book2

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withdrawn from the stem on which they grow,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