There were two little boys, named James and William. One day, as they were about starting for school, their father gave them two or three pennies a-piece, to spend for themselves. The little boys were very much pleased at this, and went off as merry as crickets.

“What are you going to buy, William?” James asked, after they had walked on a little way.

“I don’t know,” William replied. “I have not thought yet. What are you going to buy with your pennies?”

“Why, I’ll tell you what I believe I’ll do. You know ma’ is sick. Now, I think I will buy her a nice orange. I am sure it will taste good to her.”

“You may, if you choose, James. But I’m going to buy some candy with my money. Pa’ gave it to me to spend for myself. If ma’ wants an orange, she can send for it. You know she’s got money, and Hannah gets her everything she wants.”

“I know that,” James said. “But then, it would make me feel so happy to see her eating an orange that I bought for her with my own money. She is always doing something for us, or getting us some nice thing, and I should like to let her see that I don’t forget it.”

“You can do as you please,” was William’s reply to this. “For my part, I don’t often get money to spend for myself. And now I think of it, I don’t believe pa’ would like it if we were to take the pennies he gave us for ourselves, and give them away,—or, what is the same thing, give away what we bought with them. Indeed, I’m sure he would not.”

“I don’t think so, William,” urged James. “I think it would please him very much. You know that he often talks to us of the evil of selfishness. Don’t you remember how pleased he was one day, when a poor chimney-sweeper asked me for a piece of cake that I was eating, and I gave him nearly the whole of it? If that gave him pleasure, surely my denying myself for the sake of ma’, who is sick, would please him a great deal more.”

William did not reply to this, for he could not, very well. Still, he wanted to spend his pennies for his own gratification so badly, that he was not at all influenced by what his brother said.

In a little while, the two little boys came to a confectioner’s shop, and both went into it to spend their money.

“Well, my little man, what will you have?” asked the shop-keeper, looking at William, as he came up to the counter.

“Give me three pennies’ worth of cream candy,” William said.

The cream candy was weighed out, and then the man asked James what he should get for him.

“I want a nice sweet orange, for a penny,” said James.

“Our best oranges are twopence,” was the reply.

“But I have only a penny, and I want a nice orange for my mother, who is sick.”

“Do you buy it with your own money, my little man?” asked the confectioner.

“Yes, sir,” was the low answer.

“Then take one of the best, for your penny, and here is some candy into the bargain. I love to see little boys thoughtful of their mothers.” And the man patted James upon the head, and seemed much pleased.

William felt bad when he heard what the man said, and began to think how very much pleased his mother would be when James took her the orange after school.

“I wish I had bought an orange too,” he said, as he went along, eating his candy, which did not taste half so good as he had expected it would taste.

Do you know why it did not taste so good? I will tell you. His mind was not at ease. When our thoughts trouble us, we take little or no pleasure in anything. To make this still plainer, I will just mention the case of a boy, who thought it would be so pleasant if he could play all the time, instead of going to school. So much did he think about this, that one morning, he resolved that he would not go to school when sent, but would go out into the woods, and play all day, and be so happy.

So, when he started off, with his dinner in a little basket, instead of going to the school-room, he went to the woods.

“Oh, this is so pleasant!” he said, on first arriving at the woods—“No books nor lessons—no sitting still all day. Oh, I shall be so happy!”

As he said this, the thought of his parents, and of their grief and displeasure, if they should find out that he had played truant, came into his mind, and made him feel very unhappy. But he endeavoured to forget this, and began to frisk about, and to try his best to be delighted with his new-found freedom. But it was of no use. His thoughts would go back to his parents, and to a consciousness of his disobedience; and these thoughts destroyed all the pleasantness of being freed from school. At last, he grew weary of everything around him, and began to wish that he was again at school. But he was afraid to go now, it had become so late; and so he had to stay in the woods all day. It seemed to him the longest day he had ever spent, for the thoughts of his disobedience, and the fear of his parents’ displeasure, if they were to find out what he had done, prevented him from taking any enjoyment. Oh, how glad he was, when the sun began to go down towards the west! But it seemed to him that it never would get to be five o’clock. Every man he saw with a watch he asked the time of day, and every answer he received disappointed him, for he was sure it must be later.

At last the time came for him to go home. As he drew near, he began to tremble, lest his parents should have made the discovery that he had not been to school. They did not know it, however, until the little boy, to ease his troubled mind, confessed his fault.

Now this little boy could not enjoy himself in the woods because his mind was not at ease. He was not satisfied with himself. He could not approve of his own conduct.

So it was with William. He felt that he had been selfish, and that this selfishness would appear when his brother carried home the orange for their sick mother. It was for this reason that his candy did not taste so good to him as he had expected that it would. But James ate his with much satisfaction.

“I wish I had bought ma’ an orange with my pennies,” William said, as they were going home from school.

“I wish you had, too,” replied his unselfish brother, “for then we should have two to give her, instead of one.”

“See, ma’, what a nice sweet orange I have bought you,” he said, as he arrived at home, and went into his mother’s sick chamber.

“It is, indeed, very nice, my son, and it will taste good to me. I have wanted an orange all the morning. Where did you get it?”

“Pa’ gave me a penny, this morning, and I bought it with this. I thought you would like to have one.”

“You are very good, my son, to think of your sick mother. And you wouldn’t spend your penny for cake or candy; but denied yourself, that you might get an orange for me? Mother loves you for this manifestation of your self-denial and love for your parent.” And she kissed him.

William heard all this, and it made him feel very bad indeed. Oh, how he did wish that he had bought something for his mother with the pennies his father had given him! But it was too late now.

The pain he felt, however, was useful to him. It taught him to know that we may often obtain far greater happiness by denying ourselves for the sake of others, than in seeking alone the gratification of our own appetite; and he seriously resolved he would try in future to do better.

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