book2

BEGINNING TO BE A MISSIONARY.
PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PORTER,
SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 200 MULBERRY-STREET.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855,
BT CAELTON & PHILLIPS,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New-York.

EXPLANATION.
The names in the following story are not real
ones. In other particulars the book
is,
gener
ally,
a
book of facts. The object of
it
is
to
show how the young may learn to be useful
and happy at the same time, and thus acquire
a
true
missionary spirit.
The Writer.
Ootobeb, 1865.

CONTENTS.
CHAP.
PAOB
L— WHO HENRY WAS 9
H. HIS PLACE OP RESIDENCE 14
m.— HOLIDAYS AND BIRTHDAYS 17
IV. WHAT HENRY'S FATHER THOUGHT AND DID 21
Y.— HE GETS EXCUSED FROM LABOR 26
VI. THE BIRTHDAY MORNING 29
VH. — LETTER TO EDWIN 35
TOI.— LETTER TO CHARLES 41
IX.— OIVINO AWAY A BOOK 48
X. GIVING SOMETHING TO THE SABBATH-SCHOOL LIBRARY 53
XL — PRESENT TO MRS. FENTON 59
XD. — THE THIMBLEBERRD2S 72
XIII. — GIVING TO BEGGARS 80
XIV.— GIVING AWAY TRACTS 92

8 CONTENTS.
*
CHAP.
FAO»
XT.— THE SICK EOT 102
XVI. — THE BOUQUET 106
ITU.— SOMETHING FOR JEMMY STUBBINS 115
XVIII.— THE BOX OF CLOTHINO 125
XIX. THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS 130
XX. — JUVENILE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES 139
XXI. CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS 154

HENRY'S
BIBTOAY.
CHAPTER L
WHO HENBT WAS.
Henry Williams was an active, intelligent, and
well-behaved boy, and, though only fourteen years
of age, nearly as tall as his father : still, though
tall, he was rather slender and delicate.
He had been to school a part of the time,—
perhaps I should say a large part of — from
it,
six years of age to the present, and his progress
had been excellent. It was vacation now; but
a
new term was just at hand.
One morning, after they were seated at break

10 HENBY'S BIRTHDAY.
fast, Henry, who it was observed ate slower and
was more thoughtful than usual, asked his father
how it would do for him to stay at home from
school the coming summer, and see if he could
not grow stronger as well as taller.
"Do you think you can endure the fatigue of
working all day during the hot days of sum
mer V said his father ;
" for if you stay at home
I shall be glad to have you work, at least a part
of the time."
Henry thought he could endure the labor well
"
enough : Albert, who is of my age, worked all
summer with his father, last year ; and surely I
ought to be able to do it this year," said he.
Mr. Williams, though a little surprised at the
proposal, was glad to hear
it,
and readily con
sented. He thought, however, that six or eight

WHO HENBY WAS. 11
hours a day would be enough for hard labor, and
the rest of the time might be filled up with
Latin, amusement, &c. To this, of course, Henry
did not object, and the arrangement was at once
concluded.
Henry found the hours longer than he ex
pected, especially when the weather was very
sultry ; but he bore with it as well as he could,
for he was anxious to be healthy and vigorous ;
and he hoped that steady, daily labor in the
open air would make him so.
Sometimes his work was planting or hoeing in
the field ; at other times the garden vegetables
required attention. Sometimes insects, that
threatened the destruction of the melons or the
cabbages, were to be destroyed ; and sometimes,
in dry weather, the watering-pot was to be used.

12 HENBY'S BIRTHDAY.
Then, during a part of the time that had
originally been intended for amusement, he cul
tivated a small flower-garden, and did it very
well too. In short, he had work before him in
abundance.
There were, indeed, a few rainy days; but

WHO HENRY WAS. 13
they were rather infrequent. Henry sometimes
wished there were more of them, that he might
have a little more time for reading, and also that
the plants and flowers might grow a little faster.
He forgot, perhaps, that when these things grow
rapidly the weeds grow rapidly too, and make
the farmer and gardener additional labor. He
forgot — perhaps had not fully learned— that,
taking the whole summer together, or at least
taking together several successive years, the
Divine Hand makes the best possible arrange
ment about the weather.

14 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
CHAPTER
II.
HIS PLACE OF RESIDENCE.
Henry's father, as you may have concluded
before now, did not live in the city, because he
thought the city a bad place for children : he
thought it also less healthy than the country.
He resided at the distance of about ten miles
from the city, near a small village, amid a cluster
of hills, where he was retired, and yet in the
midst of society. His house was within five
minutes' walk of the school, church, rail-road
depot, &c.
Here he had two or three acres of land, which
he called his farm. Some of it was occupied by

HIS PLACE OF BESIDENCE. 15
trees, but other portions
were highly cultivated.
It was a delightful spot, and as healthy as it
was delightful. And yet, in shunning the city,
Mr. Williams had not been able to escape the
city customs and fashions. These, in the small
towns and villages, follow close upon those of
the city.
The churches and schools are affected by
these customs. Once the country churches were
plain : now they are almost as stately, as costly,
and as richly furnished as those of the city.
The schools too were continued, in former times,
in the country, five or five days and a half of
every week. Sometimes, in fact, (though the
practice was wrong,) the teacher made up lost
time on what should have been the vacations of
the Saturdays; so that the school continued,

16 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
without intermission, six days of the week. But
now, instead of continuing as many as five
days
or five days and a half of every week, it was be
ginning to be quite customary to discontinue the
schools on Wednesday afternoons,—just as it is
in the cities. And this was not all: nearly
every week there were holidays, or exhibitions,
or great public meetings, or anniversaries, which
broke in upon the order of things, and injured
the habits of the children,
and, in .the end, had a
tendency to corrupt their morals.

HOLIDAYS AND BIRTHDAYS. 1?
CHAPTER III.
HOLIDAYS AND BIRTHDAYS.
Not only were the holidays in the country, as
well as in the city, becoming almost as numerous
as in the old or European world, but they were
coming to be regarded or kept in the same
selfish
manner.
On these days everybody who could— children
of course— were expected not only to give up
their time to amusement and indulgence, but
frequently to continue their amusements to a
late hour at night ;
thus unfitting them, in part,
for the duties of the following day.
In addition to this, on many of these days —
2

18 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
such as Christmas and New-Years — presents
were expected ; and unhappy were they who
received nothing. Indeed, the whole tendency
of these seasons was to minister to selfishness,
both in the old and the young, particularly the
latter. The Bible says, — and good sound com
mon-sense says the same thing, — that "it is
more blessed to give than to receive ;" but the
customs of society, in all that concerned holidays,
were exactly the reverse. They said, practically,
it was more blessed to receive than to give.
Every one, as soon as a holiday approached,
was thinking what he should have as a present,
or as presents. They were not thinking what
they should give to others, but what they should
receive. They were sometimes unable to wait
till the holiday arrived. On the evening before

HOLIDAYS AND BIRTHDAYS. , 19
Christmas,
for example, it was becoming custom
ary to hang up a stocking in the chimney corner,
under the fictitious, or rather superstitious idea
of having " Santa Claus " deposit something in it
for the owner, so that he could receive it in the
morning. And those children thought themselves
unfortunate— perhaps slighted
— whose parents
would not conform to this silly custom.
Above all the rest, children of every age ex
pected presents on their birthdays ; and many
expected permission from their parents to invite
together their associates on these days. Expected
did I say ? Some were grown so bold, so re
publican, as to almost demand them to conform !
Thus, I repeat, children were becoming more
and more accustomed to be on the look out for
personal indulgence, and to fix their hearts on it ;

20 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
and they were, at the same time, becoming less
and less accustomed to regard the happiness of
others ; for though, in order to have the young
receive presents, somebody must give them, yet,
as the presents were regarded
by the parties on
both sides as the discharge
of a debt, they only
ministered to human selfishness. And yet juve
nile missionary societies existed in this very
region, and good people — men, women, and chil
dren— were accustomed to pray for the conversion
of the world, and were told, on every hand, that
their great personal duty, no less than that of the
foreign missionary, was to spread the Gospel !

WHAT HENRY'S FATHER THOUGHT AND DID. 21
CHAPTER IV.
WHAT HENRY'S FATHER THOUGHT AND DID.
Now Mr. Williams, Henry's father, thought there
was not a little inconsistency in all this. He
believed
that from the very day on which Christ
had said,
" Go ye into all the world, and preach
the Gospel to every creature," it had been the
duty of every living human being to make this
great work of spreading that Gospel, which is
"good-will to men," to the ends of the earth,
his main business. He believed this work of
converting the world belonged to the minister
and to the missionary ;
but that it also belonged
to the common people, and that they were as

22 HENEY'S BIRTHDAY.
truly bound to do what they could as the regu
lar preacher.
On this account you would always see
him at
the monthly concert for prayer for foreign mis
sions, and at all meetings he could possibly
attend, which had a reference to this great ob
ject.
You would even see him at the juvenile
missionary meetings, whenever he was near
enough to be able to attend them.
But then he
was not willing to go home from these meetings,
and proceed to the very work of undoing there
what he had done and prayed for at the meeting.
And yet he knew well that he should do this
indirectly, if he encouraged his children in the
custom of expecting and demanding so many
holidays and holiday gratifications.
Mr. Williams had determined to do all he

WHAT HENRY'S FATHER THOUGHT AND DID. 23
could to check the fashionable tendency to self
ishness, and to set a more Christian example.
He knew, indeed, that it would come rather
hard upon his children and family ; but he
thought it would even do them good in the end.
His resolution was therefore taken with regret ;
but then it was taken deliberately and firmly.
This resolution was to seize on every birthday
of his own, and upon some of the more prominent
of the holidays, and make them seasons of giving ;
and, by precept as well as by example, to avail
himself of every possible means of changing the
customs of those around him.
His resolution was no sooner made than it
was carried into execution. But, even after he
began to make the change, his wife, and chil
dren, and neighbors only rallied him as engaged

24 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
in a hopeless warfare : but he persisted in his
course.
The first opportunity of the kind that offered,
after making his resolution, was his own birth
day.
On that day he sent fourteen dollars' worth
of books — such as he knew they needed — to
certain foreign missionaries. On another occa
sion of this kind he gave a considerable
sum of
money. On another, he gave to each of his
children quite a number of useful
books, to form
the nucleus, or beginning,
to each, of a library.
He did not neglect
to avail himself of Christ
mas and New-Tear for the same general purpose.
For a time he gave more than he felt quite
able
to give, for the sake of making a strong
impres
sion ; but gradually he fell down to about onetenth
of his income, and there remained.

WHAT HENRY'S FATHER THOUGHT AND DID. 25
Meanwhile, his family and others around
him
gradually fell in with his views. I mean they
did so in theory; though some opposed him.
One man in particular, an old and tried friend,
as he supposed, really ridiculed him.
Henry, though he said little, inclined to his
father's opinions. His birthday was approach
ing ; he wished to make presents as his father
did, but how could he ? What had he ? He
spoke to his mother about
it,
and regretted he
had nothing to distribute. It did not occur to
him, at first, that he could give anything but
money, books,
or clothing.

26 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
CHAPTER V.
HE GETS EXCUSED FROM LABOR.
Henry's birthday was now at hand ; and, though
he had no money to give, nor much of anything
else, yet, by means of a few hints from his
mother, worked over in his own brain, he had
hit upon a plan that he thought would do, pro
vided he could find the time ; but it would take
so large a portion of the day that it might inter
fere a little with his regular
hours of labor.
He should, in these circumstances, have gone
directly to his father. Had he done this, and
shown his father what he desired to do, there
would have been more than mere acquiescence in

HE GETS EXCUSED FROM LABOR. 27
the plan ; there would have been great joy on
the part of the father, and a willingness to help
him on all he could. But boys are not always
wise, and they are very often diffident. Henry,
though he had good intentions, was sometimes
culpable in both these particulars. He did not
venture openly to consult his father, but conferred
with his mother. He wished to be excused
from labor on his birthday.
She told his father.
He only laughed at the proposal ; but when he
came to know, in part, the reason, he gave his
most hearty
consent.
Children are fond of new things, as everybody
knows : Henry was peculiarly so. He was, in
deed, as I have said already, in favor of his
father's plan of giving instead of receiving; for
he had heard his father converse on the subject

28 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
till he saw through it nearly as well as he did.
But even had it possessed no merit but that of
novelty, it would have commanded
his heart for
one day.
He made what preparation he could in the
evening, and took care to leave his work in the
garden in such a condition that nothing would
suffer by his absence for one day. Some boys
would not have thought of this : anxious to get
their own turn served, they would care little
what became of the field and garden afterward
till compelled
to return to them.

THE BIRTHDAY MORNING. 29
CHAPTER VI.
THE BIRTHDAY MORNING.
Henry went to bed early, as was proper, in order
to rise early next morning. His plan, with the
help of his mother, was now laid, and he thought
of things enough which would do good to occupy
him about half the day ; after which he thought
within himself, " I will devote the rest of the day
to reading."
That night he slept as soundly as if nothing
had occupied his mind. When boys are going
on a journey, or expect to wake next morning to
unusual sources of enjoyment or fun of any kind,
they often sleep but little, and what they do

30 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
sleep is dreamy and unsound. They hear the
clock strike, perhaps, every hour. It was a
wonder that Henry did not; but, after falling
asleep a little before nine o'clock, he neither
waked nor changed his position, as he said, till
, almost four o'clock the next morning.
When he awoke, the birds were just finishing
their first grand concert of music. Robin-red
breast and a very few others continued their
song, as the chorister sometimes continues his
strains
after the choir have paused.
Henry started up, and thought it later than it
really was. The clock at that very instant
struck four. His first sober thought was, "I
am just fourteen years old." He would have
repeated the thought, and given it words, — he
would have made the whole house ring, — but

THE BIRTHDAY MORNING. 31
then it would have awakened others ; and
though he might have thought it time for every
body to be up, yet, as some
did not think so, it
was kind not to wake the sleepers so soon.
" Never," said Henry to
"
himself, was there
a more beautiful morning !"
what he had so often
He forgot just then
heard his father say, that,
to those who are right within, all mornings are
beautiful ; and that one reason why it was so
beautiful in his estimation, just then, was because
he had slept well, and had risen in the best pos
sible condition of body and mind, and had before
him, in anticipation,
a pleasant day.
Still, it was a beautiful morning, intrinsically,
and Henry proceeded to make the most of it;
not, however, till he had attended to his morning
ablutions and morning prayers ; not even till he

32 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
had read a chapter in the Bible, as was his daily
custom.
Many omit these duties on extra occa
sions ; and not a few would have been tempted
to call this an extra occasion, and to have
governed their course of conduct accordingly.
Not so with Henry. He remembered the old
but true saying, that prayer and provender
hin
der no man's journey ; and he justly believed
that prayer and cleanliness would not impede his
progress.
In truth, he was more anxious to do
right, in every particular, on his birthday than
on any other.
Henry got through his morning duties. He
proceeded to lay out his plan as well as he
could ; for though, by permission, he had the
day all to himself, as much as either of his par
ents or anybody else could have, yet you know

THE BIRTHDAY MORNING. 33
well that, as the Scripture says, none of us
liveth to himself entirely ;
he could not tell what
unforseen accident, or even sickness, might break
in upon him.
He had three principal kinds of gifts to dis
tribute :—
First, certain gifts for the mind.
Henry had
not lived fourteen years with a highly intelligent
father and mother without knowing that the
mind needs food and support as well as the
body. These were such books, papers, &c, as
he had been able
he meant to write.
to collect, with a letter or two
Secondly, he had certain things to give from
the garden he had cultivated ; and there were
several poor families, about half a mile off, who
needed them, and would be grateful for them.
3

34 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
Thirdly, his mother
had often told him about
doing good with his voice and countenance.
This kind of giving he meant also
to try, — per
haps while going about in the performance of his
other charities. For this his plan was not en
tirely settled. „
He had a very little money : whether he
should give this away he did not know. He
might not meet with anybody that would be
likely to do good with it; for his father had
taught him that giving away money indiscrimin
ately is as about as likely to do harm as good,
except that it does ourselves good by keeping
our hearts
warm.

LETTEE TO EDWIN. 35
CHAPTER VII.
LETTER TO EDWIN.
As he had risen at four, and it was now but five
o'clock, he had still one hour before breakfast.
This he was resolved to spend in letter-writing.
" The morning," said he, " according to father's
views,
is the lest time for everything, especially
for the best things."
And kind letters to good
friends, as he knew from experience,
were among
the best of gifts, whether for birthdays or any
other.
Henry was not one of those boys that think
letter-writing a terrible task. It is true, he was
always so busy at something else that he seemed

36 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
to have little time for letter-writing; but then
he loved
climbing
a
it,
and
it
mountain.
did not seem to him like
It was not quite so pleas
ant as talking, when the person with whom he
wished to talk was within his reach; but when
he was not, was next to talking, — was,
it
deed, talking on paper.
He had
a
it
in
distant relation, of nearly his own
age, whose name was Edwin. He had written
him only
a
few weeks before,
in reply to
a
letter
written by Edwin to him ;so that the latter
would not be expecting
payment of debt.
"
a
I
anything just now as in
will write," said he to
himself, to Edwin. I" will surprise him with
long letter when he little thinks of it."
By the time breakfast was ready he had writ
ten out nearly
a
a
whole sheet. He wrote rapidly,
1

LETTER TO EDWIN.
Si
and also pretty plain.
Some who write rapidly
might almost as well let alone their pens ; for no
one can read what they write without the great
est difficulty.
I will not take time to tell you what he
wrote ;
worth reading.
but the letter really contained something
Henry and
Edwin lived almost two hundred
miles apart; and the customs of the places
where they lived differed so much that they had
many things to relate, whenever
each other, about what had happened.
they wrote to
Besides,
Henry lived near the metropolis, and had been
much in it; whereas Edwin had never seen a
city of twenty thousand, or even ten thousand
people,
in his whole lifetime.
Then again, whenever they wrote to each

38 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
other, whatever might be the occasion,
they did
not fill the first half page and the whole of the
last one with mere formalities. They talked
directly ; only, as I have said before, they talked
on paper. Henry was the most skilled in this
sort of writing ; but Edwin was not at all defi
cient. Henry was apt to be a little careless —
not to say slovenly — about folding and directing
his letters; but the family had just obtained a
quantity of stamped envelopes, and his mother
gave him one, which he gladly accepted ; for he
wanted
much to have a birthday letter look neat,
smooth, and inviting :
thought, to the value of the gift.
Was he not right, young reader ?
beautiful external
it would add much, as he
Does not a
appearance add to the charms
of a letter, a book, or any other similar gift?

LETTER TO EDWIN. 39
You do not like to see a letter folded awkwardly
and clumsily : above all, you do not like to see
a book or letter which you receive all soiled or
blotted. I know there is an old saying that we
must not look a gift-horse in the mouth ; which
is the
same thing as to say we must not be for
ward to find faults or defects in things which are
presented to us. And yet, I assure you, it is
hard not to think of them, or notice them.
If the modern custom of using neatly-folded
envelopes should be a means of teaching our
young masters and misses to fold their letters
neatly, and direct them properly and tastefully,
they may do the public — especially the rising
generation — an essential service.
Henry ought to have known before he was
fourteen years old how to fold and direct a letter.

40 HENET'S BIRTHDAY.
It is almost as easy to fold one well as ill.
His
mother would have taught him how to do it had
he desired it. Besides, he had a sister, two
years younger than himself, who perfectly under
stood the art, and if there had been no pride in
his heart he might have learned of her ; as it
was, he prepared his envelope, and then went to
breakfast.

LETTER TO CHARLES. 41
CHAPTER VIII.
LETTER TO CHARLES.
Breakfast, and the customary devotions of the
family, were soon over, and Henry was at his
desk again, to finish his letter. All that re
mained
was the superscription.
Henry had really intended to write but one
letter as a birthday present, though he had
thought of a dozen he should like to write ; but,
while he was writing to Edwin, he thought of
an old acquaintance whom he had not seen for
very many years, to whom, he had no doubt, a
letter would be very acceptable. He even felt
as though he had somewhat neglected him, and

42 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
that he owed him a debt. A sense of justice
combined with his benevolence, and he wrote
him a long letter.
The youth's name was Charles. They had
lived in the same house about eight years be
fore, and were nearly of the same age. They
had been somewhat attached to each other; but
after their separation, which was by a very great
distance, they mutually forgot one another ; and, be
fore they were familiar with letter-writing, neither
of them knew exactly where each other resided.
Charles, moreover, though a noble boy, had
never had so much love for Henry as the latter
had for Charles ; for Henry was better fitted for
friendship and sympathy than Charles, both by
nature and education.
Henry, in his letter, went into a pretty full

LETTER TO CHARLES. 43
history of all that had happened to him since
their separation. He told him in how many
different places his father had resided, what
schools he had himself attended,
what progress
he had made
in his studies, who his companions
and playmates were, what cities and strange
sights he had seen, and what he meant to do for
a livelihood. In short, he gave him a history of
himself. It was well written, and, I have no
doubt, gratefully received by Charles.
It was a
valuable birthday gift to an absent friend.
This last letter occupied more time than Henry
had expected it would ; for, though he began it
before seven, it was now more than half-past
eight o'clock when he finished
it,
and the fore
noon was fast passing away. It would be nine
o'clock by the time he had deposited his letters

44 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
I
in the office and returned. However, he con
soled himself with the thought that he had
done something. He was tasting, without be
ing exactly aware of
it,
the pleasure of doing
good.
I"
do wish," said he, as he was about to close
the letter to Charles,
" that he would write to
me.
How
I
should like to hear from him once
more
"Do you feel more anxious to hear from him
!"
than you did before
you wrote your letter ?" said
his mother.
" A hundred times more anxious," he replied.
him when
a
I" Why,
I
only had
a
began, with
general recollection about
a
sort of conviction
ought to write to him once more. Now
I
that
feel
deep interest in him, and can hardly wait till

LETTER TO CHARLES. 45
the time when I hope to receive a letter from
him."
" Have you asked him to write to you ?" said
his mother.
" 0 yes ; I have asked him, and even urged
him.
Indeed, I am afraid I have said too much.
People do not like to be over-urged."
" I will tell you how you may add a little to
the probability of receiving a letter from him."
" How, mother ?"
" Just put a common post-office stamp into
your letter, as business men do when
they write
to others about their own concerns."
" I never thought of that. If you will give
me a stamp I will."
" You can have one ; but do not understand
that this will make it certain."

46 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
"0 no! I understand the matter. I hope
he will write :
but then he may not be alive, or
he may have removed from the place where he
was when
we heard from him last."
" All this is well thought of. I was going to
ask you, in passing, if you knew why it was that
you felt more anxious to hear from Charles
you had written your letter than before ?"
" Not exactly ; but it is an old saying,
1
after
Out
of sight, out of mind.' He had been a long
time out of my mind, except at times ; whereas,
now he was in my mind's eye a whole hour or
more."
" This may explain it— probably does ; and
yet there is another principle to be thought of.
Doing good always produces love to a person.
Your letter was a species of doing good to

LETTER TO CHARLES. 47
Charles. How do you know that it may not
have increased your love for him, so as to awaken
the interest you feel in his welfare ?"
Henry thought there was hardly time enough
for the operation of a .
principle like this, and
Mrs. Williams herself had doubts ; yet the doc
trine that doing good to a person, hoping for
nothing in return, as our Saviour says, will
make us love him, is as true as that two and two
make four. And if it should ever come to this,
—if the customs should he so changed as that
everybody should give in this way, instead of
giving in such a way as to secure new favors in
return, or pay old debts, — the world throughout
would be very great gainers. How fast our
mutual love would thus be enkindled we do not
yet know.

48 HENBY'S BIRTHDAY.
CHAPTER IX.
GIVING AWAY A BOOK.
Henby had finished his two letters, and put
them in the office. It was just nine o'clock.
The morning was passing away, and the work
which he had assigned himself was not yet
done ; indeed, he felt as if he had hardly began
it.
Doing good makes time pass swiftly, no less
than pleasantly.
He had, with the
aid of his father and other
friends, collected, from time to time, quite a little
library. The books were all numbered 1, 2, 3,
&c, in the best order.
Among them, however,
was one that he could spare, only it would break

GIVING AWAY A BOOK. 49
the order of his series. He had thought the
matter over again and again, and had sometimes
almost made up his mind to give it away to
Samuel, a boy who had a great fondness for
reading, but was utterly destitute of books.
It was number five in his library, and was an
excellent book ; but he had rather outgrown it.
Samuel had seen
it,
and partly read
it,
and was
greatly delighted with it; but Henry had not
chosen to lend
it
to him lest
it
should be in
jured by the carelessness of his brothers and
sisters.
He was indeed
a
little tried, and he mentioned
his trials to his mother. Her first thought was
to encourage him
to fill the vacancy
to give
by
not tell him so, because
it
away, by promising
another book ;but she did
it
was highly desirable
4

60 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
he
should feel that what he gave away put him
to some little inconvenience. She encouraged
him, therefore, in carrying out his plan according
to his first intention.
" But how shall I repair the loss V said Henry.
"Besides, I should like to read it again myself;
and where can I get another number five, to
take its place ?"
" That I cannot tell you, my son ; but there
may be some way to bring it about. If you
give away nothing but what you can
spare just
as well as not, it can hardly be called giving.
Somebody has said there is no true charity that
does not cause the giver more or less of incon
venience."
Henry concluded to forward the book, — but
how? It was two or three miles to widow

GIVING AWAY A BOOK. 51
Sanderson's, the mother of young Samuel, and
Henry seemed to think the book must go that
very moment.
" Why," said his
"
mother, it is not absolutely
necessary that the book should go to-day. If
you wrap it up properly, after having put
Samuel's name in
it,
at the first opportunity,
a
gift on your part as
your letter to Charles
and lay
it
if
it
perhaps, these three days
hesitate to send
it
it
aside,
will be just as
went to-day.
to be sent
much
Why,
Higgins won't reach him,
;and yet you did not
on that account."
The book was carefully wrapped up, properly
directed, and then laid by to be sent by some
person going that way, or to be given to
Samuel himself when he should call. But
it
was scarcely wrapped,
and directed, and laid up,

52 HENBY'S BIRTHDAY.
when, lo ! a boy passed by who was going to
the very next house to Mrs. Sanderson's.
" Would you send it by Jim ?" said Henry.
James was a rough boy, and Henry was almost
afraid to trust him with it.
" I think it will be safe," said his mother,
he will go directly there and deliver it."
" if
James
said he would, and so Henry ventured
to send it at once ; and, as he afterward learned,
it was properly and faithfully delivered.

GIVING TO THE SABBATH-SCHOOL LIBRARY. 53
CHAPTER X.
GIVING SOMETHING TO THE SABBATH-SCHOOL
LIBRARY.
There was an excellent library connected with
the Sabbath school to which Henry belonged ;
and yet, excellent as it was, most of the
books had been read over by the children
who belonged to the Sabbath school, and
their friends, till they ceased to attract, in
any considerable degree, their attention. The
library, in short, had become old and neg
lected.
I said that the books had been
read over by
the children; but I should, perhaps, have said

54 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
gossiped over rather than read. They had been
taken home, and the pictures had been noticed,
and perhaps some of the more racy parts of them
read, especially the anecdotes ; but as to their
having been read carefully by any considerable
number of persons, that is a matter of some
doubt.
Now, Mr. Williams had been an author of
Sabbath-school books in former times, and while
Henry was talking about sending a book to
Samuel, the thought struck Mrs. Williams that
in one corner of the attic there was a small pile
of very good books, which were intended by Mr.
Williams for distribution, but which, in the mul
tiplicity of business, had been forgotten, or at least
neglected. Henry had indeed seen
it,
but as
it
was his father's work ,he had not paid any

GIVING TO THE SABBATH-SCHOOL LIBRARY. 55
particular attention to it. " Far-fetched and
dear-bought," as you know, in books as in
many other things, are most apt to be highly
valued.
" These books," said Mrs. Williams to herself,
" might as well be disposed of as remain in the
attic, where they are of no possible service to
anybody." So she went and brought down a
couple of them, and said to Henry, " Do you not
think Mr. A., the superintendent
school, would like to have one of these
of the Sabbath
books in
the library? He has none of the kind, I be
lieve."
Henry just looked it over, and then said,
" Yes, mother, I know he would like it. We
have no such book in the library." He forgot,
for the moment, that it was a work written by

56 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
his father, or else had never been familiar
enough
with it to recognize it.
" And how would you like to present him
with a copy to-day ?" said his mother.
Henry said he should like it exceedingly;
and, although
his plan in the morning,
mediately
such a thing had not entered into
and deliver it.
he was ready to go im
" You can lay it aside," said his mother,
" and
deliver it next Sunday, if you choose."
" Never mind," said Henry ; " I think I will
go and present it to him now."
Mr. A. lived near by, and Henry was already
becoming quite enthusiastic in the matter of
giving.
Before he went, his mother said,
" Here are
two of the books for you to dispose
of,
if
you

GIVING TO THE SABBATH-SCHOOL LIBRARY. 57
choose to receive them for that purpose ; or, if
you prefer
it,
you can put one of them in your
own library, in the place of number five, which
you gave away."
Henry was particularly delighted with the
last proposal.
A
little of his native selfishness,
no doubt, crept in. His mother had feared
might be so; but, on the whole, concluded
to risk it. Henry placed
it
it
at once in his
desk, and went over to Mr. A.'s with the
other.
On the road, he chanced to see his father's
name on the title-page. He was
a
little
surprised at first, and yet, on the whole,
pleased. There was only one difficulty, — he
felt
a
a
degree of delicacy about giving away
book written by his father; however, he

58
•
HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
went along with it. Mrs. A. accepted it
thankfully in the name of her husband, who
happened not to be at home just then,
and Henry returned to his labors of doing
good.

PRESENT TO MRS. FENTON. 59
CHAPTER XI.
PRESENT TO MRS. FENTON.
One of the things that Henry had from the first
determined to give away on his birthday was
some new potatoes to Mrs. Fenton. It was in
deed hardly time for new potatoes ; but old
ones were very scarce and dear, and there were
a few hills in the corner of the garden which he
had planted very early, and manured highly,
that seemed to have nearly come to maturity.
These hills of potatoes he called his, and his
plan now was, as I said before, to give some of
them to Mrs. Fenton.
Mrs. Fenton had a little garden of her own ;

60 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
but everything was late in it. Her husband, a
hard-laboring man, had bought the place, and
partly paid for it; and started for California, to
procure, by gold-digging for a few years, the
means of finishing payment, and rendering his
family, in other respects, comfortable and happy.
But he had been taken sick, and died on the
passage ; and Mrs. Fenton, though she had a
good house to occupy, and a good garden to
cultivate, was very poor; for, as she had no
money, she could not hire help, either in the
house or out of doors; and out of a family of
four children not one was yet large enough to
help her much. And, though her husband left
her well provided for, just for the winter, her
stock of provisions was beginning
to be exhaust
ed, and she was in many respects poor and needy.

PRESENT TO MBS. EENTON. 61
Now there were a few, who knew her history,
who felt for her, and occasionally tried to help her ;
at least they talked about helping her, which
was worth something to themselves, because it
helped to educate their children. The young, at
every age, are much more influenced by the con
versation which takes place in the family than we
are aware of ; and their feelings and thoughts, in
connection with such familiar conversation, have
a great deal to do in the formation of their char
acter: in other words, such conversation edu
cates them.
Now, it had never occurred to Mr. and Mrs.
Williams, when they were talking often about
poor Mrs. Fenton, that they were educating
their children to sympathize with the poor and
distressed ; yet Henry and the rest of the family

62 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
had heard and remembered the conversation, and
Henry had been a good deal affected by it.
was on this account that he had thought of the
poor woman on his birthday.
Although he had raised the potatoes, and
called them his, he had taken the precaution,
was perfectly proper, to speak to his father about
it,
and get his permission. The father was ex
ceedingly glad when he made the proposal, and
encouraged the plan.
It was more than ten o'clock in the forenoon
already
;and when Henry told his mother what
he was going to do, she reminded
Fenton would be contriving
children by this
time, and
if
a
It
as
him that Mrs.
dinner for her
he meant to give
her an opportunity to use the vegetables that day,
he must make more haste, or he would be too late.

PRESENT TO MRS. FENTON. 63
" But she can use them to-morrow, or on some
other day," said he,
" if I should happen to he
too late for to-day."
" Very true," said his mother ;
" only, if by a
little more expedition you can get them into her
hands
soon enough for to-day, it may he a great
convenience. It is always better for our own
character, moreover, to do a thing promptly and
punctually. It is especially important not to
defer till to-morrow what can as well be done
to-day. "
Henry knew all this, — he had heard it twenty
times before ;
not feel its importance.
experienced
and yet, though he knew
:how could
it,
he did
He was young and in
it
be otherwise
?
The
young must take many things upon trust,
especially from their parents.

64 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
However, he did not delay. The potatoes
were soon dug, and put in a basket. They were
fully grown, and nearly ripe. Henry said they
were a great deal larger than he expected, and
that they yielded well ; for he never procured so
many potatoes from so small a number of hills
before in his life. But he forgot that he had
not dug many potatoes. His life, so far at
least as concerned the garden, had been very
short.
He had dug twice as many as Mrs. Fenton
would be likely to use in a single day, and they
were rather heavy to carry so far, yet he went
bravely along: the pleasure he felt made the
load lighter. The half mile — for that was the
distance — was soon gone over, and he was at
Mrs. Fenton's door.

PRESENT TO MRS. FENTON. 65
As he passed through the garden, he saw
plainly what he had guessed before,
that, though
it was a rich and beautiful spot, little had been
done to it this season. It was nearly covered
with weeds, except a small spot near the door of
the house, and a small patch near the corner,
where some potatoes and peas had been planted,
but had been but little attended to.
Henry rang the bell before
would do his errand.
he thought how he
This was an error, but, in
the circumstances, it was excusable. Besides,
where the purpose of an individual is right, —
where the heart is right I mean,— there is usually
some way to get along with the externals.
Mrs. Fenton came to the door: she had no
one to
"
send. Good morning, Henry," said
she.
5

66 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
" Good morning, ma'am," was the reply.
" Do
you wish," he added, "for this small basket of
potatoes ?"
" They are new ones," said she,
" and very
fine ones too. I did not know that new ones
were yet in the market.
We are out of potatoes,

PRESENT TO MRS. FENTON. 6Y
and have been these three weeks. But pray
what do you ask for them ? "
" 0, nothing," said Henry, his eye brightening
to think how acceptable they must be to a poor
family that had been without them for three
weeks; for Henry was very fond of potatoes,
and seemed to suppose everybody else was.
" Nothing at all," he repeated. " I wish to
make you a present
of them."
Mrs. Fenton was not a person of many words,
but she was truly thankful, and she said so ;
and in the fullness
of her heart she let fall a few
words which showed her destitute and needy
condition :
" These potatoes come to us," said
she,
" in the right time. We have not a mouth
ful of food in the house, except a little salted
pork."

68 HENBY'S BIRTHDAY.
Henry bade her good morning, and was soon
at home again. He went back with a lighter
heart, and a lighter step too, than he came.
However, he had time, as he went along, to
think of the necessities of the poor.
u What a strange thing it is,"
he said to him
"
self, to have nothing to eat but a little salted
meat! And if Mrs. Fenton is so poor, how
many other people there may be in the same
"
condition, or in a condition still worse !
Henry had been out in the field coasting, or
on the green playing ball, or he had been at the
pond to skate, I know not how many times in
his whole life ; and he had taken pleasure in
it,
too, as much as other boys. All boys love
play, and Henry was, in this particular, like
other boys
:but, as
I
said before in relation to

PBESENT TO MRS. FENTON. 69
another of his presents, he had begun to find
pleasure, amusement even, in doing
good.
It may be true, for aught I know, that he felt
more pleasure in giving away the potatoes than
in giving away some other things, from the fact
that he had done more toward procuring them.
The books he had given away were written by
somebody else, and printed and bound by some
body else ; and one of them was hardly his own
to give. But, except that the potatoes were
raised in his father's land, they seemed like his
own; and I have not a doubt that, whether or
not Henry was conscious of
added greatly to his pleasure.
it,
this consideration
I
would not be understood as having the least
hostility to children's amusements ;on the con
trary,
I
would gladly increase their number, and

70 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
this I am doing whenever I encourage them to
do good ; for Henry Williams not only enjoyed
his sports like other boys, but here was a new
source of enjoyment that many children of both
sexes know nothing about.
Besides, the amusement which children feel
in doing good is apt to be durable. When
boys have done skating, or coasting, or playing
ball, there is an end of it for the time : no, not
quite that, for the sled that is at the bottom
of the hill is to be drawn up, and dragged
home again, and sometimes with aching limbs
and weary arms.
But the pleasure Henry felt when he had
given the potatoes into Mrs. Fenton's hands
was not the end of it. He enjoyed it all the
way home ; and this was one reason why he

PRESENT TO MBS. FENTON. 71
went back with so light a
step and so bright an
eye. And more than this is true : he felt
better in body and mind all the day for it;
and before I have finished my story I will
tell you something more about the good effects
of it.

72 - HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
THE
CHAPTER XII.
THIMBLEBERRIES.
I
It was now eleven o'clock : the dinner would
come at twelve, and Henry knew
it,
and began
to think about it. He had not, indeed, com
pleted his plan. There were other things that
he meant to do, but there would be time to do
them in the afternoon he thought
himself,
;so he said to
" Is there not some extra work of doing
good about the house
?
Is there not something
can do for my father, or mother, or sister ?"
Now,
I
do not know how such
ever came to enter his head.
I
a
thought
do not believe
it
was suggested by any evil spirit, for evil spirits

THE THIMBLEBERRIES. 73
are not accustomed to make good suggestions ;
and as to good spirits I am not quite certain
they would take so much pains. I think, how
ever, they do sometimes touch smaller chords in
human character than this.
Henry thought of the thimbleberries :
" My
mother likes them," thought he,
" and so does
Sarah ; but they are both too busy to pick them
for themselves, and have been so these two days,
while the birds are carrying them off by whole
sale. It is a small matter, I know, to regard as
a gift ; but I am half disposed to surprise mother
and sister with the quart measure full of thimble
berries."
Some of my readers may not know what I
mean by thimbleberries. They are a sort of
wild raspberry, growing about the hedges in

74 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
many parts of our country. When they are
withdrawn from the stem on which they grow,
such a hollow is left as reminds one of a thimble ;
and hence, perhaps, the name. Sometimes they
are cultivated in gardens, and so it was at Mr.
Williams's.
Henry, as I said before, was half disposed to
surprise his mother and sister with some thimbleberries
; but a second
thought came that it would
be no gift after all, for the thimbleberries were
his father's, and it was as much his duty to pick
them for the family as it was that of anybody
else. "And how then," said he to himself,
" can I make it out a gift ?"
But a third thought came,
which decided the
question. It was that his time was his own,
because
his parents had, for that day, given it to

THE THIMBLEBERRIES. 15
him.
" To spend almost or quite an hour in col
lecting thimbleberries will therefore," said he to
"
himself, still be a gift. It will be a gift of my
time, if nothing more."
So to work he went, and gathered
the thimble
berries. He did not go to work, however, with
dirty hands, such as he had when he came from
the potato-patch : he took care about that. In
deed, his hands had been washed before he went
to Mrs. Fenton's.
It was now twelve o'clock. Henry had his
quart measure well filled, and carried to the
dinner-table, before the clock struck, and at a
moment when his mother happened to be absent
in preparing the food. Now, twelve o'clock, at
Mr. Williams's, meant twelve o'clock, and not
one, two, three, five, or ten minutes afterward.

16 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
"Why, where did these thimbleberries come
from ? " said Mrs. Williams, as they were seating
themselves at the table.
" I did not see them
till now.
Did you pick them?"
Henry replied in the affirmative.
" I intended
them as a present for you and Sarah," said he.
" Am I and the rest to have none 1 " said his
father, rather
playfully.
Henry stammered a little :
" 0," said he,
" I
intended them for the whole family; only, as
you and the rest do not seem to care much
about
to mother
them, I thought I would call it a present
and Sarah."
" I am very much obliged to you, Henry,"
said she, "very much indeed. But," said she,
without much reflection, "while I am glad of
the berries, I don't quite see how you can regard

THE THIMBLEBERKIES. 11
them as a present. You pick fruit for us a great
many times, — Sarah and the rest sometimes do
the same. Are all these things to be regarded
as so many gifts " ?
Henry blushed now; for, while he did not
make very large claims for benevolence on the
score of the thimbleberries, he was a little sur
prised that his mother should interrogate him,
and withal a little embarrassed. Summoning up
courage, however, he said, " You forget, mother,
that you and father gave me my time to-day, and
therefore would not naturally expect me to do for
you, unless as a mere gift, what on other days it
would be my duty to do."
His mother acknowledged the justness of his
remarks. She would not for the world, she said,
take away from the pleasure or blessedness

78 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
which had naturally and rightfully fallen to his
lot ;
only she was disposed to have things called
by their right names, and, in her haste to correct
a small mistake of his, had fallen into one her
self.
At the proper time the thimbleberries were
passed round, and all partook of them — Henry
very sparingly ; not because he was not fond of
them, but because he was afraid he should dimin
ish the happiness of the rest.
"Whatever became
of himself, he wished to have the rest fare well
in the first place.
Some boys — even when they are as old as
Henry was— do not seem to care for others if
they can be themselves well served. Paul, the
apostle, a long time ago, taught us to look on
the things of others as well as on our own

THE THIMBLEBERKIES. 79
things, and even practically to esteem others
better than ourselves. This carefulness of the
wants, and rights, and happiness of others should
never be forgotten, even at the dinner-table.
Mr. Williams surprised the family by the fond
ness he manifested for the thimbleberries.
Mr. Williams was not very fond of spending
much time at dinner, or at any other meal, in
talking about the excellence of peculiar dishes.
He was rather disposed to eat and drink of what
was set before him, asking no questions. But
then he could not help feeling that, for once in a
week or so, a little conversation of the kind
might be as useful as talking about the fashions,
or the murders,
or about the faults of our neigh
bors.

80 IIENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
CHAPTER XIII.
GIVING TO BEGGARS.
Thef had scarcely
finished their dinner when an
old man passed by the window, steering for the
kitchen door. " It is the old beggar-man," said
Sarah.
Now, by the old beggar-man Sarah meant a
very tall old man who, for a year or two, at in
tervals of a month or so, had called at the door
soliciting charity. He made most piteous com
plaints, and yet they had not in general given
him much, because Mr. Williams was not of
opinion that he was a proper object of charity.
The old man now knocked at the kitchen

GIVING TO BEGGARS. 81
door. Henry went to open it. The old man
asked for favors " : A few cents," he said,
" only
a few cents, and God would bless them."
Henry, as he had been instructed before he
went to the door, told him the people of the
house had nothing to give him.
He said he wished to see the mistress of the
house.
" She is engaged," said Henry ;
" and she
sent me to tell you that she had nothing now to
give you."
Henry returned to the family-table, and re
ported that the person at the door was the
veritable "old beggar-man;" and that, when he
inquired for the mistress of the house, he told
him she was engaged.
The conversation was beginning to grow
6

82 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
brisk about beggars and charity, when the bell
rung.
Mr. Williams now went to the door himself.
Whether it was suspected that the beggar was
making a fresh attempt to obtain something, I
do not know ; but he had no sooner opened the
front door than, lo ! the beggar stood before
him, and, in the most imploring accents, asked
for alms.
" Will you have something to eat V said Mr.
Williams.
" I do not so much need victuals," said the
beggar, "as a little money. A man just now
gave me this shirt, and I need other articles of
clothing; but I most need money. I cannot
have a comfortable bed for my aching limbs at
night
without a little money."

GIVING TO BEGGARS. 83
" I have plenty of work to be done," said Mr.
Williams, " and am willing to pay for it : how
would you like to work for me ?"
" 0 dear," said he, " I can't work ; I am so
lame !" So saying, he hobbled about to show
Mr. Williams how exceedingly lame he was ; at
the same time he kept saying over,
" A poor old
man needs a few pennies, — "
a lame old man !
Mr. Williams had heard his story several times
before, and had once talked with him, in a similar
way, about his laboring for him ; so he told him
plainly what to depend on : that he would em
ploy him, and pay him for his labor ; or, if he
would not work, he would give him something
to eat; but as for money neither he nor his
family could give him any :
" If others choose to
do so," said he,
" they may."

84 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
The old man was almost angry, and walked
quickly away.
He was, no doubt, a little lame,
but not half as lame as he pretended to be. He
could have done half a day's work in a day, of
certain easy kinds; but he preferred to get his
living by begging from door to door.
" " What a strange way of living ! said Henry,
as he followed his father back into the diningroom.
" But, father," he added,
" how can the
poor old man get along at night without
money ?"
" Sometimes he meets with people who will
give him food, as you know we were willing to
do ; others, with equal cheerfulness, give him a i
bed when it is night ; and " —
Here he was interrupted, for once, by Henry :
" But might it not so happen, father, that no one

GIVING TO BEGGARS. 85
would be willing to keep him ?
and if it should
be so, what would become of him? Would he
not have to lie out all night ? "
" Suppose it should be so, my son, — suppose
he should be compelled once or twice a month
in midsummer, as it now to sleep out of doors,
— do you think would hurt him?"
it
is,
?" Might he not take cold
And do not colds
bring on fevers, consumptions, rheumatisms,
&c?"
This might possibly happen, I"
admit, Henry
but
it
is
only possible.
;
Many such men as he,
at his age, can sleep in the open air in summer
without the slightest injury. Generally, how
ever, they can find some place — barn, shop,
shed,
or
a
a
a
a
wood-house — into which they can
creep and screen themselves,
if
not from the

86 HENBY'S BIRTHDAY.
night air, at least from the
peltings of the rain,
should it falL
" But there is another thing to be thought of.
Many persons are reduced to beggary by strong
drink, and they beg hard for money to indulge
their appetite, and to give it to them is to en
courage them in drunkenness.
And then, lastly,
they usually have a little money with them; so
that, as a last resort, they can pay for their lodg
ings, and sleep as comfortably as you or I can."
Henry was almost unwilling to believe they
had any money. "Why, father, do you really
think the poor old man that came here to-day
with him?" said he.
" I cannot answer for him in particular," said
had money
Mr. Williams ;
" but I do know that they some
times deceive us. And, Henry, let me say, I

GIVING TO BEGGARS. 87
have pretty strong reasons for believing that this
same old man means to deceive us."
Henry felt a little relieved at hearing this.
Not by any means that he was glad to hear of
such depravity in his fellow-beings, but for
other reasons. One of these was that he was
the owner of a small sum of money ; and though
it was his original intention to distribute other
things that day in preference to money, he
could not see the old man go away without
many misgivings, and almost wishing he had
given him a few
"
coppers. And yet," he said
to himself,
" if he is really what father supposes
him to be I am glad I did not."
They had returned to the dining-room, and
had gone thence to the parlor, where they were
all seated except Sarah, who was busily engaged

88 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
in washing the dishes.
" Father," said Henry,
"would you never, in any possible case, give
money to men who beg for it?"
" 0 yes, Henry ; there are cases when we ought
to give it," said his father ;
"but they are rare."
" Is there any rule to be laid down," said Mrs.
Williams,
" by which we can distinguish between
those who are worthy of our charities and those
who are not "
?
" We were not so much discussing, just now,"
said Mr. Williams, " the question of their worthi
ness or unworthiness to receive our charities in
some
form or other, as whether or not it is best
to give them money."
Mrs. Williams's attention had been called away
for a moment, so that she had missed the precise
point which was at issue.

GIVING TO BEGGARS. 89
" It is," said Mr. Williams,
" a very nice point
to determine whether or not it is right or wrong
to give a beggar money. Some have said that
if we do so, and he goes and makes a bad use of
it,
pose
the fault
I
put
is
a
not ours.
man, who asks me for
to
make
a
But
is
this so
?
Sup
razor into the hands of an insane
it
good use of
with
it,
a
and destroys himself with it; am
view, as he says,
and he goes
I
away
guiltless?
Others say we must continue to give for our
own sake, otherwise our hearts will become
contracted and unfeeling. As God, say they,
continues
to bestow his favors not only upon the
just, but also on the unjust, so should we.
no one denies. The great question
shall we give
?
is,
This
What
God, as we all know, does not
give everybody, in all circumstances,
money."

90 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
Henry asked how it would do to give the
strangers just money
starving and freezing,
enough to keep them from
but no more.
Mr. Williams said that it was always safe to
give a beggar a meal of victuals, provided the
food was plain and wholesome, and a cup of
water to drink. "And then, if night is approach
ing," said he, " it is safe— nay, it may be duty —
to give him a place to sleep. But after we
have fed him, he wants nothing more to eat till
meal-time again arrives; and after he has slept,
he wants lodging no more till night returns upon
him.
If,
then, he
is
a
stranger to us, and we do
not know whether he will or will not make
good use
of money,
is
it
supply his present wants, and
till
it
becomes the present? Is
a
not the better way to
let the future go
it
not
time

GIVING TO BEGGARS. 01
enough — is it not all that God demands of us ?—
to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter
those who are shelterless, and defend the de
fenseless ? They cannot eat money if they have
it; and they do not want to eat till they are
hungry."
Half an hour at dinner, and half an hour in
pleasant conversation ahout giving in charity,
had brought the time to one o'clock precisely;
and on Mr. Williams saying that he must go to
his desk, the discussion
terminated.

92 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
CHAPTER XIV.
GIVING AWAY TRACTS.
Before Mr. Williams left the house, however,
Henry had spoken to him about some tracts
that had long been lying on hand, and had
asked him whether it would not be well to
scatter them abroad where they would do some
good.
" By all means," said Mr. Williams ;
" scatter
them if you have an opportunity.
for them to-day?"
Do you wish
Henry said he did, and that he should like
them before his father went to his studies.
" But
perhaps mother can get them for me ?" he added.

GIVING AWAY TRACTS 93
" Certainly she can," said the father.
" Here
is the key. But stop a moment. There are
fifteen or twenty hooks for young Christians,
which were intended for distribution : you can
take some of them too, if you choose." Mr.
Williams was in so much haste that Henry had
barely time to thank him.
Mrs. Williams assisted Henry in finding the
tracts, and also the books.
" How many of them
will you take ? " said she.
Henry said he thought he would take them
all.
" What !
" said she,
" all of both kinds ?
"
" I meant so," said he.
" I thought father
was willing."
" "
0 yes
! she said ;
" but how can you carry
so many ? "

94 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
Henry had not thought of this.
"But," added she, "if you are going hut a
little way with them you may perhaps be able
to carry them. The weight, as you distribute
them, will be constantly diminishing."
Henry's plan was to distribute them in a
factory village a mile and a half distant. He
told his mother so, and that, upon second thought,
he believed the whole would make altogether
large a bundle.
too
There were eighteen, instead of
fifteen, of the little books ; and not less than
fifty of the tracts.
They would make a package
almost a foot square, and half as thick ;
than an old-fashioned
quarto family Bible.
or larger
Mrs. Williams, finding Henry a little at a loss,
said,
" Now I wish, Henry, to have you distinctly
understand that you are entirely welcome to as

GIVING AWAY TKACTS. 95
many of both kinds as you choose to take.
What
you have to consider well is how many you can
carry, and what you are to do with them."
Henry concluded, at length, to take forty of
the tracts, — all hut ten of the whole parcel, —
and ten of the hooks. Mrs. Williams lent him
her carpet hag, and away he went, joyous as a
lark, toward
the factories.
The village to which he was going, though
little more than a mile and a half from the place
where Mr. Williams resided, was almost as widely
separated from him, practically,
as if it had been
ten miles distant : in fact, it was in a different
township, and a river lay between them ; and
the inhabitants on the two sides of the stream
had very little intercourse.
Henry did not know
a person there. He only knew that it was a

96 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
thickly-settled village, containing many factories,
and employing
sexes.
a great number of persons of both
There was one factory much larger than any
of the rest, and to this Henry bent his course.
His purpose was to give away his books and
tracts to anybody that would receive them, make
as short an excursion of it as possible, and go
home again.
At the principal entrance he was met by a
well-dressed man, whom he afterward found was
the overseer. The man spoke to him very po
litely, but presently said to
"
him, Have you
books to sell ? We are not in the habit of per
mitting people
to sell books in the factory."
Henry colored a little ; but, recovering himself
in a moment, he very honestly, but rather gra

tuitously,
said,
GIVING AWAY TRACTS.
9T
" It is my birthday, sir, and I
have some books and tracts that I wish to give
away. I have nothing to sell, sir."
The overseer smiled at the novelty of the
affair, and, but for the blush and honest face,
might have suspected some sinister object.
His
curiosity being excited, he wished to see the
books. So Henry showed him the books and
the tracts.
" These," said he, (for he was a sensible man,)
" are no catchpenny things ; they are good
books. You may go into the factory and give
away as many as you please."
Henry's courage and confidence being now
fully restored, he was about going in, when the
overseer, who was a good deal interested, not
only in the novelty of the adventure,
1
but also in

98 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
the appearance of the young lad, said to him,
" It would be a pleasure to me to know your
name. You do not, I think, reside in the
village?"
Henry told him his name,
and who his father
was, and where he resided.
" 0," said the overseer,
"
I have a passing
acquaintance with your father, and a still better
knowledge of his reputation.
Mr. Williams's son
may always distribute books in our factory ;
only,
as I told you, it is our rule not to permit them
to be sold to the workmen''
As Henry entered the door the overseer called
to him again :
" Young man, if you prefer
may leave your books at the office,
distribute them for you."
Henry thanked
him, but said that,
it,
you
and we will
if
there was

GIVING AWAY TRACTS. 99
no objection, he should like to pass through the
factory himself.
The overseer said there was not the slightest
objection
to his doing so.
But Henry, who was entirely unused
to such
places, and may therefore have gazed, as he passed
along, more than those who were familiar with
such scenes and places, was now to pass an ordeal
for which he was not exactly prepared. Seeing
what they called "a raw boy" coming along,
they undertook to crack their jokes upon him.
Henry was good-natured, but not remarkable for
mirthfulness ; and as to jokes he did not even
seem to understand them. When, therefore, one
of the men asked him if he had razors to sell, he
only answered in an honest way, told them what
his errand was, and gave them some of his tracts.

100 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
" An honest John !
" said they.
" Give us
They are so good we want two a-piece."
One man said to
"
him, Here comes an essence
more.
peddler. How much a ton do you ask for your
essence ?"
Henry began at length to understand them,
and when they bore too hard on him in one part
of the shop he would go elsewhere.
" My good man," said a large sailor-looking
workman, who stood near a wheel, "have you
any grindstones to sell ? If so, what are they a
dozen "
?
Another said, "I am a Catholic : have you
any Catholic books to sell?"
Another
"
said, You will lose your books ;
there is a hole in your carpet bag, at its
mouth ! "

GIVING AWAY TRACTS. 101
Henry was glad to finish his work, and make
the best of his way toward home.
quite pleased
He was not
with this part of his field of labor,
although he hoped that good results would fol
low. He had been in the village but half an
hour, but that was too long. However, he had
attempted to do good, and there was pleasure
even in the attempt.
It was three o'clock when he returned. He
had been on the alert nearly all day, but he was
not at all fatigued, or, if so, he
did not yet per
ceive it. He had a few more labors of love to
perform, which he hastened to finish as fast as
he could, lest the night should arrive too soon
for him.

102 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
CHAPTER
XV.
THE SICK BOY.
"I will run now," said Henry, on his return
from the factory village,
" and inquire about
Harry Scovill, the sick boy."
"I wish you would," said his mother.
Some may perhaps wonder what connection
this had with birthday presents and doing good.
I will tell you. The family of Mr. Scovill, one
of Mr. Williams's nearest neighbors, had been
long and sadly afflicted by disease. None of
them had died, but some of them had suffered
almost everything else— death alone excepted.
Among their number was one fine young man,
I

THE SICK BOY. 103
who was consumptive. Some little time before
Henry's birthday arrived,
the physicians who had
hitherto attended him had given him over to die ;
but Mr. Scovill, partly in despair and partly
other reasons, had taken him away into the
country.
for
The place he had selected for him was the
farm-house of his brother. It was on the top of
a high hill, in quite an elevated part of the
country. It was where he could breathe pure
air, and drink good and pure water. It was
where, also, he could have plenty of berries, and
other fruits of the season, in which Mr. Scovill
had great confidence. He was, in truth, dis
couraged with medicine, and anxious to trust
more in nature.
It had been rumored
that the son was better,

104 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
and Mr. and Mrs. Williams — and Henry as much
as they— had been anxious, for a day or two, to
know the truth in the case. They knew too —
Henry no less than his parents — that it would
gratify Mrs. Scovill, in her trials, and ill health,
and loneliness, to know that her neighbors sym
pathized
with her.
The distance was considerable, but Henry was
soon there. Obstacles are no obstacles to the
resolute doer of good. Henry, indeed, was but
a young apprentice ; still, he was learning the
trade, and a glorious trade it is for our sons and
daughters to learn ! May Henry's example be
imitated by thousands and millions !
The story that Harry was really better was
confirmed
by Mrs. Scovill, who had just received
a letter. The physician of the place where he

THE SICK
BOY.
*
105
resided had advised him to ride abroad on horse
back, and otherwise to breathe the mountain air,
which before had been denied him ; and, as a
consequence, his night-sweats and cough were
abating, his appetite was increasing,
and he was
slowly gaining his health.
It did the mother good to relate the story.
Henry therefore did her good in giving her the
opportunity. It did Henry himself good to hear
about it ; and Henry's report to his father and
mother, when supper came, did them good.
This
then, small as it was, was worth notice as a
birthday effort. If Harry Scovill, at so great a
distance, did not rest any better that night on
account of the interest taken by his friends in
his welfare his mother did.

106 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE
BOUQUET.
Among other things, Henry had a small flowergarden.
It was a mere border, it hardly deserved
the name of a garden, but he gave it the digni
fied name of his flower-garden.
In one respect, however, it deserved a good
name, if not a dignified one : it was neat, clean,
and orderly. He had laid it out most beauti
fully; it did one good to look at it. Then
there was not a weed as large as a pin to be
found anywhere in it. He watered
it,
too,
whenever the weather was dry, and he guarded
it
against insects.

THE BOUQUET. 107
It would require considerable time to give
you even the names of all the flowers Henry
had in this little garden.
He had studied botany,
which increased, in a very considerable degree,
his fondness for flowers. Then he had been en
couraged in the matter by his mother, who was
also fond of flowers, and by Sarah. It is not,
therefore, strange that the study and love of
flowers
had come to be with him quite a passion.
The only wonder with me, whenever I saw
his garden, was how he found time to do so
much in it. But then it must be understood
that Henry, though he had, as the saying
is,
a
good many irons in the fire, was for the most
part very industrious.
His flowers were many of them rather late.
The ground which he occupied was by no means

108 HENKY'S BIRTHDAY.
of such a soil as was most favorable to early and
rapid development. Late in the season as it
now was, many of his flowers were in their very
prime — as beautiful as they could well be.
He had scarcely returned from the factory be
fore he was gathering a bouquet of flowers. His
mother came into the
"
garden : Why, Henry,"
" are you not fatigued "
?
said she,
" Not at all," was his reply.
" I should think," said she,
" that by this
time you must be completely tired out. You
have seemed to be upon the run all day long.
May I ask what you are doing now ? "
(You will see, by these remarks of Mrs. Wil
liams's, that Henry was of an ardent tempera
ment, and may perhaps think that he
sometimes
did things hastily, and without due consideration.)

THE BOUQUET. 109
Henry smiled, and said, " I am going to make
up a bouquet for Mrs. Starr. You know how
fond she is of flowers,
and how much she is con
fined to the house by her cares and duties, and
I would gladly make her one birthday present
of this sort.
Have you anything to say against
it?"
" 0 no, not a word. I am most heartily glad
of it. You have been making presents to-day
for the body, and also for the mind ; now you
are paying some attention, I see, to the feel
ings and taste. Mrs. Starr is a woman of great
sensibility, and the reception of a little bunch of
flowers will do her a great deal of good. But
how will you get it to her ? It is a long way to
Mrs. Starr's."
" Why, mother, I never thought of that. But

110 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
suppose we have supper very early, and then I
shall have time between supper and bedtime to
go and return. There
between
this and supper,
is,
in fact, time
if I
enough
had nothing else
to do."
" Your flowers will wither so soon, or at least
so soon begin to lose their freshness, that
I
would advise you to get them to her as soon
as possible. But here, have thought about
it. Where Sarah Sarah !" said she, " "
Sarah
is
?
I
and Sarah not happening to be near, she called
out still louder to her, " Sarah
you?"
Sarah at length came.
a
!Sarah
!
!where are
"Here, daughter," said she, "just jump into
the cars, — they will be along about the time
you will reach the depot, — and carry this bou

THE BOUQUET.
Ill
quet of Henry's to Mrs. Starr. Can you go,
Sarah?"
" Yes, mother, if I had time to change my
dress a little. It would not answer to go look
ing as I now do— would mother?"
" Perhaps would not to some places, but
it
it,

112 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
Mrs. Starr won't mind it much, and the people
in the cars won't mind you much. Crowds, as
you know, never see anybody. Besides, there
is no time to be lost if you go in the cars. You
will have to walk back, but this you can have
time to do before supper : it is almost two hours
to six o'clock."
Sarah consented to go, and to go just as she
was.
She was not, it is true, quite convinced of
the truth of one of her mother's assertions, that
crowds do not see anybody. Sarah was one of
those who,
when they go into a large company,
feel as if everybody was looking directly at them.
She was in one extreme, and her mother in the
other.
While Sarah was putting on her bonnet, and
arranging
her dress a little, — for she had no time

THE BOUQUET. 113
for a long toilet, — and Henry was finishing his
bouquet, suddenly they heard a shrill whistle.
" There," said Sarah,
" I am too late !
" and it
would have been too late, sure enough, had it
been the whistle of the train they supposed it
was,
but luckily it was that of a freight train.
" Never mind," said Henry, who by this time
saw the train coming round the hill at a dis
"
tance, it is the freight train. You will have
time enough."
But I, dear reader, have only time enough,
and spare room enough, to say that the bouquet
was delivered in good time and in good condi
tion, and most thankfully received ; and that, if
it did not feed the body or enrich the intellect, it
warmed a heart that was apt to grow cold and
frigid, and made it feel a little more nearly
8

114 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
related to other hearts, and to the great heart of
God himself. Henry, at all events, was benefited
by the act; for doing good to others always
makes us love them, even if it does not make
them love us. The present helped a little, too,
in warming the heart of Sarah, who carried it.

SOMETHING FOR JEMMY STUBBINS. 115
CHAPTER XVII.
SOMETHING FOR JEMMY STUBBINS.
The day, as we have seen in the preceding
chapter, was declining. Henry had done most
of the good deeds, and made most of the pres
ents he had intended to make in the morning,
besides a few others which had not been in
tended, because the occasions and opportunities
could not be fully foreseen. One thing remained.
It was to send something to Jemmy Stubbins.
What to send him, however, he did not know.
It had been in his mind, at the first, to send
him a little money, if he could possibly find an
opportunity for sending it in safety; but the

116 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
conversation with his father after dinner had
rather discouraged him about giving people
money.
But before
I go farther it will be desirable, for
the sake of a part of my readers who may be
ignorant on this subject, to say who Jemmy
Stubbins was.
You have heard of Elihu Burritt, the learned
blacksmith ;
the man, in other words, who, while
working at his trade as a blacksmith in Worces
ter, in Massachusetts, and elsewhere, contrived
to find time to become acquainted — and this, too,
before he was thirty-five years ofage — with almost
fifty languages.
Well, this Mr. Burritt went over
to Europe some eight or nine years ago with the
intention of walking about the country, and
finding out the condition of the poor. He was,

SOMETHING FOR JEMMY STUBBINS. 11 7
indeed, fond enough of seeing great cities, and
men with epaulets on their shoulders ; but he
was still more fond of seeing the inside oi society,
so to call it.
In one of his early walks somewhere
in Eng
land he came across a boy nine years old who
was doing almost the work of a man. Such
sights are, I suppose, very common in England ;
but Mr. Burritt had not at that time seen as
much of the Old World as he has since.
This boy was at work at his father's anvil,
making nails from morning to night.
He could
make a thousand nails a-day of the smallest
size. This, to be sure, may not have been as
much as his father could do ;
but it was as much
as a small boy was able to perform, and much
more than he ought to have been required to do.

118 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
The excuse for
it,
as
is
usual in such cases,
was the necessity of contriving every possible
way to meet the expenses of the family — food,
clothing, rent, &c.
Mr. Burritt's feelings were at once enlisted in
behalf of this little boy, and he made
an effort to
relieve him so far as to have him placed at school
a
part of the year. He gave something himself,
and he sent letters back to the United States,
which were printed in the newspapers, stating
the case of the boy, (whose
real name
I
have
forgotten, but whom he always called Jemmy
Stubbins,) and begging of the American boys,
and girls and men too, contributions in his
behalf. Many children in Massachusetts and
elsewhere
sent in their little sums to
a
man
in
Worcester, who kindly received them and sent

SOMETHING FOR JEMMY STUBBING 119
them to England. The final result was— for I
must be brief— that this English lad was placed
at school for a time, and in other respects so
favored that he was becoming quite a well-edu
cated young man. I have not heard of him for
a year or two past ; but I have no doubt he
what thousands of English boys might be
had the same opportunity,
and to the world.
Now
always
it
a
a
if
is,
they
blessing to his family
so happened that Henry, who was
great reader of newspapers, became
from the very first greatly interested in Jemmy
Stubbins. Both he and his sisters sent him
money,
and
I
believe some other things; and
though several years had elapsed prior to the
period of Henry's life of which
I
am now speak
ing, he still felt desirous of doing something for

120 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
him once more, and had accordingly taken it
into his plan in the morning. On mentioning
it to his mother, and asking what he could
do, she referred him to his father.
" But father," said
"
he, is so busy that I am
not quite willing to say anything to him till sup
per time, and I should be glad to decide on
something now, if possible. Besides, father is
averse to giving money, as you know ; and my
plan was to give him, if anything, a little
money."
"Are you sure, Henry, that he needs your
help now," said his mother.
"Perhaps he is no
longer in such a condition as he formerly was.
And then, too, as you have found out already,
there are many objects of charity nearer home."
Mrs. Williams was by no means one of those

SOMETHING FOR JEMMY STUBBIKS. 121
persons who are always telling how charity begins
at home, and are yet unwilling to bestow their
charity anywhere, either at home or abroad ; but
she began to think that Henry was aiming at
accomplishing everything, as it were, in one day.
She would leave something to be done to-morrow.
She was not at all inclined to tell Henry her
feelings, lest she should be like those who break
the "bruised reed," or quench the "smoking flax,"
as the Scriptures express it. She was willing
the flame should burn, only she did not wish to
have it expand itself by a combustion which was
too rapid. She only said,— and that perhaps a
little prematurely, — " Come now, Henry, you are
getting tired, are you not, and you have done a
great deal already ; the world, as you know, was
not made in a day."

122 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
Henry was unwilling to give up the idea of
sending a small sum of money to Jemmy Stubbins.
He said he had long been saving his spendingmoney
for this purpose, till he had something
more than a dollar ; and that this, though a little
sum, would yet aid Jemmy in completing his
education.
"Well," said his mother, "send it if you
choose. Your father and I are both perfectly
willing. At least I am. Your father's objection
to giving money was not intended to apply to
such a case as that of Jemmy Stubbins. In
this you are a little mistaken. He was only
talking about giving money to those common
street-beggars with whom we are of late so much
annoyed. But how will you send it ? Do you
know how to direct it ?
Jemmy Stubbins, as you

SOMETHING FOR JEMMY STUBBINS. 123
will recollect, was a fictitious and not a real
name, and I have forgotten what his real name
was.
Do you remember it?"
Henry said he did not ;
but observed that he
thought there was a way of finding out as
soon
as they could see Mr. Hill. "He will know,"
" most certainly. But as we cannot
said
he,
find him to-day, I do not see but that I must
give it up after all, for the present."
" I will tell you," said his mother, " what you
can do. If your mind is fully made up to send
the money, you can inclose your dollar in a letter,
— you cannot send the odd change very well, even
if you wish to do
to send
it
it,
in
a
letter, — and lay
it
aside
as soon as you can learn how to write
the address. It will, you know, be as much
birthday present as
if
it
a
had been sent on the

124 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
very day that you were fourteen years old.
And then, if anything should happen that it
should not be sent at all, you will at least have
the consciousness of having intended to send it.
It will be a present in heart, if nothing more."
Henry liked her proposal, especially
as it was
the best he could do. A dollar was just what
he wanted to send— a dollar bill — and he en
closed it very neatly
in a letter, intending to add
a few words to Jemmy before he sent it.
Thus
prepared he laid it away in his desk, and went
about something else. The day was not yet
gone. It was not even supper-time, nor was
he at all desirous it should be. He had found
pleasures in this world of a very different
nature
from those which belong to eating and drinking.

THE BOX OF CLOTHING. 125
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE BOX OP CLOTHING.
Mrs. Williams happened to be concerned at this
very time in making up a box of clothing to send
to the interior of Africa. She was not indeed
alone in the work. Several of the neighbors
contributed. They had long been accustomed to
send away clothing in boxes to missionaries in
Africa. She mentioned it to Henry, and asked
him if he would not like to put in something.
"There is yet room," said she;
"and a pres
ent from you, on your birthday, would perhaps
be as useful as a present to Jemmy Stubbins or
anybody else."

126 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
" But I know nobody in Africa, mother ; and
why should I take any special interest in send
ing out clothing, if I had it to send, to persons
of whom I know nothing ? "
" Do you know Jemmy Stubbins ? "
" Why no ; not exactly. But then I have
long known something about him ; and, as you
and father say, have so long been accustomed to
feel for him, and to make him small presents,
that I seem almost to know him."
" Then it seems that taking an interest in one
who is at first a stranger, and proceeding to try
to do him good, deepens your interest in him,
and disposes you to do him more good. It
even seems to increase your attachment to
him. There was a time when you knew no
more and cared no more for Jemmy Stubbins

THE BOX OF CLOTHING. 127
than you now do for some little negro boy in
Africa. Now suppose, upon the strength of
what you already know of the heathen children
of Africa, you were to begin to do something
for
them from time to time, how do you know but
you might, in the end, come to be as much
interested in them as you now are in Jemmy
Stubbins?"
" The two cases are different, I think, mother.
However,
if you think it best, and there is any
thing I can do for the African children, I will
make a beginning."
" Not unless you desire to, Henry. I do not
wish you to do anything of the kind to please
me, especially to-day. I wish, as you well know,
to have you act out your own judgment
matter."
in the

128 HENRT'S BIRTHDAY.
" I have a pair of mittens, mother, that I have
outgrown, and yet they are not worn out. They
might do, for aught I know ; and yet, after all, I
do not suppose they use mittens much in Africa."
"Not very much, I suppose. Have you no
other little articles of dress that you can spare
besides the mittens ? "
" As to that, I think you are the best judge,
mother."
" Yes, in one point of view I am, and so I
furnish you with just what I think will be useful
to you and nothing more. Still, if you should
choose to do without some article which is worn
for mere appearance or fashion, but which does
not promote your health or do you any real good,
for the sake of doing good to other people, — in
Africa or elsewhere, —I should not object. I

THE BOX OF CLOTHING. 129
would only say, Consider well what you do—
whether you prefer the pleasure which will re
sult from doing the good at which you aim, or
that pleasure which you have in keeping the
article and using it. It will frequently happen,
by the way, that an article of dress which you
use for mere fashion's sake would not be really
useful to others."
Henry's interest was increased in the African
missions, and he was glad to hear about them;
but he was desirous of thinking on the subject
a little longer before he sent anything, and his
mother was willing, and even anxious, on the
whole, that he should do so. The cause of
missions, like other causes founded in truth and
duty, never loses anything by having people in
vestigate it.
9

130 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS.
Henry had nearly completed his day's work of
doing good; and though he had not in every
particular gone in accordance with his first in
tention, he had, in some respects, done more
than he either intended or expected. On the
whole he was pretty well satisfied in the review.
And yet the day was not over. It was half
an hour before the time for supper to be on the
table. "I might do something more," said he,
"for the persons who are around me, for there
is not time to go abroad very far." But his father
and mother, and the rest of the family, were

THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 131
busily employed, and it was not easy at first to
see how he could do anything for them.
At that very moment he heard the kitten's
voice. She was mewing, as he supposed, for
her evening meal. But whether so or not, her
voice reminded him that there were domestic
creatures of several kinds around him. There
were, besides the kitten, fourteen
or fifteen hens
and chickens, and a swarm of "
bees. Can I do
anything," said he to
" "
himself, for these ?
He did not confer with any one on the sub
ject, for fear he should be laughed
he would have been.
at, as probably
The merciful man is mer
ciful to his beast, and Mr. Williams and his
family had long been kind and merciful; but
they never, to this hour, had thought much about
showing them special or extra acts of kindness.

132 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
" I could feed Kitty," said he to himself,
" but
that would have no good effect except to make
her cry after me at another time. I will leave
her, as usual, to my sister. She will attend to
all her wants in a few minutes
more."
His thoughts turned next to the chickens.
As the family lived near to neighbors whose
gardens would be exposed to depredations, it
had been found necessary, for several weeks
past, to shut up the hens.
It was hot weather, and their quarters were
rather narrow ; and yet Mr. Williams had done
the best he could afford for their accommodation.
He had built a neat little house for them in the
shade ; it was nearly thirty feet long, and five
or six wide.
The sides were of strips of board,
very narrow, with crevices between them as

THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 133
large as they could be and not let the hens es
cape through them.
One end of this long crib or house was, for a
little way along, neatly boarded both at the sides
and top, and so contrived as to give the hens at
once a comfortable resting or roosting place, and
a place to deposit their eggs. The chamber for
their nests , was furnished with straw and other
soft materials, such as hens are pleased with for
these purposes.
Two or three times a-day they were fed either
with corn or boiled potatoes, and once a-day
they were watered. For the latter purpose they
had a long wooden trough which Henry had dug
out of a log, somewhat after the manner of the
old-fashioned log-canoes of the Indians, only, of
course, much smaller. The ground formed their

134 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
floor, for Mr. Williams
did not think it either use
ful or desirable to build one.
to get at the ground,
Barn-yard fowls love
especially in hot weather.
In short, the hens had a very good house. It
was as spacious as could well be expected ; it
was light and airy, and it was cool and agreeable.
It was also retired, and sufficiently sheltered
from the storms. Still it was a cage or prison.
The hens did as well as they could when they
were confined to it ; but if let out occasionally,
they would show their great joy, as well as
their
love of freedom, by snatching the green grass,
and everything else they could, as well as by
running this way and that, all around the dooryard
and house-lot, and all over the. adjoining
fields and woods.
Sometimes, to gratify as well as to benefit

THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 135
them, the children used to carry them grass of
various kinds, particularly clover and sorrel.
did the hens good, but it did the children a still
greater good, by contributing to the happiness
even of fowls.
Some might say, just at this point, that it
would have done the children at
It
Mr. Williams's
still more good had they expended the same
amount
of time on some family of poor children.
This remark would probably be just ;
but where
were the poor children ? They were not, as it
happened, in their immediate neighborhood. At
least there were none so near that they could run
and see them, at odd moments, between their
lessons, labor-tasks, &c. What, then, could they
do better than to spend their odd moments on the
chickens ?

136 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
As I was going to tell you, Henry, as soon as
he thought of the hens, ran out, seized the
large grass-scissors, and went to cutting up
clover. It was beautifully blossomed and very
sweet. " I will make one present more to-day,"
said he. "The hens shall have a good supply
of clover."
At the close of such a long summer-day, and
after a pretty long abstinence from everything
of the kind— for they had received none but dry
food for several days — the hens seized and de
voured certain portions of the grass with as much
eagerness as though they were half-starved. I
do not know that hens are susceptible of feel
ings of gratitude; but were it so, one might
have thought they were grateful to Henry for
his birthday present.

THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 137
While Henry was giving clover and sorrel to
the chickens he thought of the bees. A strag
gling swarm — perhaps from the woods — had
alighted on the house-top a few days before,
and Mr. Williams and Henry, with help enough
from the neighbors, had procured a hive and
taken care of them, and they now appeared to
be quiet and contented, and doing well.
It was the white and red clover that made
Henry think of the bees. These, particularly
the former, abound in honey, and the bees are
ever and anon alighting upon
it,
and sucking out
its rich juices. Henry thought to give them
treat, too, before he went into the house. So
he gathered as much clover as he could carry
in his arms, and put
it
a
around the hive on
the ground, expecting the bees would come and

138 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
revel in it ; but no bees came. Either they were
too intent on doing their work in their own
way to notice Henry's proceedings, or it was
rather too late in the day for them to work much.
Seeing there was no probability of their alight
ing upon it that evening, and justly supposing
it would be likely to wither and lose much of
its sweetness before morning, he gathered it up
in his arms
and gave it to the hens.
The supper hour had now arrived. I have
said all along the supper hour ; because, though
this evening meal usually has another name, it
was called simply supper at Mr. Williams's.
They drank water, and not tea; and Mrs.
Williams had always been accustomed to call
things by their right names.

JUVENILE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. 139
CHAPTER XX.
JUVENILE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES.
The conversation at the supper-table was on va
rious topics. Generally, however, things were
so managed by Mrs. Williams as to give an
improving tone and tendency to everything.
Her heart was very much interested in the
course Henry had taken that day, and yet she
did not wish to do or say anything which would
be likely to inflate him with pride, or fill him
with vanity. Boys are very susceptible on these
points, and Henry, excellent as he was in his
character, had yet within him a fallen human
nature.

140 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
After supper they went into the sitting-room.
The evenings were now very short, but there
was usually time for a little social meeting of the
family. I do not mean a meeting at which any
formalities were observed. It was a meeting for
free, unrestrained, and familiar conversation.

JUVENILE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. 141
Mr. Williams spoke first :
" Well, Henry," said
he, " how did you get on to-day in doing nothing ? "
Henry smiled ; Mr. Williams and the rest
laughed too, for they knew he intended it as a
joke.
They all knew — the little children among
the rest — that Henry had not toiled harder a
single day that summer.
" Well, then," said Mr. Williams, as soon as
the effects
of the joke were over, " how did you
get on with your work of giving presents and
doing good ? "
" First rate," said Henry.
" First rate !
" said his father :
" what a curi
ous expression that is ! I have indeed heard it
before,
but I was not aware it had found its way
into our house.
or ' "
nicely.'
The word used to be ' very well,'

142 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
" 0 yes," said Mrs. Williams,
" I have heard it
several times of late among the children.
I do not know, husband, — fashions
matter as well as in dress, — perhaps first
Well,
alter in this
rate is
as good as nicely when we once get used to it.
Fashion is everything, you know, or almost
everything."
" To me, however," said Mr. Williams,
" there
is a something about it which is unpleasant — a
kind of coarseness, if I may be allowed the ex
pression — a kind of ale-house or bar-room charac
ter.
But you, Henry, know nothing, of course,
about bar-room character, having had no oppor
tunities for observation.
But suppose you should
tell us over a little what you have really done.
In the first place, however, — for that is a very
important point, — have you suited yourself?

JUVENILE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. 143
Have you come up to the standard you set up
for yourself in the morning ? "
Mr. Williams had always been a great friend
of the Pythagorean plan — that of training the
young to a constant habit of daily review.
The
Pythagoreans used to run thrice over in their
minds, at evening, the actions of the day, in
order to discover wherein any improvements
could be made upon it during the next day.
But excellent
as the plan was in Mr. Williams's
estimation, and worthy as he deemed it to be of
adoption into Christian families, he had never
fully succeeded in adopting it into his own.
A certain stiffness about it— a certain school
character— had prevented its being popular
among the children.
They loved freedom at the
winding up of the day, after its toils and its lessons

144 HENBY'S BIRTHDAY.
were over; but here, in his inquiry of Henry,
he was closely approximating the Pythagorean
plan again.
Henry blushed a little when the inquiry was
made about what he had done, and his father
was glad of it. He believed it was a good sign
to blush :
" The man who blushes is not quite a
brute," said the poet ;
and of the boy that blushes,
let him be ever so bad in some particulars,
there
is still hope.
And then, on the other hand, the
boy that blushes is not wholly filled with selfesteem
;
he
is,
as yet, susceptible of being amend
ed and improved.
Henry, after
a
little hesitation, modestly owned
he had not come quite up to his own standard in
some
things
" But then
:
I
I" several things
have done," said he,
did not expect to do when
I

JUVENILE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. 145
set out ; so that, on the whole, I am pretty well
satisfied."
At his father's special request, he gave a short
history of his day's labor.
He told about writing
the two letters — about giving away a book to
Samuel and another to the Sabbath-school library
— and about giving out the tracts. When he
came to tell how the workmen at the factory
tried to make fun of him, Mr. Williams, who
seldom more than smiled, — so seldom that many
people had said they believed he did not know
how to laugh heartily,— burst into quite a loud
laugh, and could hardly restrain himself.
Here Henry was embarrassed, and was almost
ready to regard himself as in fault about it.
father attempted
His
to apologize, and to say that he
was not laughing at anything which was out of
10

146 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
the way at all ; but he could hardly restrain his
feelings, and keep his face in sober shape long
enough to do so.
" Well, Henry," he at length said, when he
could restrain himself long enough,
" You had
quite an adventure at the factory ; but it will do
you good. It seems you did not get angry or
irritable— that was right. But shall I tell you
what made me laugh so ? It reminded me of an
anecdote in my own history. Old men, as you
know, are famous for telling what they have done
and seen. I was once traveling somewhere be
tween Buffalo and Albany, when I came to a
village which was chiefly occupied by ignorant
people, and among them many intemperate per
sons. It was just at the close of a thunder
shower, and the men and boys, having little to

JUVENILE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. 147
do,— they were farmers, and it was haying-time,
— were gathered together in groups, talking and
making fun for one another. As I passed one of
the groups a stout, stalwart, but ugly-looking
man called out to me, saying, 'Halloo there,
friend ! Have you got any potash-kettles to
sell?*
" You will learn, as you go through the world,
that there are a great many silly people in it.
And I hope,
too, you will learn another lesson in
connection with this. We are told by high
authority, 'Fret not thyself because of evil
doers.'
You will learn, I trust, to give heed to
this excellent admonition. But now, Henry," he
"
added, you will please proceed with your re
port."
Henry went over briefly with the story of his

148 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
visit to Mrs. Fenton's — of the thimbleberries —
of his calling to inquire about the sick boy — of
sending to Mrs. Starr a bouquet — and of the
plan which had been laid to do something for
Jemmy Stubbins. He mentioned, too, — just
mentioned, — the conversation
he and his mother
had about sending clothing to Africa ; and he
went very particularly into an account
of what
he had done for the fowls.
I hardly need say that Mr. Williams was well
pleased with the report, for how could it be
otherwise ? Even the younger members of the
family heard it with their eyes and mouths all
open. Sarah said,
" Why, mother, Henry is be
"
come quite a young missionary !
Mrs. Williams said, in reply, that she hardly
knew whether he was most of a missionary or a
i . .

JUVENILE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. 149
colporteur. He had not only been doing good
in various other ways, but he had been scattering
books and tracts.
Mr. Williams said he supposed the name made
very little difference. He had done some good.
He had done good a great many times ; but
he had never before given up a whole day to
doing good, and it was a grave question now
how he liked it.
Henry did not say much ; but actions, which
often speak louder than words, proclaimed the
joyful feelings of his heart. He was most evi
dently receiving a part of his reward in the
consciousness that he had done something for
others.
The conversation soon turned on other sub
jects ; but, before the little ones began to be

150 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
tired, Mr. Williams asked Henry what he had
known or thought about juvenile missions; "or,
to speak more properly," said he, " what do you
know about juvenile missionary societies ? "
Henry said he knew nothing about them,
other than that they sometimes had them in the
country round about.
" But I believe," said he,
u they have none very near us."
" They are just now forming one," said Mr.
Williams,
" at the Corner." (The " Corner" was
the principal village in the township where they
"
resided.) Would you like to join it "
?
Before Henry had time to reply, his mother
observed that she had heard of this movement
several days before, and had spoken of it in
Henry's hearing ;
but as he was not so well pre
pared to take an interest in such things then as

JUVENILE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. 151
now, she supposed that either he did not paymuch
attention to what she said, or did not re
member it.
Henry said he should like to become a mem
ber of it very much, though he did not know, as
yet, what they had to do as members. "Do
they pay money " ? said
"
he, or do they only
meet, and talk, and pray on the subject "
?
" They do both, I believe," said Mr. Williams.
" However, their contributions are but small.
Their great leading purpose is to awaken interest
in behalf of the heathen world. Some, by con
versing and praying over the subject,
to read more about
about
save
it
at
home
it,
will be led
and perhaps to pray more
;others will be induced to
the money which they now spend for mere
trifles, and send
it
away to help convert the

152 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
world. They are to meet, as I understand
it,
the second Monday evening of each month in the
vestry. If you desire you may attend. Per
it
haps, instead of reserving all your benevolence
during the year till your next birthday, you will
find
a
it
well to lay aside something every week as
systematic missionary contribution."
The evening religious exercises of the family
now followed, after which the children— all but
Henry and Sarah— retired to rest immediately.
It was little past eight o'clock. Mr. Williams
advised Henry to go to
"
bed For," said he,
a
you are very much fatigued I"
am sure."
Henry did not feel much fatigue —
:
it
was
natural that he should not ;he was somewhat
elated, and his nerves over-excited. However,
he was accustomed to regard his father's advice

JUVENILE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. 153
that he should
do a thing as equivalent to a com
mand.
Henry and Sarah then bade their parents
good-night,
to their own reflections.
and Mr. and Mrs. Williams were left
Mrs. Williams was not disappointed
in the re
sult of the experiment, but Mr. Williams was
very much disappointed. The disappointment,
however, was in the right direction — he was
agreeably disappointed. He had never before
understood so clearly one trait in human nature, —
that doing good awakens an interest in things
around us, and even doubles the value of our
own existence.

154 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
CONCLUDING
CHAPTER XXI.
REFLECTIONS.
" Henry is very much interested in this new way
of keeping his birthday," said Mrs. Williams, as
soon as the children had retired ;
" and I am not
without the hope that it will produce a lasting
effect on his
character."
" Neither ami," said Mr. Williams ;
" and yet
I am not disposed to be very sanguine in my ex
pectations.
Children are fond of new things, and
new modes of doing the same thing.
The novelty
of the experiment of to-day has added to its
charms. We shall know better this time next
year how much he is permanently changed."

CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. 155
" I do not think," said Mrs. Williams, " he can
ever entirely lose the impression
which has been
made on his mind and heart by the circumstances
and scenes of to-day, although I am well aware
of the power
and charms of that love of novelty
in the young of which you have been speaking ;
and, although much allowance must be made on
several accounts, I have not a doubt that he will
feel very differently from what he formerly did
on the recurrence of another birthday."
" In any event," said Mr. Williams,
" an im
pulse is given to a new life— a missionary tend
ency is given. He may never be a missionary
in distant lands ; this is not my meaning, as you
know, when I speak of these things. A true
missionary, in my view, is a Christian, living
and acting on Christian principles. Whether at

156 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
home or abroad, he is one who feels that his
whole business in this world is to spread the
Gospel.
"I do not indeed suppose that the labors of
to-day, in themselves considered, are worth much ;
but, taken with other things and other influences,
I hope for much from them.
"His distant relatives and friends will, of
course, continue to have a place in his mind and
heart ;
and so also will the sick— those who are
struggling with poverty — those who are aged
and infirm— those who are at home, and those
who are abroad. Whenever, in reading or con
versation, any of these are called up, his sym
pathies will begin to vibrate in the right direc
tion— the direction of Christianity.
"But the reward will be immediate as well

CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. 157
as remote— in himself as well as out of himself.
When he goes to his labors to-morrow he will
go to them with more of activity and energy —
aye, and zeal too— than ever before. The world
will look brighter to him than it ever did before ;
and the impulse will not, as I believe, be fully
lost when another birthday arrives."
" I hope not," said Mrs. Williams ; "for I trust
other intervening days of doing good will con
tribute to swell the same little stream which
is already beginning to flow."
" Yes ; but, independent of other and subse
quent cooperating influences, I do not believe,
my dear," resumed Mr. Williams, "that the
whole will or can be lost. But then I hope that
intervening days — such as the Christmas holi
days, the new year, the thanksgiving festival,
&c.

158 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
— will contribute, as you suggest, to the same
general purpose.
" And then I would fain hope," he continued,
"that his example will have influence. In the
first place, I hope it will influence you and me,
and encourage us to pursue the same general
course we have so long ago marked out for our
selves, and in general have followed. I hope his
example will be followed,
too, by the rest of the
family.
"We must exert ourselves to train our chil
dren, in the first place,
to depend on themselves
rather than others. They must be accustomed,
as much as possible, to help themselves, rather
than be helped by mothers, brothers, sisters, or
domestics. That child is making but a poor
preparation to become a missionary abroad, who

CONCLUDING EEFLECTIONS. 159
has not learned to seek to do all the good he can
at home.
To train up a child to find his highest
happiness in seeking to do all the good he can,
first to and for his relations, and next to every
body else within his reaoh, is the first step, in
the order of things, toward converting the world
and hastening the latter-day glory.
" Our Saviour, who went about doing good,
must be our great pattern. Would we promote
our own best interests, or those of our fellow-men,
we must seek to follow, and teach our children
to follow, in his steps."
THE
END.