CHILDREN'S STORIES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2423, 21 January 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

CHILDREN'S STORIES.

GIVING UP.

Some lessons which are the hurrtost. to lfiiirn are most blessed nrirl useful when they lire learnt, A little girl named Bertha Davis knows this so well that if you were to till: to her ahout it, she would convince you of its truth. Bertha has no brothers and sisters ; her mother is very fond of her, and so is her father. Ijiifc then all parents love their children. Only as Bertha is the only one perhaps they in.ike rather morn of her than if them were a large family. In some respects it may be very delightful to bn the only child, but for other reasons it is fiir better to be on > of many. Bertha was, on the whole, quite as jrood as most little girls. Shu strove lo do what wiis ri>jht. Her mother had taught her very carefully, and she read in Mod's Word what a child <ra<dit to be. She knew that it was wrong to steal and get p is.iionat.e, and she was honest and good tempered. She never told a fulsfihood. Her mother believed everv word that Bertha said. And she was obedient and obliging. Her face was not spoiled liv boiiiff puckered up into frowns, and her voice did not sound harsh and unpleasant because she was quarrelling. Generally her face was a pretty because she was smiling, and her voice was sweet to lienv because she was so often singing , . Her mother had taught her that little <rirls should be self-con-trolled, and cheerful, and kind, aud Bertha proved an apt scholar. But the lesson which her mother did not teach her was how to give up. In Bert In'a home indeed there was no one to whom it was necessary to give up. She was, as you know already, the only child. Of course all the toys that came to the house wore for her. And because she was so pleasant and good, visitors and friends often brought other tilings besides toys, all of which came to Bertha. I do not think that she was naturally a selfish child, but she was in a little clanger of becoming so from the very circumstances of her life. It seemed only right and natural that she should accept 'and keep all the good things which were brought to her. Now there are few things more unlovely than a selfish child. It would certainly have spoiled Bertha hud she become one. And so it was a good thing that she was invited to pay a visit to an aunt who had nine children. "lam so glad to go, mamma. I shall ')?. so happy," said Bertha, as she wished her mother good-bye. Wuly the next day, remembering her own words, she felt sis if she would be a great .li;>l more glad to go homo than she had ever bsen to como. The evening on which she arrived she was happy enough, AH the nine cousins came thronging around to pay her loving .attentions. They had heard of Bertha, aud were prepared to like her from the first, and she was not shy or cold. " It ia a good thing to have plenty of cousins. " I wish everybody had nine," she said, laughing. " People do Dot always oaro so very much for cousins as to want nine of them," said one of the boys. " Perhaps all have not such good ones as mine are," said Beilha. " You may alter your mind about us when you know us better." The next day Bertha did know them better. The boys were uot quite as chivalrous as they had been afc first, and the girls soon found that there were other things to attend to besides Cousin Bertha, One of the girls brought a beautiful doll. Bertha at once, without thinking, held out her arms for it. It did not occur to her that Miss Dolly might he iutondod for some one olse. But she was. '• Do you waut my doll, Cousin Bertha ? I brought hei' out for Louisa. I promissed her that she .should have the doll for a whole morninir becnue she did something the other day for ma." L-iiii.se received the doll, and did uot offer it to her cousin. Burhliu was not angry, nor even very much di.-appwiiited ; but she felt rather surprised, and that made her quiet. That afternoon a book was brought homo, aud laid upon the table. I "Oh, delightful ! " said Bertha. "I have so longed to read this. lam f»lad to have it. I shall not want to biy it down until it is finishad." Bertha's cousins looked at each other in surprise and umii^eineut. Pre.-ently one of them spoke. " Bertha, that book is not for you. It was bought on purpose for Annie, aud of course you cannot read it until .-he lends it to you. She has been wishing forit for a loim time too." Bertha saw what she had done in a moment, The colour Hashed into her fuce, and I am not sure but that the tears came into her eyes, She laid the book down again. " I beg your pardon," she said ; " I did not think of what I was doing." " Oh, never mind," said Anne ; " you read it first, Cousin. Bertha ; I am quiet willing to wait." " No, thank you. j would rather you read it first," said Bertha. She was very much pained, not because of what her cousin had said, but because she had been so thoughtless. She was vexed with herself and very miserable, and that was why she wished herself at home. That night, after she went to bed, she thought it all over. I have grown into the habit of expecting that everything is for me," she said. " And what a seltish, d.sagrpeable girl I must be." But indeed she was not. For when she saw her failing she resolved to alter it. The next morning she frankly tokl her cousins how it was. " I took up the book because I really had not thought that anyone else wauted it. I feel quite ashamed of myself." '"Oh, you need not, Bertha, it was only natural; hut if you are here long you will have plenty of opportunities to learn the art of giving up, "said one of the boys. And she had. And although it was not always pleasnut, Bartlia'a yood sensts and right feeling helped her, and she was always glad in her after life that she had learnt the lesson, although it was a little disagreeable.