"Yes, indeed," Mother told him, "you must take it every time you cry,
just as the doctor said, because we can't continue to have a cry-baby in
the house. You must take another dose now unless you can stop crying
without it."

"I'll stop," said Johnnie Jones, and he did.

Mother poured some of the medicine into another bottle to send to Miss
Page at kindergarten, and then placed the rest on the mantel where
Johnnie Jones could see it.

It was remarkable how quickly the little boy was cured of his bad habit.
After he had taken but three doses of the bitter medicine he learned
to stop and think when anything failed to please him. Then, instead of
allowing himself to cry, he would often manage to laugh, which was much
more sensible, and much pleasanter for the people near him. Soon he
began to realize what a foolish little boy he had been, and at last he
made up his mind to be, instead of a cry-baby, a big, brave boy. And
that is what he was, all the rest of his life, bright and sweet and
brave, so that everyone loved to be with him, grown folks as well as
the children.

* * * * *




Johnnie Jones and the Man Who Cried "Wolf" too Often