now they may find it for themselves."

"We did n't call you mean and stingy till you refused to tell us where
it was," added Ella.

"If I could find it, I guess you would n't get another kernel of it,"
said Ralph, addressing George; "I'd burn it all up first."

"No, no, Ralph, that is wrong," replied his grandmother. "The corn is
n't worth quarrelling about. If George wants to be selfish, and keep
it all to himself, I 'll send down some more for the rest of you, when
I go home. But I guess Georgie does n't mean to be selfish," she
added, coaxingly; "he only wants to plague you a little, that's all.
He 'll tell you where he found the corn, pretty soon."

George, who was growing uneasy under this combined attack, now
retreated to bed, leaving his grandmother more astonished than ever at
his obstinacy.

"There," said Alice, "it's of no use to try to drive or coax him out of
his selfishness. Mother says he 'll outgrow it by-and-bye, but I don't
see as there is any prospect of it. You know what made him so selfish,
don't you, grandmother?"

"I am afraid he has been humored too much," replied Mrs. Lee.

"Well, he has been," added Alice; "but you know when he was little, he
was very sick for a whole year, and the doctor said he must n't be
crossed any more than we could help, for crying and fretting were very
bad for him. So he had his own way in everything, and if we children