y; just now she
thinks of nothing but her books, but she will grow wiser in time, and
become a clever needlewoman, I hope."

Mrs Hathaway had not taken her eyes off Penny with a strong expression
of disapproval; she evidently thought her a very ill brought-up little
girl indeed. Now she turned to Mrs Hawthorne and said:

"I question whether all this reading and study is an advantage to the
young folks of the present day. I do not observe that they are more
attractive in manner than in the time I remember, when a young lady was
thought sufficiently instructed if she could sew her seam and read her
Bible."

She turned to Penny again and continued: "Now, the other day I heard of
a society which I think you would do well to join. It is a working
society, and the members, who are some of them as young as you are,
pledge themselves to work for half an hour every day. At the end of the
year their work is sent to the infant Africans, and thus they benefit
both themselves and others. Would you like to join it?"

"Oh, _no_, thank you," said Penny in a hasty but heartfelt manner.

"Why not?"

"Because I never could fulfil that promise. I shouldn't like to belong
to that society at all. I don't know the Africans, and if I work, I'd
rather work for Mrs Dicks." Penny spoke so quickly that she was quite
out of breath.

"And who, my dear child," said Mrs Hathaway, surprised at Penny's
vehemence, "is Mrs Dicks?"

She spoke quite kindly, and her face looked softer, so Penny was
emboldened to tell her about the whole affair, and how Mrs Dicks was a
very nice woman, and had six children to bring up on nothing.

"I wanted to help her out of the charity-box," concluded Penny, "but
there's scarcely anything in it."

Mrs Hathaway looked really interested, and Penny began to think her
rather a nice old lady after all. After she and her mother left the
house she walked along for some time in deep thought.

"What are you considering, Penny?" asked Mrs Hawthorne at last.

"I think," said Penny very deliberately, "that as there's so little in
the charity-box I should like to work for Mrs Dicks' children."

Mrs Hawthorne knew what an effort this resolve had cost her little
daughter.

"Well, dear Penny," she answered, "if you do that I think you will be
giving her a more valuable gift than the charity-box full of money."

"Why?" said Penny.

"Because you will give her what costs you most. It is quite easy to put
your ha