had not noticed that
Homer’s desk was different from the others.
She was a young teacher and so was quite overawed by Mrs. Allen’s angry,
commanding tones. She changed Homer’s seat and supplied the Perkins’
boys with working material herself. She made no effort to change Homer’s
attitude of superiority toward the Perkins’ boys. His selfishness only
increased under his mother’s management.