"Please, ma'am, they are Johnny's and mine; we saved them since you told
us so long ago."

And the teacher, as she thinks of the lame, sick Johnny, and what those
pennies might have bought him--how he had denied himself--feels the
tears come into her eyes, and she speaks to the children of Johnny, and
tells Susan that when she comes into heaven, she shall certainly see the
children she blesses now. But when she calls the others to her, and they
show her the money so easily obtained, the teacher will not take it.

"Since you denied yourself not one thing for it, how do I know _love_
made you bring it. And if love did not send it, how could it make the
far-off children happy? And how can you love those so far off, when you
have all helped to make this Christmas afternoon so unhappy a one to one
of the children I invited here with you? If you love not those close by
you, you cannot love those at a distance."

She told them how Susan nursed her sick brother; how she read to him,
watched over him with cheerful smile and kind love; what she did for her
brother's comfort, and she showed them that the two pieces of silver
from Johnny and Susan were really worth more in the sight of God than
their silver dollars and gold pieces.

Then she told them a story. When Christ was one day sitting in the
temple, he looked upon all those who came to put money in the treasury.
Many rich people, with proud airs and haughty hearts, threw in large
sums of money; people called them benevolent, and sang loud praises to
them.

But Jesus did not call them benevolent, neither did he praise them.

At last came a poor widow, bringing with her two mites, which made one
penny. She had saved them of all she had, and humbly, with love in her
heart, she threw them into the treasury. What a little, in comparison
with what the others had thrown there! and yet Jesus, who before had not
spoken, said of her:

"I say unto you, this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which
have cast into the treasury. For all they did cast in of their
abundance, but _she_, of her want, did cast in all that she had, even
her living!"

And the teacher was careful to tell them, it was the spirit of love in
which the two mites were brought, not simply that they were two mites,
which made Christ bless the woman; for if, in the same spirit, she had
brought twenty mites, her blessing would have been the same.

The children saw, then, how shameful had been their c