Her father once brought her home a fine set of tea things, when she
was quite young. Now, should you not suppose that she would like to
have all the girls in the neighborhood come and take tea with her, and
use her pretty new cups and saucers, and spoons and plates? Well, so
should I. But she showed a great deal of selfishness in this
matter--so much, in fact, that she made herself appear ridiculous, as
well as unlovely. She was glad to have the girls come and look at the
tea things, and hear them say that they were very pretty. But that was
as far as her generosity went. She did not ask the girls to sit down
and drink tea with her. Indeed, she did not want her playmates to
handle the cups and saucers. "I'm so afraid you will break them!" said
she. What a foolish and unreasonable girl!

It got to be a sort of proverb in the little village where Caroline
resided, when any one was not very generous, "She's almost as selfish
as Carrie Rose," I don't know whether she knew how she was regarded
among boys and girls of her own age; and I don't know how much she
cared for their good will, if she did hear what they thought of her.
But this I know, that I could not bear to have such a character. I
would rather give away half of all I am worth than to give any reason
to people to think I was mean and selfish. How I should dislike to
have folks say to themselves, and perhaps to others, when they meet me
in the streets, "There goes a selfish man--a man who is about as
good as people will average, in other respects, but who is as small as
the little end of nothing, in his dealings." I think I would rather
live on a crust of dry bread than to get money by being close, and
small, and mean, and selfish.

[Illustration: MY PRETTY KITTEN.]