Daniel Wise

“ Here Jessie leaned over and began to explore the tangled depths of her work-basket. It was a complete olio. Old letters, pieces of silk, velvet, linen, and woollen, scraps of paper, leaves of books, old cords and rusty tassels, spools of cotton, skeins of thread and knots,—in short, almost every thing that could by any sort of chance, or mischance, get into a young lady’s work-basket, was there in rare confusion. ”

“ If not, you can make smiles serve for sunbeams, and gentle words will do for gold.”
“It makes me so happy to be kind, aunt Amy, I think I shall try to be so always,” said Minnie.
“Do, my dear child, and be kind to every one with whom you have to do.”
“I must speak kindly to my enemies, too, mustn’t I, aunt [63] ?”
“Yes, Minnie, you must; for so Christ has taught us, you know. And there is nothing like kindness to change enemies into friends. It melts away their enmity when they see us returning their evil with good.” ”

“ Now poor Madge can stay here!”
“Why, Jessie, you surprise me,” said Mrs. Carlton. “Is it any thing to be glad about, that a little girl has lost her mother?”
With a blush mantling her cheek: the little girl exclaimed—
“Her mother is a wicked woman, Ma, and don’t make her happy, nor teach her to be good. If Madge has lost her, and you let her live with us and be a mother to her, she will be a good deal better off, and much happier than she could be with her own mother.”
“Spoken like a philosopher!” exclaimed Uncle Morris. ”

“ But Minnie's trials were not all over. Children have their troubles all through childhood. Indeed, trouble is like an evil genius, who visits all parts of the world, peeps in at every house, sits at every table, and meddles with every body. You need not wonder, therefore, that Minnie, good and gentle though she was, had frequent trials.
This new trial was caused by Lillia. Fanny, Rhoda, and Jeannie had told that selfish girl about Minnie's swing, and the fine time they had enjoyed with her. ”

“ But I shall be most pleased to think we have not spent the day entirely for ourselves. Our tracts to those men may do them great good. They may be as sunbeams to light them on the way to heaven. Isn’t that the most pleasing thought of the day, Minnie?”
“Yes, aunt; but do you think tracts are always sunbeams to those who receive them?”
“No, Minnie, by no means. Many persons get no good from them at all. But thousands have been greatly benefited by them. We must hope and pray that ours will prove to be as good [46] seed sown on good soil. ”

“ Emily was about to strike back, but Jessie stepped between them, and separating them, said:
“O Emily! don’t strike your brother! It’s so wicked, you know, for brothers and sisters to fight.” Then turning to Charlie, she added, “Don’t you know how mean it is for a boy to strike a girl? Boys should protect girls, and not beat them. If you hit Emily again, I shall not be able to love you any more.” ”

“ Many times during that day Minnie sprang up from her chair, held up her work, and cried aloud, with a glad heart,—
“O aunt Amy! won’t Kate be happy when we dress her up in this nice frock? It makes me joyful to think of it.”
“That will depend upon the state of her heart, Minnie. Clothing may make her comfortable; but it takes something else to make either children or grown people happy besides clothes. If Kate seeks to be good, loving her Savior, she will be happy indeed. ”

“ The purpose of the “Glen Morris Stories” is to sow the seed of pure, noble, manly character in the mind of our great nation’s childhood. They exhibit the virtues and vices of childhood, not in prosy, unreadable precepts, but in a series of characters which move before the imagination as living beings do before the senses. Thus access to the heart is won by way of the imagination. While the story charms, the truth sows itself in the conscience and in the affections. The child is thereby led to abhor the false and the vile, and to sympathize with the right, the beautiful, and the true. ”

“ Yet they passed away as days always will, and Christmas night arrived at last.
There were great doings at Minnie Brown's that night. The sun had hardly set, before a bevy of boys and girls, Minnie's invited guests, began to arrive. Uncles and aunts, and bright [58] -eyed cousins, from the neighboring town, had arrived in the afternoon. And now the back parlor was pretty well filled; and such a good-natured buzzing, laughing, and chatting as were heard there, it would do your heart good to hear again; for the voices sounded like music—the music of happy hearts. ”

“ I used to think a little girl, like me, could not do much good. You have taught me that I may.”
“I am glad to see you so willing to learn, Minnie. I hope you will try to practise the precious lesson after I return home. Whatever your lot in life may be, you must always try to be a sunbeam to others. I know a poor old lady who is so lame she cannot leave her house; yet she not only makes every one happy who comes near to her, but she contrives to give a handsome little sum of money every year to benevolent objects.”
[61] “How can she do so, aunt, if she is poor?” ”

“ You expected her, poor thing, to behave like an angel, for your sake. Instead of that, she has, at times, let her evil nature and her bad habits break out, in a way to give you trouble and pain, and to cause you to feel disappointment. Are not these things so, my sweet little puss?”
“Yes, Sir. But—but ought not poor people to be grateful and obedient to those who help them?” asked Jessie, who, though she began to perceive that a regard for her own pleasure had been mixed with the kindness to Madge, was not quite ready to plead guilty to her good uncle’s charge. ”

“ I mean trials, Minnie. When you are ill used by a schoolmate, and are tempted to be revengeful, you are tried as the tree is tried by a storm. If you remain patient and loving under the trial, you are benefited by it, and will be more likely to endure the next trial you meet. Thus all your little storms, or trials, will be for your good. ”

“ Button is a passionate woman; and they say that Kate swears when Bill Boaster teases her. So I thought you would not choose to call at the house of such a woman.”
“Perhaps it may not be pleasant, Minnie. But the more wretched these poor creatures are, the greater is their need of aid and counsel. Come, let us walk over and see the poor woman; who knows but that we may be as sunbeams to a dark and desolate spirit?”
“As sunbeams, aunt! How can we be sunbeams?” asked Minnie, as she walked along with her aunt towards the cottage. ”

“ I could almost wish myself a child again for the sake of tasting that fresh, perfect, unmixed delight which welled up from Jessie’s heart on the afternoon of that clear December day. First came the play of coasting. Taking her on his sled—“The Never-say-die”—Guy drew her to the lane near Mr. Sherwood’s cottage and amused her until the merry sleigh-bells caused her to turn round. Then she saw a splendid sleigh drawn by two noble horses, and driven by a man who, from the way he handled the whip and reins, seemed born to be a coachman. Her mother and Uncle Morris were in the sleigh. ”

“ God to make you strong to suffer, and especially if you do not indulge any harsh feeling against Lillia, it will do you good in the end."
Just then some bright eyes were seen peeping through the railing of the yard. Jeannie had found the other girls, and all three of them had come to tell Minnie they did not believe Lillia. Fanny and Rhoda asked her to forgive them for not speaking to her, and promised not to believe ill of her any more.
Minnie's eyes grew bright now. The storm was over, and the sun shone in her heart as brightly as ever. Good, kind, gentle Minnie! ”

“ The days seemed very long to the little girl during the next week. Old Time always seems to move slowly when any one wishes him to quicken his pace. But, like all other days, they were gone at last; and when the time drew near for aunt Amy’s arrival, Minnie took her work and sat down by the parlor window. I don’t think she did much work, however, for every sound which fell on her ear caused her to raise her head and look down the street to see if her aunt’s carriage was coming. ”

“ On a bright afternoon of a warm day in October, Jessie Carlton sat in the parlor of Glen Morris Cottage. Her elbows rested on the table, her face was held between her two plump little hands, and her eyes were feasting on some charming pictures which were spread out before her. A pretty little work-basket stood on a chair at her side. It contained several yards of rumpled patchwork, two pieces of broadcloth with figures partially worked on them as if they were intended for a pair of slippers, a watch-pocket half finished, and a small piece of silk composed of very little squares. ”

“ Minnie and her aunt now left the cottage. The little girl had learned a lesson, by what she had seen, which she did not soon forget. Her gentle nature was charmed by the love her aunt had shown to the poor woman. After walking in silence a while, she said,—
“Aunt Amy, I guess you are the brightest sunbeam that ever entered Mrs. Button’s cottage! Why, her pale face brightened up and looked almost cheerful before you left.”
“You see, then, Minnie, how little it [29] costs to do good. Our visit has really made the misery of that woman less, and it has done us good. ”

“ The hawk did, indeed, catch my chicken on the day that she was pleased. Do you understand my proverb, now, Jessie?”
“Yes, Uncle, but what shall I do?”
“Do, my child? There is only one way by which any of us can escape from the chains of evil. Confess your sin to God, ask his forgiveness for the Great Shepherd’s sake, and apologize to your friends for giving them pain.” ”

“ But Minnie did not belong to this class of girls. It was not often her mother called her off from her studies. She was a sensible woman; she knew that a parent should not make needless trials for a child. But at this time she was doing something she could not very well leave. Hence she had called Minnie.
Minnie did not like to be called away from her lessons, and was for a moment inclined to feel angry. ”