Читать книгу The Child's Favorite - a gift for the young - Anonymous - Страница 5

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Little Annie Marsden, was the only child of rich parents. Her mother was a pious lady, and sought to instil into the mind of her daughter those principles of Christian humility and self-denial, which are necessary to our being useful and contented in this world, and happy in the world to come. But her efforts were in a great measure rendered vain by the children with whom Annie was permitted to associate, and the servants into whose care she was frequently thrown, by the occasional illness of her mother. She was often told that she was rich, and destined to be a great heiress; that she must not take notice of this or that person, because they were her inferiors; and, in short, she was made to believe that she was a person of great consequence, and entitled to look down upon others with contempt. This was unfortunate; for her natural disposition was good, and only such influence could have turned her little head and made her see things in a wrong light. Things at last came to such a pass that she thought only rich people were fit to be spoken to, and a mean or coarse dress was, in her opinion, a mark of degradation.

One day, when the family was passing the summer at their beautiful country seat on the Delaware, not far from Philadelphia, an honest farmer, who lived in the neighbourhood, brought a supply of butter for the family, and seeing the little girl, who was very beautiful, sporting on the lawn in front of the house, resolved to gratify her by making her a little present. Accordingly, on his next visit to the house, he brought her a basket of fine cherries, and offered them to her himself as soon as he saw her playing on the green. The little lady, instead of evincing any gratification at this mark of good will, refused to accept the offered gift, telling the farmer that it was not for her to accept of presents from such as he—that her father was able to buy her all the cherries she wanted, and that he had better give them to some poor person.

The good farmer was more amused than affronted, at the petulance of the spoiled child, and merely said that she would probably live long enough to learn the value of a poor man's good will.

The very next day Annie was playing in the garden, at the foot of which ran a deep brook, crossed by a rustic bridge, and emptying into the Delaware. In the midst of her play she saw some beautiful pond lilies raising their modest head and diffusing their sweet fragrance over the waters of the brook. She knew the flowers well; for she had often been presented with similar ones; and she longed to obtain one of them. Indeed such was her impatience to possess one that, without waiting to call one of the servants, she seized a garden rake, which was lying in one of the gravelled walks, ran down to the steep banks of the brook, and reached out into the water to gather one. She was so far successful as to reach the flower and attach the rake to it; but in her eagerness to pull it towards her she lost her balance, and plunged headlong into the brook. When, after the first plunge, her head came up out of the water, she uttered a piercing shriek for help. But she speedily sunk again, and would, undoubtedly, have been drowned, if her first cry had not caught the ear of a farmer, who was crossing an adjoining field, and who ran to her assistance, caught her in his arms, and, by laying hold of a tree near the bank, soon succeeded in bringing her safely to land.

She was carried into the house quite insensible, and was ill for several days after from the effects of the cold water and the fright. Her pious mother, in the mean time, had sought to impress upon her mind the duty of humble thankfulness which she owed to her Creator, for having rescued her from a watery grave, and having thus, a second time, blessed her with the gift of life. Nor did she fail to impress upon her mind the debt of gratitude which she owed to the worthy farmer, who had so promptly come to her assistance; and when Annie was sufficiently recovered to see him her mother invited Mr. Gray to come into the drawing-room, where she lay, still weak and feeble, upon the sofa, in order that he might see her and receive her thanks in person.

But Mr. Gray made light of the matter, said it was of no consequence; it was a matter of course; it was no more than he would have done for any child, or any human being in the same circumstances. So it was not till Annie was fully recovered that she saw the man who had saved her life; and then it was by accident. She was sitting with her mother in the parlour, when Mr. Gray came in to receive his pay for some butter, and then the poor girl had the mortification to learn that he who had been instrumental in preserving her, was no other than the very man whom she had so grossly insulted by refusing his little present.

She thanked him, however, very fervently, and with a really humbled spirit. Mr. Gray, worthy man, was somewhat embarrassed at her emotion; but still he retained self-possession enough to say,

"My dear little lady, the service which I was so fortunate as to render you, cost me but a very trifling exertion, and I really think it of no importance so far as I am concerned; but it may be further useful to you by causing you to remember that what I said to you before is very true—that the good will even of a poor man is worth something."

When he was gone, Annie's mother said to her: "My dear child, the Scripture commands us to 'honour all men.' In every one there is something worthy of respect and reverence. All are from God's creating hand. All should be treated with Christian courtesy. Politeness is due even to the humblest; and those who are too proud to be polite, should remember that pride will have a fall sooner or later."

It was fortunate for Annie that her pride had a fall so early in life; for she was at once and for ever cured of this fault.