KATE AND HER FRIEND.

  “What are your thoughts on now,

Kate?”

 

  “O Aunt Anne! is that you?”

said Kate with a start. “I did not

know you were there. I’ll tell you

my thoughts if you will not laugh at

me.”

 

  “Why do you say that, Kate?

Do I often laugh at you?”

  “O dear! no. Well, it is not a

thing to laugh at as I know of. I’ll

tell you then what I would like to

have if I could: I would like a friend,

some one to live with me all the

time, to go where I go and stay

where I stay, to be with me all day

and all night. But I don’t know

who it should be if I had my choice.”

 

  “It would not take me long to

choose,” said Aunt Anne.

 

  “Why, who would you choose?”

said Kate.

  “I am afraid it is some one that

would not please you,” said her

aunt.

 

  “Why, is she not good?” asked

Kate.

 

  “O yes! she is very good, and

true, and kind,” was Aunt Anne’s

reply.

 

  “Why should I not like her, then?”

asked Kate; and she felt a little hurt

to think that her aunt should say

that she would not like any one that

was so good.

  “What is her name?”

 

  “Her name is TRUTH.”

 

  “Truth!” said Kate, “Truth! I

think I should very much love to

have Truth for my friend. What

made you think I would not like her,

aunt?”

 

  “One needs to be very lowly and

very brave to love Truth; and you

would need to love her very much

if you would have her live with you

all the time as a friend.”

  “Well, I think I would like to

try it any way. I do not fear but we

shall get on well with each other.”

 

  I dare say Truth liked this very

well, for she loves little girls and

boys and likes to live with them.

Kate and Truth were to begin their

new life the next day.

 

  When Kate awoke the next day

she first thought how nice and

warm her bed was, and then she

thought over how many good things

she had to make her happy. So

she put up her hands to thank God

for all the good things that he gave

her. That was a good way to begin

the day. And then she said,

“I shall be so good to-day with dear

Truth by my side.”

  She lay there a good while, quite

too long, with such thoughts, for it was

too late for her to lie in bed in that

way. So when she thought of that,

she got up very quick, and made

haste to dress and go down stairs,

for fear she would be late.

  While in all this haste, she tried

to think that she had not time to

kneel down and pray to God. And

now it was that Truth came and

spoke softly in her ear. “You should

not do so,” she said. “You have

time to say at least a few words.

You always find time to do what

you love to do, and you ought to do

this. Bless the Lord on your knees

for all that he has done for you, for

it is he who has given you all the

good things that you enjoy.”

 

  But Kate did not stop to listen to

her dear new friend. She ran down

stairs, but it was hard to get away

from Truth, who ran down stairs as

fast as she did. Here, in the very

first case, Truth did not please her,

but she did not stop to think of it.

  The school to which Kate went

had not been kept for some time. On

this day it was to begin again at ten

o’clock. Before she went to school

her mamma gave her a purse, and sent

her out to buy some things for her.

 

On her way back some of the girls

came with her on their way to

school, and as they all went along

they met two poor little girls. The

poor things were pale and thin; they

had no shoes, nor shawls, nor hoods.

  “How poor they are!” said Sue

Green; “I wish I had some bread, or

cake, or meat to give them.”

 

  “Stop,” said Kate, “let’s speak

to them.”

 

  “Poor things!” said Mary Hart,

“where do you live?”

 

  But they did not like to be called

poor things, and so they made her

no reply.

  “I’ll give them some money,”

said Kate, with a grand air.

 

  “Is it your money?” and Kate

knew that it was the voice of Truth

that spoke low in her ear.

 

  But Kate would not stop to hear

this. She did not like it, and she

took the money from her mamma’s

purse just as if it had been her own.

 

  “Give them six cents to buy a

loaf of bread,” said Sue Green.

 

  Kate took up a dime.

 

  “Six cents will do now, Kate,”

said Jane Moore in a low tone, “then

we will find out where they live

and our friends will give them

more.”

  “No,” said Kate, “I shall give

her this,” and she held up the piece

so that all the girls could see it.

“There, take that; it is a dime.”

 

  “How kind!” said one of the

group. “Yes, Kate, you are good

to give away your own money so,”

said Sue Green. Kate did not say

that it was not her own money.

She let them think what they

pleased about it, though she knew

it was not right.

  At school it was all told over

again, and they said it was so good

and so kind of Kate to do this, and

Kate only said, “O, that was not

much.” But when school had begun,

and they were all at their tasks, Kate

began to think of Truth. “To be

sure,” said she to herself, “Truth

would like to have me do good to the

poor,” and then she gave her a look

to see what she thought of it.

 

  Alas! Truth was very sad, and

Kate, half in anger, said, “What have

I done now? What have you seen

in me that you do not like?”

  “Love of show!” said Truth in a

very low, sad voice. “Take heed

that ye do not your alms before men

to be seen of them.”

 

  “Others praise me if you do not,”

said Kate with some pride.

 

  “Man looks at the deeds of the

hands, but God looks at the heart,”

was the firm reply.

 

  Kate could say no more. She

thought Truth was very hard on her.

  That night she thought she would

like to go to a show of wild beasts

that she had heard of. She had

asked her mamma once, but had been

put off, and now she thought to gain

her wish in some other way; so

she went to her Uncle George to

ask him to coax her mamma for leave

to go. “Mamma will let you take me,”

said Kate. “You can make her do

any thing you like. Tell her you

know there is no harm in it, and she

will think so too. Dear Uncle

George, you will, will you not? I

do so love you, Uncle George.”

  “Yes, when you want me to do

anything for you,” said Uncle George

with a smile.

 

  Then Kate caught a glance from

Truth’s eye. There was no smile in

that. “What now?” said she with

an angry tone. “Can I not do anything

to please you?”

 

  “The Lord loves them that deal

truly,” was the reply. “Why do

you talk in this way to your uncle

just now? Is it that you truly love

him so much, or that you wish to

flatter him into doing you a favor!”

  Uncle George did not know why

Kate left him all at once and went

away, but I dare say he was glad

of it.

 

  “It is the worst day I ever had,

Aunt Anne,” said Kate that night

when she went to bed. “I can’t

bear Truth. I hate her. I’ll have

no more to do with her. She only

finds fault with me all the time. I

don’t think I have been able to

please her once to-day. Other folks

like me and think well of me, but

she does not seem to like me at all.”

  “Hush, my dear child, hush!”

said Aunt Anne. “Do you know it

is a sad thing not to like Truth?”

 

  “Well, I do not like her,” said

Kate, “and I can’t like her, and I do

not want to like her.”

 

  “But you said last night that you

would like to have Truth for your

daily friend to be with you all the

time. Why is it that you don’t like

her now?”

 

  “Well, I did say so, and I thought

so then, but I did not think she

would be all the time finding fault

with me.”

  “Do you not want to be told

when you do wrong? Is not this

what Truth ought to do? If you

had no friend to tell you that, would

you not go on doing wrong, and so

be a very bad girl? The home of

Truth is in the skies, but God saw

that we should need her in this

world so that we might know how

to do right, and he sent her down

here to live with us, and teach us

what to do.

  “Now, do you not see how kind it

is of Truth to come and live with

you, to be with you all the day, and

tell you if you do anything that is

wrong? Do you not see that it is

very kind of the good God to send

her thus to live with you, and that it

is very, very wrong in you to hate

her thus? I know it is hard to be

found fault with, but that is not so

bad as to be left to do wrong.”

 

  “O Aunt Anne, I did not think

of all this! What shall I do?”

  “Ask God to forgive those bad

thoughts, my child, and to let Truth

stay with you. Then always mind

what she says, and try to do just as

she tells you in all things. By and by

she will be the best friend that you

have. You will love her the most,

and have her all the time with you,

and she will make you happy all the

day long, and at night your sleep

will be sweet. Truth is from God,

and if you love her he will love you,

and his love is worth more than all

the world.”

  “Thank you, dear aunt,” said

Kate with a smile. “I do think I

should love Truth if I could only do

as she says, and I will try. Good-night,

aunt”; and Kate went to bed a

better and a wiser girl.

 

 

THE END.