a little given from a right
motive, and with fervent prayer for the Divine blessing, might
accomplish great things, and would return in mercy upon the head of the
giver. For, said he, (and these words are from the Bible,) 'He that hath
pity upon the poor, _lendeth_ unto the Lord, and that which he hath
given, _will he pay him again_.' And, 'The liberal soul shall be made
fat, and he that watereth, shall _himself be watered_.'"

As the girls went home, they all kept on the side of the road opposite
to Mother Grimes's shop; for the old woman had a bad temper, and a very
loud voice, and they were all afraid of hearing from her if they passed
her shop without stopping to buy something.

"What on earth is the matter with the children?" said old Mother Grimes
to herself. "Here, these two or three days past, hardly a soul of them
has been near the shop, and my candies are getting quite old." And
Mother Grimes went to work, and cracked nuts, and boiled new molasses,
and made nicer candies than ever; but all to no purpose.

Rachel Brown did say to Alice Wood one day, "See, Alice, what beautiful
candy Mother Grimes has put in her shop-window to day." But Alice only
said, "Rachel, we have now a better use for our money; let us waste
nothing, but save all we can, so that we shall not feel, when we meet
our fellow-creatures at the last day, that any of them have perished
through our neglect, or because we were so selfish that we could not
deny ourselves a small gratification for the sake of supplying their
need."

One day a knot of little girls were so bold as to pass directly by the
candy shop. The old woman stood in the door, and called out to them as
they passed, and asked them why they never stopped now. "See," said she,
"all my nice candies melting in the sun; and nobody but the flies to eat
them."

"We have found something better to do with our pennies, Mother Grimes,"
answered little Susy Barnes, who was the leader of the party, "than to
spend them in getting the tooth-ache, and making ourselves sick; and we
have all made up our minds that we will not buy any more candy." The old
woman flew into a passion, and talked so loud, that some of the little
girls were for running off, but Susy stood her ground undaunted.

"I'll tell you what, Mother Grimes," said she, "if you will give up
selling candy, and keep slates, and pencils, and pens, and sponges, and
all such useful things for sale, we shall all be much more likely to