GEORGE HANSON’S uncle had given him a shilling; and George, like most boys, felt very anxious to spend it. But, among his many wants, he found it a hard matter to decide upon which to gratify. If it had been a half-crown instead of a shilling, the difficulty would have been lessened, for then George could have supplied at least half a dozen wants. But it was only a shilling.
He stood at the window, looking out upon the passengers who were going quickly by, the frosty air of December giving lightness to many a step that, in a milder day, would have been less hurriedly taken. While standing here, his mind half made up to gratify his love of cakes and oranges by a whole shilling’s worth, a man went by with some pretty little glass toys in a box, which he held up to the window, and asked if he did not want to buy some.
George beckoned to the man to stop, and then ran to the front door. The man was a glass-blower, and had manufactured some handsome birds, and sheep, and deer, from white glass, which looked, certainly, curious and beautiful.
“How much is this?” asked George, pointing to a bird of paradise.
“Eighteen-pence.”
“But I’ve only got a shilling,” returned George.
“Well, here’s a robin redbreast for a shilling; and here’s a deer, and a sheep. All these on this side are a shilling.”
But George liked the bird of paradise best of all, and couldn’t think of taking anything else.
While the man stood trying to persuade him to buy one of the birds that were sold for a shilling, George looked up and saw going by a poor old man, who was bent with age. He led a little girl by the hand, who appeared to shrink in the cold. The old man looked sick and feeble, and very poor.
“They shall have my shilling!” exclaimed George, speaking from a sudden impulse; and he stepped forward, and placing the coin in the old man’s hand, said, as he did so,—
“I was just going to spend this for a little glass toy that would be broken in a day. But I want it put to a better use. Take it, and buy something for your little girl.”
The poor old man stopped, and said, with a look of surprise and pleasure as he received the coin,—
“Thank you, my young master! This will give my little Alice a nice bowl of bread and milk for her supper and breakfast. She will think of you with a grateful heart while she eats them.”
“Well done, my good boy!” said the glass-blower, as the old man went on his way. “That poor little girl’s bread and milk will taste sweet to her to-night. And as a reward for your generous self-denial, here is the bird of paradise that has pleased you so much: take it.”
But George drew back, and said he hardly thought that would be right.
“Why not, I wonder?” returned the man. “Am I to be outdone in generosity by a boy? Take it, and whenever you look upon it let it teach you this lesson—that it is more blessed to give than to receive; for I am sure the thought of the good done to the old man and the little girl will be more pleasant to you than the thought of possessing this pretty toy.”
And so it was. The toy pleased for a short time only, but the thought of the little girl who had been made happy by his shilling never passed through his mind without giving him pleasure.
