This is a story of a dear little curly-headed girl called Mabel, whom
everybody loved. She was so bright, and happy, and good-tempered, one
could not help loving her, and when you looked into her clear, blue
eyes, you could see that she was a frank, truthful child, who had
nothing to hide, for she tried to listen to the Good Voice, and do what
was right.
One day Mabel was having a romp with her little dog, Fritz, in the
kitchen. Up and down she chased him, and away he went, jumping over the
chairs, hiding under the dresser, always followed by Mabel, until at
last he leaped on the table, and in trying to make him come down, Mabel
and the dog together overturned a tray full of clean, starched linen
that was on the table. Mabel had been giving Fritz some water to drink
a little before this, and in doing so had spilt a good deal on the
floor, so the clean cuffs and collars rolled over in the wet, and were
quite spoiled.
Mabel's mother happened to come in just when the tray fell with a bang,
and as the dog jumped down from the table at the same moment she thought
he had done it, and Mabel did not tell that she was in fault, so poor
Fritz was chained up in his kennel, and kept without dinner as a
punishment.
Mabel felt sad about it all the rest of the day, and when she was put to
bed at night, and mamma had left her, she did not go to sleep as usual,
but tossed about on the pillow, until her little curly head was quite
hot and tired. Then she began to cry. Mabel was listening to the Good
Voice now, and it said, "Oh, Mabel, =you= helped Fritz to overturn the
tray, and =he= got all the blame, how mean of you!" Mabel sobbed louder
when she thought of herself as being mean, and her mother hearing the
noise came to see what was the matter. Then Mabel confessed all, and her
mother said, "Perhaps my little girl did not know that we could be
untruthful =by not speaking at all=, but you see it is quite possible".