to disobey a Father and Mother I love so well, and forget my duty,
because they are a long way off? I would not touch the cake, were
I sure nobody would see me. I myself should know it, and that would
be sufficient.

"Nobly replied!" exclaimed Mrs. C. "Act always thus, and you must be
happy, for although the whole world should refuse the praise that is
due, you must enjoy the approbation of your conscience, which is
beyond anything else."

Here is a quotation of the same kind from Mrs. Sherwood:


Tender-souled little creatures, desolated by a sense of sin, if they
did but eat a spoonful of cupboard jam without Mamma's express
permission. . . . Would a modern Lucy, jealous of her sister Emily's
doll, break out thus easily into tearful apology for her guilt: 'I
know it is wicked in me to be sorry that Emily is happy, but I feel
that I cannot help it'? And would a modern mother retort with
heartfelt joy: 'My dear child, I am glad you have confessed. Now I
shall tell you why you feel this wicked sorrow'?--proceeding to
an account of the depravity of human nature so unredeemed by comfort
for a childish mind of common intelligence that one can scarcely
imagine the interview ending in anything less tragic than a fit of
juvenile hysteria.


Description of a good boy: