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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 !