im split any more with my beetle and wedges."

"That would be one way to treat him," said his mother; "but there is
another thing you might do, if you chose."

"What, mother?" asked Rollo.

"Why, make him a beetle and wedge, for his own."

"Why, mother!" said Rollo, with surprise.

"Yes," said she. "You might make him one. Think how pleased he would be
with it. Then he could sit down with you, and you could both be
splitting together."

"But, seems to me, mother, that that would be rewarding him for being a
naughty boy."

"It would be so, if you were to make him a beetle and wedge, _because he
was a bad boy_; but I proposed that you should make it for another
reason, that is, to _please_ him."

"But perhaps he would _think_ I did it because he ran away with my
knife," said Rollo.

"I don't think there is any danger that he would imagine that you did it
as a reward for that," replied his mother.

Here Rollo paused a moment. He did not feel quite ready to undertake to
make Nathan a beetle and wedges; but he did not know exactly how to
reply to his mother's reasoning. At length he said, in a timid and
hesitating voice,

"But, mother, it seems to me that it would be better to punish Nathan,
rather than reward him, or do any thing which would seem like rewarding
him for acting so."

"That may be true," said his mother. "And it is true, also, that if you
should refuse to let him split wood any more with your wedges, it would
be punishing him; while, on the other hand, if you should make him a
little beetle and wedge of his own, it would be forgiving him. Now I do
not say that he ought not to be punished; but which do you think is
_your_ duty towards him,--you, yourself, being only another child, a few
years older than he,--to punish or to forgive?"

"Why,--to forgive,--I suppose," said Rollo, rather doubtfully.

"I am rather inclined to that opinion, myself," said his mother: "but
you can do just as you please."

Rollo remained some minutes about his mother's chair, not knowing
exactly what to do or say next. He sat down upon the floor, and began to
play with some shreds of cloth which were lying there. Presently, he
looked up and said,

"Mother, what was the reason why you would not let me tell you what was
the matter with Nathan in the kitchen?"

"Because," said she, "he was crying then, and it is no time to learn how
an injury happened, during the excitement of the moment. If you find
Nathan crying o