book2

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