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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10976-0.txt b/10976-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3873340 --- /dev/null +++ b/10976-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,775 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10976 *** + +THE + +APRICOT TREE. + + + +PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF + +THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, + +APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING + +CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. + + + +LONDON: + +PRINTED FOR THE + +SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; + +SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORY, + +GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS; + +AND 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE. + +1851. + + * * * * * + +Price TWOPENCE. + +_R. Clay, Printer_, + +_Bread Street Hill_. + +[Illustration] + + + +THE APRICOT-TREE. + + +It was a fine evening in the beginning of autumn. The last rays of the +sun, as it sunk behind the golden clouds, gleamed in at the window of a +cottage, which stood in a pleasant lane, about a quarter of a mile from +the village of Ryefield. On each side of the narrow gravel walk that led +from the lane to the cottage-door, was a little plot of cultivated +ground. That on the right hand was planted with cabbages, onions, and +other useful vegetables; that on the left, with gooseberry and +currant-bushes, excepting one small strip, where stocks, sweet-peas, and +rose-trees were growing; whose flowers, for they were now in full bloom, +peeping over the neatly trimmed quick-hedge that fenced the garden from +the road, had a gay and pretty appearance. Not a weed was to be found in +any of the beds; the gooseberry and currant-bushes had evidently been +pruned with much care and attention, and were loaded with fine ripe +fruit. But the most remarkable thing in the garden was an apricot-tree, +which grew against the wall of the cottage, and which was covered with +apricots of a large size and beautiful colour. + +The cottage itself, though small and thatched with straw, was clean and +cheerful, the brick floor was strewed with sand, and a white though +coarse cloth was spread on the little deal table. On this table were +placed tea-things, a loaf of bread, and some watercresses. A cat was +purring on the hearth, and a kettle was boiling on the fire. + +Near the window, in a large arm-chair, sat an old woman, with a Bible on +her knees. She appeared happy and contented, and her countenance +expressed cheerfulness and good temper. After reading for some time with +great attention, she paused to look from the window into the lane, as if +expecting to see some one. She listened as if for a footstep; but all +was silent. She read again for about ten minutes longer, and then +closing the Sacred Volume, rose, and, having laid the Book carefully on +a shelf, opened the door, and went out into the garden, whence she could +see farther into the lane, and remained for a considerable time leaning +over the little wicket gate, in anxious expectation. + +"What can be the reason that Ned is so late?" she said, half aloud, to +herself. "He always hastens home to his poor old grandmother as soon as +he has done work. What can make him an hour later than usual? I hope +nothing has happened to him. But, hush!" she continued, after a few +minutes' pause, "surely I hear him coming now." + +She was not mistaken, for in a minute or two Ned appeared, running quite +fast up the lane, and in a few moments more he was standing by her side, +panting and breathless. + +"Dear grandmother," he exclaimed, as soon as he had recovered breath +enough to speak, "I have a great deal of good news to tell you. Farmer +Tomkyns says he will employ me all through the winter, and pay me the +same wages that he does now. This is one piece of good news. And the +other is, that Mr. Stockwell, the greengrocer, will buy all my apricots, +and give me a good price for them. I am to take them to him next +market-day. I had to wait more than half-an-hour before I could speak to +him, and that made me so late. O how beautiful they are!" continued he, +gazing with admiration at the tree. "O grandmother, how happy I am!" + +His grandmother smiled, and said she was glad to hear this good news. +"And now come in and have your tea, child," she added; "for I am sure +you must be hungry." + +"O grandmother," said Ned, as they sat at tea, "now that Mr. Stockwell +will buy the fruit, you will be able to have a cloak to keep you warm +this winter. It often used to grieve me, last year, to see you obliged +to go to church such bitter cold weather, with only that thin old shawl +on. I know you said you could not spare money to get a cloak for +yourself, because you had spent all you could save in buying me a +jacket. My tree has never borne fruit till this year; and you always +said that when it did, I should do what I pleased with the money its +fruit would fetch. Now, there is nothing I should like to spend it on +better than in getting a cloak for you." + +"Thank you, Ned," replied his grandmother; "it would indeed be a very +great comfort. I do not think I should have suffered so much from +rheumatism last winter, if I had had warmer clothing. If it was not for +your apricot-tree, I must have gone without a cloak this winter also; +for, what with our pig dying, and your having no work to do in the +spring, this has been but a bad year for us." + +"The money Mr. Stockwell is going to give me," resumed Ned, "will be +enough all but sixpence; and I have a new sixpence, you know, in a +little box upstairs, that my aunt gave me last June, when I went to +spend the day with her; so when I carry him the fruit, I shall take that +in my pocket, and then when I come home in the evening I can bring the +cloak with me. O that will be a happy day!" continued Ned, getting up to +jump and clap his hands for joy. + +"There is another thing I am very glad of," said he, sitting down again. +"Master is going to turn Tom Andrews away next week." + +"You ought not to be glad of that, Ned. Tom is one of a large family; +and his father being very poor, it must be a great help to have one of +his children earning something." + +"But he is ill-natured to me, and often plagues me very much. It was +only yesterday he broke the best hoe, by knocking stones about with it, +and then told master it was my doing. Besides, he is idle, and does not +mind what is said to him, and often gets into mischief." + +"And do you think being turned away from Farmer Tomkyns's will help to +cure these faults?" + +"No," answered Ned; "I do not suppose it will." + +"On the contrary, is it not likely that he will grow more idle, and get +oftener into mischief, when he has no master to look after him, and +nothing to do all day long but play about the streets?" + +"Why, yes, that is true. Still, it will serve him right to be turned +away. I have heard Mr. Harris, our rector, say that those who do wrong +ought to be punished." + +"Pray, Ned," asked his grandmother, "can you tell me what is the use of +punishment?" + +"The use of punishment!--" repeated Ned, thoughtfully. "Let me think. +The use of punishment, I believe, is to make people better." + +"Right. Now, Ned, you have allowed that Tom's being turned away is not +likely to make him better, but worse; so that I am afraid the true +reason why you rejoice at his disgrace is because you bear resentment +against him, for having been ill-natured to yourself. Think a minute, +and tell me if this is not the case." + +Ned owned that his grandmother was right; and then observed, "It is very +difficult not to bear ill-will against any one who has done us wrong." + +"Yet," rejoined his grandmother, "it is our duty to pardon those who +have injured us. St. Paul says, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, 'Be ye +kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God +for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.' And our blessed Saviour has +commanded us to 'love our enemies,' to 'do good to them that hate us, +and to pray for those that despitefully use us, and persecute us.' If +you will look at the fourteenth and fifteenth verses of the sixth +chapter of St. Matthew, you will see what else our Lord says on the +subject." + +Ned took the Bible, and having found the place, read, "For if ye forgive +men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if +ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father +forgive your trespasses." + +"Before you go to bed," said his grandmother, when he had finished +reading, "I wish you to get by heart these three texts, and repeat them +to me." + +Ned did as he was desired, and then his grandmother kissed him, and bid +him good-night. + +Ned loved his grandmother very much, for she had always been kind to +him. His parents had both died when he was very young; and she then +brought him home to live with her, and had taken care of him ever since. +She taught him to read and write, and cast up sums; to be steady and +industrious; and, above all, it was her great care to instil into his +mind religious principles. She had often told him that the way to profit +by what we read, as well as by the good advice that may be given us, is +to think upon it afterwards; and she frequently desired him to make a +practice of saying over to himself every night whatever verses from the +Bible he had learnt by heart during the day. + +This evening, when Ned repeated his texts, he felt that he had been +wrong to rejoice at Tom Andrews's disgrace, because he had behaved ill +to himself; and he prayed God to make Tom see his faults, and leave off +his bad ways. + +The next day Ned, as usual, went early to his work. Tom Andrews was +very teasing, but Ned tried not to be provoked; and when Tom said +ill-natured things to him, he checked the angry replies he was tempted +to make. Two days afterwards, when Ned came home to tea, he thought with +pleasure that to-morrow was market-day at the town where Mr. Stockwell +lived; and he ran in and out twenty times, to look at, and admire, his +beautiful apricot-tree. "I must get up very early indeed to-morrow +morning," he said to his grandmother, "that I may gather the apricots, +and take them to Mr. Stockwell before I go to my work." Accordingly the +next morning he rose as soon as it was light, and, taking a basket the +greengrocer had lent him in his hand, went into the little garden to +line it with fresh green leaves, before putting the fruit into it. + +What was his surprise and sorrow when he saw that every one of his +apricots was gone, and the tree itself sawn nearly in two, close to the +root! + +Throwing down his basket, Ned ran to his grandmother, who was just come +down stairs, and had begun to light the fire. + +He could only exclaim, "O my apricots, my apricots, they are all gone! +And my beautiful tree--" then covering his face with his hands, he burst +into tears. + +"What is the matter, my dear?" inquired his grandmother. + +Ned replied by taking her by the hand, and leading her into the garden. + +"Who can have done this?" he exclaimed, sobbing. "If they had only +stolen the apricots, I could have borne it better! But to see my dear +tree spoiled--It must die--it must be quite killed--only look how it is +cut!" + +"I am very sorry for you, my poor boy," said his grandmother, kindly. +"It is a most vexatious thing." + +"Oh!" cried Ned, "if I did but know who it was that had done it--" + +"I would be revenged on them, some how or other," he was going to have +added; but the texts which he had learned a few days before concerning +the forgiveness of injuries, and which he had frequently repeated to +himself since, came into his mind, and he stopped short. + +On looking round the garden, to see if they could discover any traces of +the thief, Ned and his grandmother saw the prints of a boy's shoe, +rather bigger than Ned's, in several of the beds, and hanging on the +quick-hedge were some tattered fragments of a red cotton handkerchief +checked with white. "I know this handkerchief," said Ned; "it is Tom +Andrews's; I have often seen him with it tied round his neck. It must be +he who stole my apricots." + +"You cannot be sure that it is Tom who stole your apricots," rejoined +his grandmother. "Many other people besides him have red handkerchiefs." + +"But I am sure it can be no one but Tom; for only yesterday, when I told +him about my apricots, and the money I expected to get for them, he said +he wished he knew how to get some, that he might have money too. Oh! if +I could but get hold of him--" + +Again he stopped, and thought of our Saviour's words; then, turning to +his grandmother, he said, "Whoever it is that has robbed us of the +fruit, I forgive him, even if it is Tom Andrews." + +Ned went to work that day with a heavy heart. Tom Andrews was in high +glee; for his master had said he would give him another week's trial. +Ned told him of the misfortune that had happened to him, and thought +that Tom looked rather confused. He also remarked that his companion had +not got the red handkerchief on that he usually wore about his neck; and +he asked him the reason. + +"I tore it last night, scrambling through a hedge," replied Tom +carelessly. + +"How came you to be scrambling through a hedge last night?" inquired +Ned. + +"What makes you ask me that question?" returned the other, sharply. + +"Because," answered Ned, fixing his eyes upon him, "because the person +who stole my apricots left part of a red handkerchief hanging on our +hedge." + +"Do you mean to say, then, that _I_ stole them?" exclaimed his +companion, in an angry tone. "I'll teach you to tell this of me." + +So saying, he struck Ned a blow on the face with his fist, before Ned +was aware what he was going to do. + +Ned was very much tempted to strike in return; but just as he raised his +arm, something seemed to whisper that he ought not to do so; and, +drawing back a few steps, he called after Tom, who was beginning to run +away, saying, + +"You need not be afraid of me. I am not going to strike you, though you +did strike me; because it is wrong to return evil for evil." + +"Fine talking, indeed!" rejoined Tom, tauntingly. "I know very well the +reason why you will not strike me again. You dare not, because I am the +biggest and strongest. You are afraid of me." + +Now Ned was no coward. He would have fought in a good cause with a boy +twice his size; and he was very much provoked at the words and manner of +his companion. + +He had a hard struggle with himself not to return the blow; but he kept +firm to the good resolution he had made, and went away. + +As he was returning home very sorrowful, he could not help thinking how +happy he had expected to be that evening; and he regretted extremely +that his grandmother would have no cloak to keep her warm in the cold +weather. Still, the recollection that he had patiently borne the blow +and insulting speeches of Tom, and thus endeavoured to put in practice +the good precepts he had been taught, consoled him, and made him feel +less sad than he would otherwise have been. + +"How did you get that black eye, Ned?" asked his grandmother, as soon as +she saw him. "I hope you have not been fighting." + +"No, grandmother, indeed I have not," replied Ned; and he told her how +it had happened. + +His grandmother said that he was a good boy to have acted as he did, and +added, "It makes me happier to find that you behave well, than twenty +new cloaks would." + +The next day, at dinner time, when Ned went into the little outhouse +where he and Tom usually ate this meal, he found Tom sitting there +crying. + +"What makes you cry, Tom?" inquired Ned. + +"Because I have no dinner," was the reply. + +"How happens that?" asked Ned. + +"Because, now father's out of work, mother says she can only give us two +meals a-day. I only had a little bit of bread this morning; and I shall +have nothing else till I go home in the evening, and then she will give +me a cold potato or two." + +Ned's grandmother had given him that day for his dinner a large slice of +bread, and a piece of cold bacon. Ned had been working hard, and was +very hungry. He could have eaten all the bread and bacon with pleasure, +and felt certain that if he had got no dinner and Tom had, Tom would not +have given him any of his. He recollected that Tom had never in his life +shown him any kindness; that, a fortnight ago, when Tom had had four +apples given him, he had eaten them all himself, without even offering +him part of one; and, above all, he called to mind that Tom was in all +probability the person who had robbed him of his apricots, and killed +his favourite apricot-tree. + +But he remembered our Saviour's command, "Do good to them that hate +you;" and though Tom was a bad boy, yet it grieved Ned to see him crying +with hunger, whilst he himself had food to eat. So he divided both the +bread and the bacon into two equal shares, with his knife, and then, +going up to Tom, gave him one portion, and desired him to eat it. Tom +looked at Ned in some surprise, and then, taking the food that was +offered him, ate it in a ravenous manner, without saying a word. + +"He might just have thanked me," thought Ned to himself; but he forbore +to tell Tom so. + +Ned always read a chapter in the Bible to his grandmother every night +when he came home from work. It happened that this evening the chapter +fixed on was the twelfth of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. He was +much struck by one of the verses in it: "Therefore if thine enemy +hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou +shalt heap coals of fire upon his head." + +"Grandmother," said Ned, when he had concluded the chapter, "I +understand the first part of this verse very well, it is plain enough; +but what is meant by the words, 'for in so doing thou shalt heap coals +of fire upon his head?'" + +His grandmother replied, that this passage had once puzzled her; but +that an old lady with whom she had lived when she was a girl, and who +kindly took great pains in explaining different parts of the Bible that +were hard to be understood, had made this quite clear to her. + +"She told me," continued his grandmother, "that the Apostle alludes to +the custom of melting gold and other metals by fire; and his meaning is, +that as coals of fire melt and soften the metals on which they are +heaped, so by kindness and gentleness we may melt and soften our enemy, +and make him love, instead of hating us." + +Ned thanked his grandmother for this explanation, and then was silent +for some little time. + +"Perhaps," he said to himself, "if I go on being kind to Tom Andrews, I +shall at last make him love me, and leave off teasing me and saying +ill-natured things." + +He would not tell his grandmother that he had given Tom part of his +dinner, for fear she should another day give him more; and he knew she +could not do this without robbing herself. + +Tom's father remained out of work for several weeks; and Tom would have +been obliged to go without a dinner most days, if Ned had not regularly +given him half his. + +For some time Tom received his companion's kindness sulkily, and without +appearing at all grateful; but at last Ned's good-natured conduct +appeared to touch him, and he said-- + +"How kind you are to me, Ned! though I am sure I have done nothing to +deserve kindness from you. Father often says he wishes I was more like +you; and I do think I should be happier if I was, for you always seem +cheerful and contented, though you work harder than I do." + +"I like working," answered Ned; "nothing makes me so dull as being idle. +Besides, as grandmother says, people are far more likely to do wrong +when they are not employed. You know the lines in the hymn,-- + + + 'For Satan finds some mischief still + For idle hands to do,'" + + +Tom looked down and coloured. + +Ned, who had not meant to give him pain by what he said, added, on +observing Tom's confusion-- + +"I have so many things I like to do when I go home after work, that I +don't deserve praise for not being idle." + +"I wish I had anything I liked to do when work is over," returned Tom; +"but I have nothing to do but play, and I soon get tired of that." + +"So do I," rejoined Ned. "I like a game of ball or cricket every now and +then as well as anybody; but it is a great waste of time, to say the +least of it, to spend all one's spare hours in play; besides, as you +say, we get tired, and do not enjoy play if we have too much of it." + +"What do you do of an evening, that is so pleasant?" inquired Tom. + +"Why I keep our little garden in order;--that takes up a good deal of +time; and I write a copy, and do a sum or two, and read the Bible to +grandmother." + +"I should like that very well," observed Tom, "all except reading the +Bible." + +"Oh, do not say so!" exclaimed Ned; "surely you do not mean it." + +"I dare say," rejoined Tom, "that I should like the Bible well enough if +I could understand it; but it's so hard! _You_ understand it all, I +suppose?" + +"Oh, dear no! that I do not; but grandmother sometimes explains what is +hard, and tells me a great many pleasing things about the manners of the +country where our Saviour and his Apostles lived. I never am happier +than when I read to her, and she talks to me about what I have read." + +"Well," said Tom, "mother hears me read a chapter now and then, but she +always seems to think it a trouble; and so I read as fast as I can, to +get it the sooner over. Father commonly says, he's too tired to listen." + +Ned said no more on the subject then; but when they had both done work, +he asked Tom if he would like to walk home with him, and look at his +garden. + +Tom hesitated at first; there seemed to be something in the idea that +made him uncomfortable. But he had been gradually growing fond of Ned, +and Ned's account of the pleasures and comfort of his home had made him +wish to go there; so he told his companion that he would go with him. + +Ned's grandmother received the two boys very kindly, and gave them some +tea and bread and butter. Having learned from Tom that his parents would +not be uneasy at his absence, she asked him to stay with them all the +evening. + +The next day Tom looked wistfully at Ned, as if he wished to go home +with him, but did not like to say anything about it. Ned observed this, +and told him that his grandmother had said he might come whenever he +liked. + +"Then I'll go to-night," said Tom. + +And accordingly he went home with Ned that evening, and almost every +evening afterwards for some time. He helped Ned to work in his garden, +and took a part in all his other employments. Ned always read the Bible +after tea, which Tom at first thought very tiresome; and he would not +have stayed, had he not wished for Ned's company afterwards to walk part +of the way back with him to the village; but soon he became so much +interested in what he heard read, as well as by the improving and +interesting conversation of Ned's grandmother, that he looked forward to +the evening's reading as one of the pleasantest events of the day. + +One afternoon, as the two boys were digging a bed in the garden, Tom +said to his companion-- + +"I have long been going to tell you of something that makes me very +uncomfortable; but I have never yet had courage to do it. I know you +think that I stole your apricots, don't you?" + +Ned did not immediately reply. His good-nature made him unwilling to own +that he _did_ suspect Tom; and he could not tell an untruth, by saying +that he did not suspect him. + +"Well," continued Tom, "I am sure you must; and I do not wonder at it. +Now the truth is, that when you told me about your apricots, I thought +to myself that I would come when it was dusk, and take two or three of +them just to eat, thinking that you would not miss such a small number. +But I did not like to go by myself; so I asked Fred Morris if he would +go with me. He said, 'O yes; he would go anywhere, or do anything, to +get some apricots.' He did not know of your tree, he added; or he should +have paid it a visit before. I began to be sorry I had told him, and +made him promise that he would not take more than three. When it got +dark, and we were set out, I felt that I was doing very wrong. I wished +to turn back; but Fred would not let me. He said I need not take any +fruit myself if I wanted to back out; but that if I did not go with him +to show him the tree, he would beat me within an inch of my life. So we +came to the wicket together; it was fastened, and we clambered over the +hedge. Fred had a large basket with him, which I had several times asked +him about, and tried to make him say what he brought it for. He told me +that I should see when the time came. As soon as he got to the tree, he +began gathering the apricots as fast as he could, and putting them into +his basket. I tried to hinder him, and said I would shout and wake you; +but he declared that, if I did, he would kill me; and you know, Ned, he +is nearly twice as big as I am, and terribly violent; so all I could do +was to hold my tongue, and let him alone. Just as we were going away, he +caught up a saw that was lying in the garden, and spoiled the tree with +it. I do believe he did this just for the love of mischief, or maybe +partly to spite me, because I had told him not to steal all the +apricots. He would not let me have one for my share; though I do not +think I could have eaten it if he had, I was so much frightened, and so +surprised at him for stealing all your fruit. He besides ordered me not +to tell what he had done, and bullied me a great deal about it, till at +last I got away from him. I was too much afraid to tell you for a good +while, but I could not bear that you should think I had been so very +wicked; and at last I made up my mind to tell you exactly how it was. + +"I know that I have been very wrong," continued Tom; "and that if it had +not been for me the apricots would not have been stolen. I can't be more +sorry than I am. And now that you have heard all, Ned, will you forgive +me, and try not to think as badly of me as I deserve?" + +Ned said he was glad to hear Tom had had no more share in the affair; +and then, holding out his hand to Tom, he assured him of his entire +forgiveness. + +"Indeed, Tom," he added, "I forgave you in my heart long ago." + +"I am sure you did," rejoined Tom warmly, "or you would not have been so +kind to me. O Ned, you cannot think how unhappy it makes me when I +recollect how often I have been teasing and ill-natured to you, +notwithstanding your good-nature to me!" + +"Say no more about that," replied Ned; "you have not been teasing or +ill-natured lately. We shall, I hope, always be good friends for the +future." + +When Tom was gone, Ned related this conversation to his grandmother. + +"I think," she observed, when he concluded, "that all Tom's sin in this +matter came from breaking the tenth commandment. If he had not first +coveted the apricots, he would not have been tempted to steal them. +Through earnestly desiring what did not belong to him, he was led not +only to commit a great sin himself, but to be the means of leading a +fellow-creature into sin also. Fred Morris would not have thought of +robbing the apricot-tree had not Tom put it into his head. In the Bible +we are frequently charged not to lead our brother into sin; and heavy +punishments are denounced against him who shall cause another to do +evil." + +"I used to think, grandmother," observed Ned, "that the tenth +commandment must be the least important of all; I did not suppose there +could be any very great harm in merely wishing for what belongs to +another person; but I shall never think so in future." + +Several weeks passed away, and the weather began to grow cold and +winterly. Ned could not help sighing when he saw his grandmother +suffering from the cold, and recollected that she had no cloak to keep +her warm, and would have none all the winter. + +He sometimes sighed, too, as he looked at the apricot-tree, whose +branches were now dead and withering; and so did Tom. Both the boys +agreed that it had better be cut down, and taken away entirely. + +"How I wish," exclaimed Tom, "that we had another to put in its place!" + +"So do I," rejoined Ned; "but apricot-trees, I believe, are very dear to +buy. A gardener my father used to work for, and who is now dead, gave me +this. I fear there is no chance of our ever getting another." + +"How I do wish I was rich!" cried Tom; "I would give you an +apricot-tree, and all manner of things besides. I should like to be as +rich as our Squire best; but it would do to be as rich as Farmer +Tomkyns. Oh, if I had only half as many sheep, and pigs, and cows, and +haystacks, as he has, how happy I should be! Don't you wish you had some +of the Squire's or Farmer Tomkyns's riches, Ned?" + +"No," replied Ned, "I don't; because we ought not to wish for other +people's things." + +He then told Tom all that he could remember of what his grandmother had +said to him about the sin of coveting what does not belong to us; and +that doing so, besides breaking one commandment, is very likely to lead +to the breaking of others also. + +"But," asked Tom, "how is it possible to help longing sometimes for +things we have not got, and yet see other people have?" + +"We may not," said Ned's grandmother, who had come out to call the boys +in to tea, and had overheard the latter part of their conversation; "we +may not, perhaps, be always able to prevent covetous or envious thoughts +from entering our mind; but we should directly endeavour to drive them +away, and pray to God to make us contented with 'that state of life in +which it has pleased Him to place us.' 'Be content with such things as +ye have,' says St. Paul. And again, speaking of himself, he tells us, 'I +have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.' Besides, +Tom, the rich are not always happy. They have a great many cares and +anxieties that we know nothing of. You cannot have forgotten what +trouble Farmer Tomkyns was in last spring when so many of his cattle +died of the distemper, and he was afraid he should lose the rest. It is +true the Squire can afford to have always a grand dinner to sit down to; +but of what use is that when he is, and has been for years, in such a +bad state of health that the choicest dainties afford him no pleasure! +Do not you think, Tom, that if you were in his place, you would gladly +give all the fine clothes, dainty food, and wealth that you possessed, +to be strong and hearty again, even though you had only a poor cottage +to live in, and a crust of bread to eat?" + +"Yes," replied Tom, "that I would, I am sure." + +"We are all," resumed the old woman, "too apt, I fear, to think more of +the blessings and comforts we want, or fancy we want, than of those we +already possess. We forget that c those among us who have least, have +far more than they deserve.'" + +"What you say, grandmother," observed Ned, "puts me in mind of some +verses in one of Watts's Hymns, that I learned by heart a little while +ago. May I say them?" + +"Do so, my dear," replied his grandmother. And Ned repeated the +following verses:-- + + "Not more than others I deserve, + Yet God hath given me more; + For I have food while others starve, + Or beg from door to door. + + "While some poor wretches scarce can tell + Where they may lay their head, + I have a home wherein to dwell, + And rest upon my bed. + + "While others early learn to swear, + And curse, and lie, and steal; + Lord, I am taught Thy name to fear, + And do Thy holy will. + + "Are these Thy favours, day by day, + To me above the rest; + Then let me love Thee more than they, + And try to serve Thee best." + + +"They are very pretty verses indeed," said his grandmother, when Ned +had finished; "and I am glad that you remember them at the right time." + +The day after this conversation, Tom told Ned that he should not be +able to go home with him when work was over that evening, because his +uncle was coming. + +It was frosty, and nothing could be done in the garden; so when Ned had +mended a rail in the little wicket gate that was broken, and had had +his tea, read the Bible, got by heart a column-of spelling, and said it +to his grandmother, he sat down on a stool near the fire, and amused +himself by going on with a stocking he had begun to knit. + +"How thankful I am to you for having taught me to knit," said he, +"because it is something pleasant to do when I am in-doors of a +winter's evening." + +Just as Ned left off speaking a knock was heard at the cottage door. He +ran to open it, and was rather surprised to see Tom, and with him a +well-dressed, pleasant-looking man, whom he did not remember to have +seen before. + +"This is my uncle," said Tom. + +Ned bowed, and set a chair for their visitor. + +"I come," said Mr. Graham, for that was the name of Tom's uncle, "to +thank you, my young friend, for your kindness to my nephew. I have long +intended adopting Tom, and taking him to live with me when he was old +enough to learn my trade, which is that of a carpenter, but when I came +to Ryefield, a year ago, I found him so different in many respects from +what I could have wished, that I gave up my intention, for I could not +undertake to teacli a boy who was idle and unsteady. I now find him so +much altered for the better, and Farmer Tomkyns gives me such a good +account of his behaviour, that I am quite ready to give him a trial. He +tells me that he has to thank you, Ned, for his improvement; that he +has learned from your example to be steady and industrious, and to try +to correct his faults; and that it is you and your good grandmother who +have taught him to love his Bible, and take pleasure in going to +church. Tom also tells me that it is his fault your nice apricot tree +was spoiled. Now there is a nurseryman, a friend of mine, whom I have +several times had an opportunity of obliging, and I have no doubt that +he will give me for you a strong young tree, at the proper time for +planting fruit trees." + +Ned thanked Mr. Graham, who then added-- + +"The town where I live is several miles off, so that you and Tom will +not be able to see each other as often as you used, but Tom can walk +over here on Sundays, and go with you to Ryefield Church sometimes, and +I hope your grandmother will allow you now and then to come and see +him." + +Ned's grandmother promised that she would; and then Tom told Ned that +Farmer Tomkyns had very kindly said he would employ Robert, his younger +brother, in place of himself. + +"I am glad to hear it," said Ned. + +"And so am I," said his grandmother. "It will be a great help to your +father, Tom, to have you taken quite off his hands, and one of your +brothers employed also." + +Tom then said he had heard that Fred Morris had been caught stealing +some faggots, and taken before the magistrates, who had sent him to +prison. + +The next day Farmer Tomkyns told Ned that in consequence of his good +behaviour since he had been in his service, he was going to raise his +wages. + +"Now," said he to himself, "I shall very soon, I trust, be able to get +grandmother a cloak with my own earnings." + +This thought, and the prospect of having another apricot tree, made him +feel happy; and so he told his grandmother. + +"But, granny," added he, "do you know there is something that makes me +feel happier still than the thought of the cloak or the apricot tree +either; and that is poor Tom's good fortune, and"---- + +He stopped and hesitated. + +"What were you going to say, my dear?" inquired his grandmother. + +"And knowing that his good fortune is partly owing to me, I was going +to have said, grandmother," answered Ned, blushing; "only it sounds +like praising myself." + +"It is very natural that you should feel glad at this, my dear boy," +rejoined his grandmother, smiling kindly; "for there is no pleasure so +great as that we feel when conscious of having contributed to the +welfare and happiness of a fellow-creature." + + + + + +R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Apricot Tree, by Unknown + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10976 *** diff --git a/10976-h.zip b/10976-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..95a15a0 --- /dev/null +++ b/10976-h.zip diff --git a/10976-h/10976-h.htm b/10976-h/10976-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..274c829 --- /dev/null +++ b/10976-h/10976-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1297 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Apricot Tree.</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> +<style type="text/css"> +body { font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; + background-color: #ffffff; + color: #000000; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%} +.publish { font-size: 12px;} +a:link {color: #000000} +a:visited {color: #000000} +a:hover {color: #000000} +h1, h2, h3 {color: #666666; text-align: center} + +</style> +</head> +<!-- Converted to HTML for the Gutenberg Project by Sjaani --> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Apricot Tree, by Unknown + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Apricot Tree + +Author: Unknown + +Release Date: February 7, 2004 [EBook #10976] +Last Updated: July 27, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE APRICOT TREE *** + + + + +Produced by Internet Archive; University of Florida, Children, Sjaani +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h1>THE APRICOT TREE.</h1> + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<img src="img1.jpg" align="left" alt="" /> +<div class="publish" align="center">PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF<br /> +THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION,<br /> +APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING<br /> +CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +LONDON:<br /> +<br /> +PRINTED FOR THE<br /> +SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE;<br /> +SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORY,<br /> +<br /> +GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS;<br /> +AND 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE.<br /> +<br /> +1851. + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<p>Price TWOPENCE.</p> + +<p><i>R. Clay, Printer</i>,</p> + +<p><i>Bread Street Hill</i>.</p></div> + + +<br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<br /> + +<p>It was a fine evening in the beginning of autumn. The last rays of the +sun, as it sunk behind the golden clouds, gleamed in at the window of a +cottage, which stood in a pleasant lane, about a quarter of a mile from +the village of Ryefield. On each side of the narrow gravel walk that led +from the lane to the cottage-door, was a little plot of cultivated +ground. That on the right hand was planted with cabbages, onions, and +other useful vegetables; that on the left, with gooseberry and +currant-bushes, excepting one small strip, where stocks, sweet-peas, and +rose-trees were growing; whose flowers, for they were now in full bloom, +peeping over the neatly trimmed quick-hedge that fenced the garden from +the road, had a gay and pretty appearance. Not a weed was to be found in +any of the beds; the gooseberry and currant-bushes had evidently been +pruned with much care and attention, and were loaded with fine ripe +fruit. But the most remarkable thing in the garden was an apricot-tree, +which grew against the wall of the cottage, and which was covered with +apricots of a large size and beautiful colour.</p> + +<p>The cottage itself, though small and thatched with straw, was clean and +cheerful, the brick floor was strewed with sand, and a white though +coarse cloth was spread on the little deal table. On this table were +placed tea-things, a loaf of bread, and some watercresses. A cat was +purring on the hearth, and a kettle was boiling on the fire.</p> + +<p>Near the window, in a large arm-chair, sat an old woman, with a Bible on +her knees. She appeared happy and contented, and her countenance +expressed cheerfulness and good temper. After reading for some time with +great attention, she paused to look from the window into the lane, as if +expecting to see some one. She listened as if for a footstep; but all +was silent. She read again for about ten minutes longer, and then +closing the Sacred Volume, rose, and, having laid the Book carefully on +a shelf, opened the door, and went out into the garden, whence she could +see farther into the lane, and remained for a considerable time leaning +over the little wicket gate, in anxious expectation.</p> + +<p>"What can be the reason that Ned is so late?" she said, half aloud, to +herself. "He always hastens home to his poor old grandmother as soon as +he has done work. What can make him an hour later than usual? I hope +nothing has happened to him. But, hush!" she continued, after a few +minutes' pause, "surely I hear him coming now."</p> + +<p>She was not mistaken, for in a minute or two Ned appeared, running quite +fast up the lane, and in a few moments more he was standing by her side, +panting and breathless.</p> + +<p>"Dear grandmother," he exclaimed, as soon as he had recovered breath +enough to speak, "I have a great deal of good news to tell you. Farmer +Tomkyns says he will employ me all through the winter, and pay me the +same wages that he does now. This is one piece of good news. And the +other is, that Mr. Stockwell, the greengrocer, will buy all my apricots, +and give me a good price for them. I am to take them to him next +market-day. I had to wait more than half-an-hour before I could speak to +him, and that made me so late. O how beautiful they are!" continued he, +gazing with admiration at the tree. "O grandmother, how happy I am!"</p> + +<p>His grandmother smiled, and said she was glad to hear this good news. +"And now come in and have your tea, child," she added; "for I am sure +you must be hungry."</p> + +<p>"O grandmother," said Ned, as they sat at tea, "now that Mr. Stockwell +will buy the fruit, you will be able to have a cloak to keep you warm +this winter. It often used to grieve me, last year, to see you obliged +to go to church such bitter cold weather, with only that thin old shawl +on. I know you said you could not spare money to get a cloak for +yourself, because you had spent all you could save in buying me a +jacket. My tree has never borne fruit till this year; and you always +said that when it did, I should do what I pleased with the money its +fruit would fetch. Now, there is nothing I should like to spend it on +better than in getting a cloak for you."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Ned," replied his grandmother; "it would indeed be a very +great comfort. I do not think I should have suffered so much from +rheumatism last winter, if I had had warmer clothing. If it was not for +your apricot-tree, I must have gone without a cloak this winter also; +for, what with our pig dying, and your having no work to do in the +spring, this has been but a bad year for us."</p> + +<p>"The money Mr. Stockwell is going to give me," resumed Ned, "will be +enough all but sixpence; and I have a new sixpence, you know, in a +little box upstairs, that my aunt gave me last June, when I went to +spend the day with her; so when I carry him the fruit, I shall take that +in my pocket, and then when I come home in the evening I can bring the +cloak with me. O that will be a happy day!" continued Ned, getting up to +jump and clap his hands for joy.</p> + +<p>"There is another thing I am very glad of," said he, sitting down again. +"Master is going to turn Tom Andrews away next week."</p> + +<p>"You ought not to be glad of that, Ned. Tom is one of a large family; +and his father being very poor, it must be a great help to have one of +his children earning something."</p> + +<p>"But he is ill-natured to me, and often plagues me very much. It was +only yesterday he broke the best hoe, by knocking stones about with it, +and then told master it was my doing. Besides, he is idle, and does not +mind what is said to him, and often gets into mischief."</p> + +<p>"And do you think being turned away from Farmer Tomkyns's will help to +cure these faults?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered Ned; "I do not suppose it will."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, is it not likely that he will grow more idle, and get +oftener into mischief, when he has no master to look after him, and +nothing to do all day long but play about the streets?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, that is true. Still, it will serve him right to be turned +away. I have heard Mr. Harris, our rector, say that those who do wrong +ought to be punished."</p> + +<p>"Pray, Ned," asked his grandmother, "can you tell me what is the use of +punishment?"</p> + +<p>"The use of punishment!--" repeated Ned, thoughtfully. "Let me think. +The use of punishment, I believe, is to make people better."</p> + +<p>"Right. Now, Ned, you have allowed that Tom's being turned away is not +likely to make him better, but worse; so that I am afraid the true +reason why you rejoice at his disgrace is because you bear resentment +against him, for having been ill-natured to yourself. Think a minute, +and tell me if this is not the case."</p> + +<p>Ned owned that his grandmother was right; and then observed, "It is very +difficult not to bear ill-will against any one who has done us wrong."</p> + +<p>"Yet," rejoined his grandmother, "it is our duty to pardon those who +have injured us. St. Paul says, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, 'Be ye +kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God +for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.' And our blessed Saviour has +commanded us to 'love our enemies,' to 'do good to them that hate us, +and to pray for those that despitefully use us, and persecute us.' If +you will look at the fourteenth and fifteenth verses of the sixth +chapter of St. Matthew, you will see what else our Lord says on the +subject."</p> + +<p>Ned took the Bible, and having found the place, read, "For if ye forgive +men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if +ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father +forgive your trespasses."</p> + +<p>"Before you go to bed," said his grandmother, when he had finished +reading, "I wish you to get by heart these three texts, and repeat them +to me."</p> + +<p>Ned did as he was desired, and then his grandmother kissed him, and bid +him good-night.</p> + +<p>Ned loved his grandmother very much, for she had always been kind to +him. His parents had both died when he was very young; and she then +brought him home to live with her, and had taken care of him ever since. +She taught him to read and write, and cast up sums; to be steady and +industrious; and, above all, it was her great care to instil into his +mind religious principles. She had often told him that the way to profit +by what we read, as well as by the good advice that may be given us, is +to think upon it afterwards; and she frequently desired him to make a +practice of saying over to himself every night whatever verses from the +Bible he had learnt by heart during the day.</p> + +<p>This evening, when Ned repeated his texts, he felt that he had been +wrong to rejoice at Tom Andrews's disgrace, because he had behaved ill +to himself; and he prayed God to make Tom see his faults, and leave off +his bad ways.</p> + +<p>The next day Ned, as usual, went early to his work. Tom Andrews was +very teasing, but Ned tried not to be provoked; and when Tom said +ill-natured things to him, he checked the angry replies he was tempted +to make. Two days afterwards, when Ned came home to tea, he thought with +pleasure that to-morrow was market-day at the town where Mr. Stockwell +lived; and he ran in and out twenty times, to look at, and admire, his +beautiful apricot-tree. "I must get up very early indeed to-morrow +morning," he said to his grandmother, "that I may gather the apricots, +and take them to Mr. Stockwell before I go to my work." Accordingly the +next morning he rose as soon as it was light, and, taking a basket the +greengrocer had lent him in his hand, went into the little garden to +line it with fresh green leaves, before putting the fruit into it.</p> + +<p>What was his surprise and sorrow when he saw that every one of his +apricots was gone, and the tree itself sawn nearly in two, close to the +root!</p> + +<p>Throwing down his basket, Ned ran to his grandmother, who was just come +down stairs, and had begun to light the fire.</p> + +<p>He could only exclaim, "O my apricots, my apricots, they are all gone! +And my beautiful tree—" then covering his face with his hands, he burst +into tears.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter, my dear?" inquired his grandmother.</p> + +<p>Ned replied by taking her by the hand, and leading her into the garden.</p> + +<p>"Who can have done this?" he exclaimed, sobbing. "If they had only +stolen the apricots, I could have borne it better! But to see my dear +tree spoiled—It must die—it must be quite killed—only look how it is +cut!"</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry for you, my poor boy," said his grandmother, kindly. +"It is a most vexatious thing."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Ned, "if I did but know who it was that had done it—"</p> + +<p>"I would be revenged on them, some how or other," he was going to have +added; but the texts which he had learned a few days before concerning +the forgiveness of injuries, and which he had frequently repeated to +himself since, came into his mind, and he stopped short.</p> + +<p>On looking round the garden, to see if they could discover any traces of +the thief, Ned and his grandmother saw the prints of a boy's shoe, +rather bigger than Ned's, in several of the beds, and hanging on the +quick-hedge were some tattered fragments of a red cotton handkerchief +checked with white. "I know this handkerchief," said Ned; "it is Tom +Andrews's; I have often seen him with it tied round his neck. It must be +he who stole my apricots."</p> + +<p>"You cannot be sure that it is Tom who stole your apricots," rejoined +his grandmother. "Many other people besides him have red handkerchiefs."</p> + +<p>"But I am sure it can be no one but Tom; for only yesterday, when I told +him about my apricots, and the money I expected to get for them, he said +he wished he knew how to get some, that he might have money too. Oh! if +I could but get hold of him—"</p> + +<p>Again he stopped, and thought of our Saviour's words; then, turning to +his grandmother, he said, "Whoever it is that has robbed us of the +fruit, I forgive him, even if it is Tom Andrews."</p> + +<p>Ned went to work that day with a heavy heart. Tom Andrews was in high +glee; for his master had said he would give him another week's trial. +Ned told him of the misfortune that had happened to him, and thought +that Tom looked rather confused. He also remarked that his companion had +not got the red handkerchief on that he usually wore about his neck; and +he asked him the reason.</p> + +<p>"I tore it last night, scrambling through a hedge," replied Tom +carelessly.</p> + +<p>"How came you to be scrambling through a hedge last night?" inquired +Ned.</p> + +<p>"What makes you ask me that question?" returned the other, sharply.</p> + +<p>"Because," answered Ned, fixing his eyes upon him, "because the person +who stole my apricots left part of a red handkerchief hanging on our +hedge."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say, then, that <i>I</i> stole them?" exclaimed his +companion, in an angry tone. "I'll teach you to tell this of me."</p> + +<p>So saying, he struck Ned a blow on the face with his fist, before Ned +was aware what he was going to do.</p> + +<p>Ned was very much tempted to strike in return; but just as he raised his +arm, something seemed to whisper that he ought not to do so; and, +drawing back a few steps, he called after Tom, who was beginning to run +away, saying,</p> + +<p>"You need not be afraid of me. I am not going to strike you, though you +did strike me; because it is wrong to return evil for evil."</p> + +<p>"Fine talking, indeed!" rejoined Tom, tauntingly. "I know very well the +reason why you will not strike me again. You dare not, because I am the +biggest and strongest. You are afraid of me."</p> + +<p>Now Ned was no coward. He would have fought in a good cause with a boy +twice his size; and he was very much provoked at the words and manner of +his companion.</p> + +<p>He had a hard struggle with himself not to return the blow; but he kept +firm to the good resolution he had made, and went away.</p> + +<p>As he was returning home very sorrowful, he could not help thinking how +happy he had expected to be that evening; and he regretted extremely +that his grandmother would have no cloak to keep her warm in the cold +weather. Still, the recollection that he had patiently borne the blow +and insulting speeches of Tom, and thus endeavoured to put in practice +the good precepts he had been taught, consoled him, and made him feel +less sad than he would otherwise have been.</p> + +<p>"How did you get that black eye, Ned?" asked his grandmother, as soon as +she saw him. "I hope you have not been fighting."</p> + +<p>"No, grandmother, indeed I have not," replied Ned; and he told her how +it had happened.</p> + +<p>His grandmother said that he was a good boy to have acted as he did, and +added, "It makes me happier to find that you behave well, than twenty +new cloaks would."</p> + +<p>The next day, at dinner time, when Ned went into the little outhouse +where he and Tom usually ate this meal, he found Tom sitting there +crying.</p> + +<p>"What makes you cry, Tom?" inquired Ned.</p> + +<p>"Because I have no dinner," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"How happens that?" asked Ned.</p> + +<p>"Because, now father's out of work, mother says she can only give us two +meals a-day. I only had a little bit of bread this morning; and I shall +have nothing else till I go home in the evening, and then she will give +me a cold potato or two."</p> + +<p>Ned's grandmother had given him that day for his dinner a large slice of +bread, and a piece of cold bacon. Ned had been working hard, and was +very hungry. He could have eaten all the bread and bacon with pleasure, +and felt certain that if he had got no dinner and Tom had, Tom would not +have given him any of his. He recollected that Tom had never in his life +shown him any kindness; that, a fortnight ago, when Tom had had four +apples given him, he had eaten them all himself, without even offering +him part of one; and, above all, he called to mind that Tom was in all +probability the person who had robbed him of his apricots, and killed +his favourite apricot-tree.</p> + +<p>But he remembered our Saviour's command, "Do good to them that hate +you;" and though Tom was a bad boy, yet it grieved Ned to see him crying +with hunger, whilst he himself had food to eat. So he divided both the +bread and the bacon into two equal shares, with his knife, and then, +going up to Tom, gave him one portion, and desired him to eat it. Tom +looked at Ned in some surprise, and then, taking the food that was +offered him, ate it in a ravenous manner, without saying a word.</p> + +<p>"He might just have thanked me," thought Ned to himself; but he forbore +to tell Tom so.</p> + +<p>Ned always read a chapter in the Bible to his grandmother every night +when he came home from work. It happened that this evening the chapter +fixed on was the twelfth of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. He was +much struck by one of the verses in it: "Therefore if thine enemy +hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou +shalt heap coals of fire upon his head."</p> + +<p>"Grandmother," said Ned, when he had concluded the chapter, "I +understand the first part of this verse very well, it is plain enough; +but what is meant by the words, 'for in so doing thou shalt heap coals +of fire upon his head?'"</p> + +<p>His grandmother replied, that this passage had once puzzled her; but +that an old lady with whom she had lived when she was a girl, and who +kindly took great pains in explaining different parts of the Bible that +were hard to be understood, had made this quite clear to her.</p> + +<p>"She told me," continued his grandmother, "that the Apostle alludes to +the custom of melting gold and other metals by fire; and his meaning is, +that as coals of fire melt and soften the metals on which they are +heaped, so by kindness and gentleness we may melt and soften our enemy, +and make him love, instead of hating us."</p> + +<p>Ned thanked his grandmother for this explanation, and then was silent +for some little time.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," he said to himself, "if I go on being kind to Tom Andrews, I +shall at last make him love me, and leave off teasing me and saying +ill-natured things."</p> + +<p>He would not tell his grandmother that he had given Tom part of his +dinner, for fear she should another day give him more; and he knew she +could not do this without robbing herself.</p> + +<p>Tom's father remained out of work for several weeks; and Tom would have +been obliged to go without a dinner most days, if Ned had not regularly +given him half his.</p> + +<p>For some time Tom received his companion's kindness sulkily, and without +appearing at all grateful; but at last Ned's good-natured conduct +appeared to touch him, and he said—</p> + +<p>"How kind you are to me, Ned! though I am sure I have done nothing to +deserve kindness from you. Father often says he wishes I was more like +you; and I do think I should be happier if I was, for you always seem +cheerful and contented, though you work harder than I do."</p> + +<p>"I like working," answered Ned; "nothing makes me so dull as being idle. +Besides, as grandmother says, people are far more likely to do wrong +when they are not employed. You know the lines in the hymn,—</p> + +'For Satan finds some mischief still<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For idle hands to do,'"</span><br /> + +<p>Tom looked down and coloured.</p> + +<p>Ned, who had not meant to give him pain by what he said, added, on +observing Tom's confusion—</p> + +<p>"I have so many things I like to do when I go home after work, that I +don't deserve praise for not being idle."</p> + +<p>"I wish I had anything I liked to do when work is over," returned Tom; +"but I have nothing to do but play, and I soon get tired of that."</p> + +<p>"So do I," rejoined Ned. "I like a game of ball or cricket every now and +then as well as anybody; but it is a great waste of time, to say the +least of it, to spend all one's spare hours in play; besides, as you +say, we get tired, and do not enjoy play if we have too much of it."</p> + +<p>"What do you do of an evening, that is so pleasant?" inquired Tom.</p> + +<p>"Why I keep our little garden in order;—that takes up a good deal of +time; and I write a copy, and do a sum or two, and read the Bible to +grandmother."</p> + +<p>"I should like that very well," observed Tom, "all except reading the +Bible."</p> + +<p>"Oh, do not say so!" exclaimed Ned; "surely you do not mean it."</p> + +<p>"I dare say," rejoined Tom, "that I should like the Bible well enough if +I could understand it; but it's so hard! <i>You</i> understand it all, I +suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear no! that I do not; but grandmother sometimes explains what is +hard, and tells me a great many pleasing things about the manners of the +country where our Saviour and his Apostles lived. I never am happier +than when I read to her, and she talks to me about what I have read."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tom, "mother hears me read a chapter now and then, but she +always seems to think it a trouble; and so I read as fast as I can, to +get it the sooner over. Father commonly says, he's too tired to listen."</p> + +<p>Ned said no more on the subject then; but when they had both done work, +he asked Tom if he would like to walk home with him, and look at his +garden.</p> + +<p>Tom hesitated at first; there seemed to be something in the idea that +made him uncomfortable. But he had been gradually growing fond of Ned, +and Ned's account of the pleasures and comfort of his home had made him +wish to go there; so he told his companion that he would go with him.</p> + +<p>Ned's grandmother received the two boys very kindly, and gave them some +tea and bread and butter. Having learned from Tom that his parents would +not be uneasy at his absence, she asked him to stay with them all the +evening.</p> + +<p>The next day Tom looked wistfully at Ned, as if he wished to go home +with him, but did not like to say anything about it. Ned observed this, +and told him that his grandmother had said he might come whenever he +liked.</p> + +<p>"Then I'll go to-night," said Tom.</p> + +<p>And accordingly he went home with Ned that evening, and almost every +evening afterwards for some time. He helped Ned to work in his garden, +and took a part in all his other employments. Ned always read the Bible +after tea, which Tom at first thought very tiresome; and he would not +have stayed, had he not wished for Ned's company afterwards to walk part +of the way back with him to the village; but soon he became so much +interested in what he heard read, as well as by the improving and +interesting conversation of Ned's grandmother, that he looked forward to +the evening's reading as one of the pleasantest events of the day.</p> + +<p>One afternoon, as the two boys were digging a bed in the garden, Tom +said to his companion—</p> + +<p>"I have long been going to tell you of something that makes me very +uncomfortable; but I have never yet had courage to do it. I know you +think that I stole your apricots, don't you?"</p> + +<p>Ned did not immediately reply. His good-nature made him unwilling to own +that he <i>did</i> suspect Tom; and he could not tell an untruth, by saying +that he did not suspect him.</p> + +<p>"Well," continued Tom, "I am sure you must; and I do not wonder at it. +Now the truth is, that when you told me about your apricots, I thought +to myself that I would come when it was dusk, and take two or three of +them just to eat, thinking that you would not miss such a small number. +But I did not like to go by myself; so I asked Fred Morris if he would +go with me. He said, 'O yes; he would go anywhere, or do anything, to +get some apricots.' He did not know of your tree, he added; or he should +have paid it a visit before. I began to be sorry I had told him, and +made him promise that he would not take more than three. When it got +dark, and we were set out, I felt that I was doing very wrong. I wished +to turn back; but Fred would not let me. He said I need not take any +fruit myself if I wanted to back out; but that if I did not go with him +to show him the tree, he would beat me within an inch of my life. So we +came to the wicket together; it was fastened, and we clambered over the +hedge. Fred had a large basket with him, which I had several times asked +him about, and tried to make him say what he brought it for. He told me +that I should see when the time came. As soon as he got to the tree, he +began gathering the apricots as fast as he could, and putting them into +his basket. I tried to hinder him, and said I would shout and wake you; +but he declared that, if I did, he would kill me; and you know, Ned, he +is nearly twice as big as I am, and terribly violent; so all I could do +was to hold my tongue, and let him alone. Just as we were going away, he +caught up a saw that was lying in the garden, and spoiled the tree with +it. I do believe he did this just for the love of mischief, or maybe +partly to spite me, because I had told him not to steal all the +apricots. He would not let me have one for my share; though I do not +think I could have eaten it if he had, I was so much frightened, and so +surprised at him for stealing all your fruit. He besides ordered me not +to tell what he had done, and bullied me a great deal about it, till at +last I got away from him. I was too much afraid to tell you for a good +while, but I could not bear that you should think I had been so very +wicked; and at last I made up my mind to tell you exactly how it was.</p> + +<p>"I know that I have been very wrong," continued Tom; "and that if it had +not been for me the apricots would not have been stolen. I can't be more +sorry than I am. And now that you have heard all, Ned, will you forgive +me, and try not to think as badly of me as I deserve?"</p> + +<p>Ned said he was glad to hear Tom had had no more share in the affair; +and then, holding out his hand to Tom, he assured him of his entire +forgiveness.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, Tom," he added, "I forgave you in my heart long ago."</p> + +<p>"I am sure you did," rejoined Tom warmly, "or you would not have been so +kind to me. O Ned, you cannot think how unhappy it makes me when I +recollect how often I have been teasing and ill-natured to you, +notwithstanding your good-nature to me!"</p> + +<p>"Say no more about that," replied Ned; "you have not been teasing or +ill-natured lately. We shall, I hope, always be good friends for the +future."</p> + +<p>When Tom was gone, Ned related this conversation to his grandmother.</p> + +<p>"I think," she observed, when he concluded, "that all Tom's sin in this +matter came from breaking the tenth commandment. If he had not first +coveted the apricots, he would not have been tempted to steal them. +Through earnestly desiring what did not belong to him, he was led not +only to commit a great sin himself, but to be the means of leading a +fellow-creature into sin also. Fred Morris would not have thought of +robbing the apricot-tree had not Tom put it into his head. In the Bible +we are frequently charged not to lead our brother into sin; and heavy +punishments are denounced against him who shall cause another to do +evil."</p> + +<p>"I used to think, grandmother," observed Ned, "that the tenth +commandment must be the least important of all; I did not suppose there +could be any very great harm in merely wishing for what belongs to +another person; but I shall never think so in future."</p> + +<p>Several weeks passed away, and the weather began to grow cold and +winterly. Ned could not help sighing when he saw his grandmother +suffering from the cold, and recollected that she had no cloak to keep +her warm, and would have none all the winter.</p> + +<p>He sometimes sighed, too, as he looked at the apricot-tree, whose +branches were now dead and withering; and so did Tom. Both the boys +agreed that it had better be cut down, and taken away entirely.</p> + +<p>"How I wish," exclaimed Tom, "that we had another to put in its place!"</p> + +<p>"So do I," rejoined Ned; "but apricot-trees, I believe, are very dear to +buy. A gardener my father used to work for, and who is now dead, gave me +this. I fear there is no chance of our ever getting another."</p> + +<p>"How I do wish I was rich!" cried Tom; "I would give you an +apricot-tree, and all manner of things besides. I should like to be as +rich as our Squire best; but it would do to be as rich as Farmer +Tomkyns. Oh, if I had only half as many sheep, and pigs, and cows, and +haystacks, as he has, how happy I should be! Don't you wish you had some +of the Squire's or Farmer Tomkyns's riches, Ned?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Ned, "I don't; because we ought not to wish for other +people's things."</p> + +<p>He then told Tom all that he could remember of what his grandmother had +said to him about the sin of coveting what does not belong to us; and +that doing so, besides breaking one commandment, is very likely to lead +to the breaking of others also.</p> + +<p>"But," asked Tom, "how is it possible to help longing sometimes for +things we have not got, and yet see other people have?" "We may not," +said Ned's grandmother, who had come out to call the boys in to tea, and +had overheard the latter part of their conversation; "we may not, +perhaps, be always able to prevent covetous or envious thoughts from +entering our mind; but we should directly endeavour to drive them away, +and pray to God to make us contented with 'that state of life in which +it has pleased Him to place us.' 'Be content with such things as ye +have,' says St. Paul. And again, speaking of himself, he tells us, 'I +have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.' Besides, +Tom, the rich are not always happy. They have a great many cares and +anxieties that we know nothing of. You cannot have forgotten what +trouble Farmer Tomkyns was in last spring when so many of his cattle +died of the distemper, and he was afraid he should lose the rest. It is +true the Squire can afford to have always a grand dinner to sit down to; +but of what use is that when he is, and has been for years, in such a +bad state of health that the choicest dainties afford him no pleasure! +Do not you think, Tom, that if you were in his place, you would gladly +give all the fine clothes, dainty food, and wealth that you possessed, +to be strong and hearty again, even +though you had only a poor cottage to live in, and a crust of bread to +eat?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," replied Tom, "that I would, I am sure." +</p> + +<p> +"We are all," resumed the old woman, "too apt, I fear, to think more of +the blessings and comforts we want, or fancy we want, than of those we +already possess. We forget that c those among us who have least, have +far more than they deserve.'" +</p> + +<p> +"What you say, grandmother," observed Ned, "puts me in mind of some +verses in one of Watts's Hymns, that I learned by heart a little while +ago. May I say them?" +</p> + +<p> +"Do so, my dear," replied his grandmother. And Ned repeated the +following verses:-- +</p> + +<p> + "Not more than others I deserve,<br> + Yet God hath given me more;<br> + For I have food while others starve,<br> + Or beg from door to door.<br> +</p> + +<p> + "While some poor wretches scarce can tell<br> + Where they may lay their head,<br> + I have a home wherein to dwell,<br> + And rest upon my bed.<br> +</p> + +<p> + "While others early learn to swear,<br> + And curse, and lie, and steal;<br> + Lord, I am taught Thy name to fear,<br> + And do Thy holy will.<br> +</p> + +<p> + "Are these Thy favours, day by day,<br> + To me above the rest;<br> + Then let me love Thee more than they,<br> + And try to serve Thee best."<br> +</p> + +<br> + +<p> +"They are very pretty verses indeed," said his grandmother, when Ned +had finished; "and I am glad that you remember them at the right time." +</p> + +<p> +The day after this conversation, Tom told Ned that he should not be +able to go home with him when work was over that evening, because his +uncle was coming. +</p> + +<p> +It was frosty, and nothing could be done in the garden; so when Ned had +mended a rail in the little wicket gate that was broken, and had had +his tea, read the Bible, got by heart a column-of spelling, and said it +to his grandmother, he sat down on a stool near the fire, and amused +himself by going on with a stocking he had begun to knit. +</p> + +<p> +"How thankful I am to you for having taught me to knit," said he, +"because it is something pleasant to do when I am in-doors of a +winter's evening." +</p> + +<p> +Just as Ned left off speaking a knock was heard at the cottage door. He +ran to open it, and was rather surprised to see Tom, and with him a +well-dressed, pleasant-looking man, whom he did not remember to have +seen before. +</p> + +<p> +"This is my uncle," said Tom. +</p> + +<p> +Ned bowed, and set a chair for their visitor. +</p> + +<p> +"I come," said Mr. Graham, for that was the name of Tom's uncle, "to +thank you, my young friend, for your kindness to my nephew. I have long +intended adopting Tom, and taking him to live with me when he was old +enough to learn my trade, which is that of a carpenter, but when I came +to Ryefield, a year ago, I found him so different in many respects from +what I could have wished, that I gave up my intention, for I could not +undertake to teacli a boy who was idle and unsteady. I now find him so +much altered for the better, and Farmer Tomkyns gives me such a good +account of his behaviour, that I am quite ready to give him a trial. He +tells me that he has to thank you, Ned, for his improvement; that he +has learned from your example to be steady and industrious, and to try +to correct his faults; and that it is you and your good grandmother who +have taught him to love his Bible, and take pleasure in going to +church. Tom also tells me that it is his fault your nice apricot tree +was spoiled. Now there is a nurseryman, a friend of mine, whom I have +several times had an opportunity of obliging, and I have no doubt that +he will give me for you a strong young tree, at the proper time for +planting fruit trees." +</p> + +<p> +Ned thanked Mr. Graham, who then added-- +</p> + +<p> +"The town where I live is several miles off, so that you and Tom will +not be able to see each other as often as you used, but Tom can walk +over here on Sundays, and go with you to Ryefield Church sometimes, and +I hope your grandmother will allow you now and then to come and see +him." +</p> + +<p> +Ned's grandmother promised that she would; and then Tom told Ned that +Farmer Tomkyns had very kindly said he would employ Robert, his younger +brother, in place of himself. +</p> + +<p> +"I am glad to hear it," said Ned. +</p> + +<p> +"And so am I," said his grandmother. "It will be a great help to your +father, Tom, to have you taken quite off his hands, and one of your +brothers employed also." +</p> + +<p> +Tom then said he had heard that Fred Morris had been caught stealing +some faggots, and taken before the magistrates, who had sent him to +prison. +</p> + +<p> +The next day Farmer Tomkyns told Ned that in consequence of his good +behaviour since he had been in his service, he was going to raise his +wages. +</p> + +<p> +"Now," said he to himself, "I shall very soon, I trust, be able to get +grandmother a cloak with my own earnings." +</p> + +<p> +This thought, and the prospect of having another apricot tree, made him +feel happy; and so he told his grandmother. +</p> + +<p> +"But, granny," added he, "do you know there is something that makes me +feel happier still than the thought of the cloak or the apricot tree +either; and that is poor Tom's good fortune, and"---- +</p> + +<p> +He stopped and hesitated. +</p> + +<p> +"What were you going to say, my dear?" inquired his grandmother. +</p> + +<p> +"And knowing that his good fortune is partly owing to me, I was going +to have said, grandmother," answered Ned, blushing; "only it sounds +like praising myself." +</p> + +<p> +"It is very natural that you should feel glad at this, my dear boy," +rejoined his grandmother, smiling kindly; "for there is no pleasure so +great as that we feel when conscious of having contributed to the +welfare and happiness of a fellow-creature." +</p> + +<br><br><br><br> + +<p> +R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL. +</p> + +<br><br><br><br> + +<div align="center"> + <img src="img2.jpg" alt="back cover"/> </div> + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Apricot Tree, by Unknown + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE APRICOT TREE *** + +***** This file should be named 10976-h.htm or 10976-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/9/7/10976/ + +Produced by Internet Archive; University of Florida, Children, Sjaani +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Apricot Tree + +Author: Unknown + +Release Date: February 7, 2004 [EBook #10976] +Last Updated: July 27, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE APRICOT TREE *** + + + + +Produced by Internet Archive; University of Florida, Children, Sjaani +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + +THE + +APRICOT TREE. + + + +PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF + +THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, + +APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING + +CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. + + + +LONDON: + +PRINTED FOR THE + +SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; + +SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORY, + +GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS; + +AND 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE. + +1851. + + * * * * * + +Price TWOPENCE. + +_R. Clay, Printer_, + +_Bread Street Hill_. + +[Illustration] + + + +THE APRICOT-TREE. + + +It was a fine evening in the beginning of autumn. The last rays of the +sun, as it sunk behind the golden clouds, gleamed in at the window of a +cottage, which stood in a pleasant lane, about a quarter of a mile from +the village of Ryefield. On each side of the narrow gravel walk that led +from the lane to the cottage-door, was a little plot of cultivated +ground. That on the right hand was planted with cabbages, onions, and +other useful vegetables; that on the left, with gooseberry and +currant-bushes, excepting one small strip, where stocks, sweet-peas, and +rose-trees were growing; whose flowers, for they were now in full bloom, +peeping over the neatly trimmed quick-hedge that fenced the garden from +the road, had a gay and pretty appearance. Not a weed was to be found in +any of the beds; the gooseberry and currant-bushes had evidently been +pruned with much care and attention, and were loaded with fine ripe +fruit. But the most remarkable thing in the garden was an apricot-tree, +which grew against the wall of the cottage, and which was covered with +apricots of a large size and beautiful colour. + +The cottage itself, though small and thatched with straw, was clean and +cheerful, the brick floor was strewed with sand, and a white though +coarse cloth was spread on the little deal table. On this table were +placed tea-things, a loaf of bread, and some watercresses. A cat was +purring on the hearth, and a kettle was boiling on the fire. + +Near the window, in a large arm-chair, sat an old woman, with a Bible on +her knees. She appeared happy and contented, and her countenance +expressed cheerfulness and good temper. After reading for some time with +great attention, she paused to look from the window into the lane, as if +expecting to see some one. She listened as if for a footstep; but all +was silent. She read again for about ten minutes longer, and then +closing the Sacred Volume, rose, and, having laid the Book carefully on +a shelf, opened the door, and went out into the garden, whence she could +see farther into the lane, and remained for a considerable time leaning +over the little wicket gate, in anxious expectation. + +"What can be the reason that Ned is so late?" she said, half aloud, to +herself. "He always hastens home to his poor old grandmother as soon as +he has done work. What can make him an hour later than usual? I hope +nothing has happened to him. But, hush!" she continued, after a few +minutes' pause, "surely I hear him coming now." + +She was not mistaken, for in a minute or two Ned appeared, running quite +fast up the lane, and in a few moments more he was standing by her side, +panting and breathless. + +"Dear grandmother," he exclaimed, as soon as he had recovered breath +enough to speak, "I have a great deal of good news to tell you. Farmer +Tomkyns says he will employ me all through the winter, and pay me the +same wages that he does now. This is one piece of good news. And the +other is, that Mr. Stockwell, the greengrocer, will buy all my apricots, +and give me a good price for them. I am to take them to him next +market-day. I had to wait more than half-an-hour before I could speak to +him, and that made me so late. O how beautiful they are!" continued he, +gazing with admiration at the tree. "O grandmother, how happy I am!" + +His grandmother smiled, and said she was glad to hear this good news. +"And now come in and have your tea, child," she added; "for I am sure +you must be hungry." + +"O grandmother," said Ned, as they sat at tea, "now that Mr. Stockwell +will buy the fruit, you will be able to have a cloak to keep you warm +this winter. It often used to grieve me, last year, to see you obliged +to go to church such bitter cold weather, with only that thin old shawl +on. I know you said you could not spare money to get a cloak for +yourself, because you had spent all you could save in buying me a +jacket. My tree has never borne fruit till this year; and you always +said that when it did, I should do what I pleased with the money its +fruit would fetch. Now, there is nothing I should like to spend it on +better than in getting a cloak for you." + +"Thank you, Ned," replied his grandmother; "it would indeed be a very +great comfort. I do not think I should have suffered so much from +rheumatism last winter, if I had had warmer clothing. If it was not for +your apricot-tree, I must have gone without a cloak this winter also; +for, what with our pig dying, and your having no work to do in the +spring, this has been but a bad year for us." + +"The money Mr. Stockwell is going to give me," resumed Ned, "will be +enough all but sixpence; and I have a new sixpence, you know, in a +little box upstairs, that my aunt gave me last June, when I went to +spend the day with her; so when I carry him the fruit, I shall take that +in my pocket, and then when I come home in the evening I can bring the +cloak with me. O that will be a happy day!" continued Ned, getting up to +jump and clap his hands for joy. + +"There is another thing I am very glad of," said he, sitting down again. +"Master is going to turn Tom Andrews away next week." + +"You ought not to be glad of that, Ned. Tom is one of a large family; +and his father being very poor, it must be a great help to have one of +his children earning something." + +"But he is ill-natured to me, and often plagues me very much. It was +only yesterday he broke the best hoe, by knocking stones about with it, +and then told master it was my doing. Besides, he is idle, and does not +mind what is said to him, and often gets into mischief." + +"And do you think being turned away from Farmer Tomkyns's will help to +cure these faults?" + +"No," answered Ned; "I do not suppose it will." + +"On the contrary, is it not likely that he will grow more idle, and get +oftener into mischief, when he has no master to look after him, and +nothing to do all day long but play about the streets?" + +"Why, yes, that is true. Still, it will serve him right to be turned +away. I have heard Mr. Harris, our rector, say that those who do wrong +ought to be punished." + +"Pray, Ned," asked his grandmother, "can you tell me what is the use of +punishment?" + +"The use of punishment!--" repeated Ned, thoughtfully. "Let me think. +The use of punishment, I believe, is to make people better." + +"Right. Now, Ned, you have allowed that Tom's being turned away is not +likely to make him better, but worse; so that I am afraid the true +reason why you rejoice at his disgrace is because you bear resentment +against him, for having been ill-natured to yourself. Think a minute, +and tell me if this is not the case." + +Ned owned that his grandmother was right; and then observed, "It is very +difficult not to bear ill-will against any one who has done us wrong." + +"Yet," rejoined his grandmother, "it is our duty to pardon those who +have injured us. St. Paul says, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, 'Be ye +kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God +for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.' And our blessed Saviour has +commanded us to 'love our enemies,' to 'do good to them that hate us, +and to pray for those that despitefully use us, and persecute us.' If +you will look at the fourteenth and fifteenth verses of the sixth +chapter of St. Matthew, you will see what else our Lord says on the +subject." + +Ned took the Bible, and having found the place, read, "For if ye forgive +men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if +ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father +forgive your trespasses." + +"Before you go to bed," said his grandmother, when he had finished +reading, "I wish you to get by heart these three texts, and repeat them +to me." + +Ned did as he was desired, and then his grandmother kissed him, and bid +him good-night. + +Ned loved his grandmother very much, for she had always been kind to +him. His parents had both died when he was very young; and she then +brought him home to live with her, and had taken care of him ever since. +She taught him to read and write, and cast up sums; to be steady and +industrious; and, above all, it was her great care to instil into his +mind religious principles. She had often told him that the way to profit +by what we read, as well as by the good advice that may be given us, is +to think upon it afterwards; and she frequently desired him to make a +practice of saying over to himself every night whatever verses from the +Bible he had learnt by heart during the day. + +This evening, when Ned repeated his texts, he felt that he had been +wrong to rejoice at Tom Andrews's disgrace, because he had behaved ill +to himself; and he prayed God to make Tom see his faults, and leave off +his bad ways. + +The next day Ned, as usual, went early to his work. Tom Andrews was +very teasing, but Ned tried not to be provoked; and when Tom said +ill-natured things to him, he checked the angry replies he was tempted +to make. Two days afterwards, when Ned came home to tea, he thought with +pleasure that to-morrow was market-day at the town where Mr. Stockwell +lived; and he ran in and out twenty times, to look at, and admire, his +beautiful apricot-tree. "I must get up very early indeed to-morrow +morning," he said to his grandmother, "that I may gather the apricots, +and take them to Mr. Stockwell before I go to my work." Accordingly the +next morning he rose as soon as it was light, and, taking a basket the +greengrocer had lent him in his hand, went into the little garden to +line it with fresh green leaves, before putting the fruit into it. + +What was his surprise and sorrow when he saw that every one of his +apricots was gone, and the tree itself sawn nearly in two, close to the +root! + +Throwing down his basket, Ned ran to his grandmother, who was just come +down stairs, and had begun to light the fire. + +He could only exclaim, "O my apricots, my apricots, they are all gone! +And my beautiful tree--" then covering his face with his hands, he burst +into tears. + +"What is the matter, my dear?" inquired his grandmother. + +Ned replied by taking her by the hand, and leading her into the garden. + +"Who can have done this?" he exclaimed, sobbing. "If they had only +stolen the apricots, I could have borne it better! But to see my dear +tree spoiled--It must die--it must be quite killed--only look how it is +cut!" + +"I am very sorry for you, my poor boy," said his grandmother, kindly. +"It is a most vexatious thing." + +"Oh!" cried Ned, "if I did but know who it was that had done it--" + +"I would be revenged on them, some how or other," he was going to have +added; but the texts which he had learned a few days before concerning +the forgiveness of injuries, and which he had frequently repeated to +himself since, came into his mind, and he stopped short. + +On looking round the garden, to see if they could discover any traces of +the thief, Ned and his grandmother saw the prints of a boy's shoe, +rather bigger than Ned's, in several of the beds, and hanging on the +quick-hedge were some tattered fragments of a red cotton handkerchief +checked with white. "I know this handkerchief," said Ned; "it is Tom +Andrews's; I have often seen him with it tied round his neck. It must be +he who stole my apricots." + +"You cannot be sure that it is Tom who stole your apricots," rejoined +his grandmother. "Many other people besides him have red handkerchiefs." + +"But I am sure it can be no one but Tom; for only yesterday, when I told +him about my apricots, and the money I expected to get for them, he said +he wished he knew how to get some, that he might have money too. Oh! if +I could but get hold of him--" + +Again he stopped, and thought of our Saviour's words; then, turning to +his grandmother, he said, "Whoever it is that has robbed us of the +fruit, I forgive him, even if it is Tom Andrews." + +Ned went to work that day with a heavy heart. Tom Andrews was in high +glee; for his master had said he would give him another week's trial. +Ned told him of the misfortune that had happened to him, and thought +that Tom looked rather confused. He also remarked that his companion had +not got the red handkerchief on that he usually wore about his neck; and +he asked him the reason. + +"I tore it last night, scrambling through a hedge," replied Tom +carelessly. + +"How came you to be scrambling through a hedge last night?" inquired +Ned. + +"What makes you ask me that question?" returned the other, sharply. + +"Because," answered Ned, fixing his eyes upon him, "because the person +who stole my apricots left part of a red handkerchief hanging on our +hedge." + +"Do you mean to say, then, that _I_ stole them?" exclaimed his +companion, in an angry tone. "I'll teach you to tell this of me." + +So saying, he struck Ned a blow on the face with his fist, before Ned +was aware what he was going to do. + +Ned was very much tempted to strike in return; but just as he raised his +arm, something seemed to whisper that he ought not to do so; and, +drawing back a few steps, he called after Tom, who was beginning to run +away, saying, + +"You need not be afraid of me. I am not going to strike you, though you +did strike me; because it is wrong to return evil for evil." + +"Fine talking, indeed!" rejoined Tom, tauntingly. "I know very well the +reason why you will not strike me again. You dare not, because I am the +biggest and strongest. You are afraid of me." + +Now Ned was no coward. He would have fought in a good cause with a boy +twice his size; and he was very much provoked at the words and manner of +his companion. + +He had a hard struggle with himself not to return the blow; but he kept +firm to the good resolution he had made, and went away. + +As he was returning home very sorrowful, he could not help thinking how +happy he had expected to be that evening; and he regretted extremely +that his grandmother would have no cloak to keep her warm in the cold +weather. Still, the recollection that he had patiently borne the blow +and insulting speeches of Tom, and thus endeavoured to put in practice +the good precepts he had been taught, consoled him, and made him feel +less sad than he would otherwise have been. + +"How did you get that black eye, Ned?" asked his grandmother, as soon as +she saw him. "I hope you have not been fighting." + +"No, grandmother, indeed I have not," replied Ned; and he told her how +it had happened. + +His grandmother said that he was a good boy to have acted as he did, and +added, "It makes me happier to find that you behave well, than twenty +new cloaks would." + +The next day, at dinner time, when Ned went into the little outhouse +where he and Tom usually ate this meal, he found Tom sitting there +crying. + +"What makes you cry, Tom?" inquired Ned. + +"Because I have no dinner," was the reply. + +"How happens that?" asked Ned. + +"Because, now father's out of work, mother says she can only give us two +meals a-day. I only had a little bit of bread this morning; and I shall +have nothing else till I go home in the evening, and then she will give +me a cold potato or two." + +Ned's grandmother had given him that day for his dinner a large slice of +bread, and a piece of cold bacon. Ned had been working hard, and was +very hungry. He could have eaten all the bread and bacon with pleasure, +and felt certain that if he had got no dinner and Tom had, Tom would not +have given him any of his. He recollected that Tom had never in his life +shown him any kindness; that, a fortnight ago, when Tom had had four +apples given him, he had eaten them all himself, without even offering +him part of one; and, above all, he called to mind that Tom was in all +probability the person who had robbed him of his apricots, and killed +his favourite apricot-tree. + +But he remembered our Saviour's command, "Do good to them that hate +you;" and though Tom was a bad boy, yet it grieved Ned to see him crying +with hunger, whilst he himself had food to eat. So he divided both the +bread and the bacon into two equal shares, with his knife, and then, +going up to Tom, gave him one portion, and desired him to eat it. Tom +looked at Ned in some surprise, and then, taking the food that was +offered him, ate it in a ravenous manner, without saying a word. + +"He might just have thanked me," thought Ned to himself; but he forbore +to tell Tom so. + +Ned always read a chapter in the Bible to his grandmother every night +when he came home from work. It happened that this evening the chapter +fixed on was the twelfth of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. He was +much struck by one of the verses in it: "Therefore if thine enemy +hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou +shalt heap coals of fire upon his head." + +"Grandmother," said Ned, when he had concluded the chapter, "I +understand the first part of this verse very well, it is plain enough; +but what is meant by the words, 'for in so doing thou shalt heap coals +of fire upon his head?'" + +His grandmother replied, that this passage had once puzzled her; but +that an old lady with whom she had lived when she was a girl, and who +kindly took great pains in explaining different parts of the Bible that +were hard to be understood, had made this quite clear to her. + +"She told me," continued his grandmother, "that the Apostle alludes to +the custom of melting gold and other metals by fire; and his meaning is, +that as coals of fire melt and soften the metals on which they are +heaped, so by kindness and gentleness we may melt and soften our enemy, +and make him love, instead of hating us." + +Ned thanked his grandmother for this explanation, and then was silent +for some little time. + +"Perhaps," he said to himself, "if I go on being kind to Tom Andrews, I +shall at last make him love me, and leave off teasing me and saying +ill-natured things." + +He would not tell his grandmother that he had given Tom part of his +dinner, for fear she should another day give him more; and he knew she +could not do this without robbing herself. + +Tom's father remained out of work for several weeks; and Tom would have +been obliged to go without a dinner most days, if Ned had not regularly +given him half his. + +For some time Tom received his companion's kindness sulkily, and without +appearing at all grateful; but at last Ned's good-natured conduct +appeared to touch him, and he said-- + +"How kind you are to me, Ned! though I am sure I have done nothing to +deserve kindness from you. Father often says he wishes I was more like +you; and I do think I should be happier if I was, for you always seem +cheerful and contented, though you work harder than I do." + +"I like working," answered Ned; "nothing makes me so dull as being idle. +Besides, as grandmother says, people are far more likely to do wrong +when they are not employed. You know the lines in the hymn,-- + + + 'For Satan finds some mischief still + For idle hands to do,'" + + +Tom looked down and coloured. + +Ned, who had not meant to give him pain by what he said, added, on +observing Tom's confusion-- + +"I have so many things I like to do when I go home after work, that I +don't deserve praise for not being idle." + +"I wish I had anything I liked to do when work is over," returned Tom; +"but I have nothing to do but play, and I soon get tired of that." + +"So do I," rejoined Ned. "I like a game of ball or cricket every now and +then as well as anybody; but it is a great waste of time, to say the +least of it, to spend all one's spare hours in play; besides, as you +say, we get tired, and do not enjoy play if we have too much of it." + +"What do you do of an evening, that is so pleasant?" inquired Tom. + +"Why I keep our little garden in order;--that takes up a good deal of +time; and I write a copy, and do a sum or two, and read the Bible to +grandmother." + +"I should like that very well," observed Tom, "all except reading the +Bible." + +"Oh, do not say so!" exclaimed Ned; "surely you do not mean it." + +"I dare say," rejoined Tom, "that I should like the Bible well enough if +I could understand it; but it's so hard! _You_ understand it all, I +suppose?" + +"Oh, dear no! that I do not; but grandmother sometimes explains what is +hard, and tells me a great many pleasing things about the manners of the +country where our Saviour and his Apostles lived. I never am happier +than when I read to her, and she talks to me about what I have read." + +"Well," said Tom, "mother hears me read a chapter now and then, but she +always seems to think it a trouble; and so I read as fast as I can, to +get it the sooner over. Father commonly says, he's too tired to listen." + +Ned said no more on the subject then; but when they had both done work, +he asked Tom if he would like to walk home with him, and look at his +garden. + +Tom hesitated at first; there seemed to be something in the idea that +made him uncomfortable. But he had been gradually growing fond of Ned, +and Ned's account of the pleasures and comfort of his home had made him +wish to go there; so he told his companion that he would go with him. + +Ned's grandmother received the two boys very kindly, and gave them some +tea and bread and butter. Having learned from Tom that his parents would +not be uneasy at his absence, she asked him to stay with them all the +evening. + +The next day Tom looked wistfully at Ned, as if he wished to go home +with him, but did not like to say anything about it. Ned observed this, +and told him that his grandmother had said he might come whenever he +liked. + +"Then I'll go to-night," said Tom. + +And accordingly he went home with Ned that evening, and almost every +evening afterwards for some time. He helped Ned to work in his garden, +and took a part in all his other employments. Ned always read the Bible +after tea, which Tom at first thought very tiresome; and he would not +have stayed, had he not wished for Ned's company afterwards to walk part +of the way back with him to the village; but soon he became so much +interested in what he heard read, as well as by the improving and +interesting conversation of Ned's grandmother, that he looked forward to +the evening's reading as one of the pleasantest events of the day. + +One afternoon, as the two boys were digging a bed in the garden, Tom +said to his companion-- + +"I have long been going to tell you of something that makes me very +uncomfortable; but I have never yet had courage to do it. I know you +think that I stole your apricots, don't you?" + +Ned did not immediately reply. His good-nature made him unwilling to own +that he _did_ suspect Tom; and he could not tell an untruth, by saying +that he did not suspect him. + +"Well," continued Tom, "I am sure you must; and I do not wonder at it. +Now the truth is, that when you told me about your apricots, I thought +to myself that I would come when it was dusk, and take two or three of +them just to eat, thinking that you would not miss such a small number. +But I did not like to go by myself; so I asked Fred Morris if he would +go with me. He said, 'O yes; he would go anywhere, or do anything, to +get some apricots.' He did not know of your tree, he added; or he should +have paid it a visit before. I began to be sorry I had told him, and +made him promise that he would not take more than three. When it got +dark, and we were set out, I felt that I was doing very wrong. I wished +to turn back; but Fred would not let me. He said I need not take any +fruit myself if I wanted to back out; but that if I did not go with him +to show him the tree, he would beat me within an inch of my life. So we +came to the wicket together; it was fastened, and we clambered over the +hedge. Fred had a large basket with him, which I had several times asked +him about, and tried to make him say what he brought it for. He told me +that I should see when the time came. As soon as he got to the tree, he +began gathering the apricots as fast as he could, and putting them into +his basket. I tried to hinder him, and said I would shout and wake you; +but he declared that, if I did, he would kill me; and you know, Ned, he +is nearly twice as big as I am, and terribly violent; so all I could do +was to hold my tongue, and let him alone. Just as we were going away, he +caught up a saw that was lying in the garden, and spoiled the tree with +it. I do believe he did this just for the love of mischief, or maybe +partly to spite me, because I had told him not to steal all the +apricots. He would not let me have one for my share; though I do not +think I could have eaten it if he had, I was so much frightened, and so +surprised at him for stealing all your fruit. He besides ordered me not +to tell what he had done, and bullied me a great deal about it, till at +last I got away from him. I was too much afraid to tell you for a good +while, but I could not bear that you should think I had been so very +wicked; and at last I made up my mind to tell you exactly how it was. + +"I know that I have been very wrong," continued Tom; "and that if it had +not been for me the apricots would not have been stolen. I can't be more +sorry than I am. And now that you have heard all, Ned, will you forgive +me, and try not to think as badly of me as I deserve?" + +Ned said he was glad to hear Tom had had no more share in the affair; +and then, holding out his hand to Tom, he assured him of his entire +forgiveness. + +"Indeed, Tom," he added, "I forgave you in my heart long ago." + +"I am sure you did," rejoined Tom warmly, "or you would not have been so +kind to me. O Ned, you cannot think how unhappy it makes me when I +recollect how often I have been teasing and ill-natured to you, +notwithstanding your good-nature to me!" + +"Say no more about that," replied Ned; "you have not been teasing or +ill-natured lately. We shall, I hope, always be good friends for the +future." + +When Tom was gone, Ned related this conversation to his grandmother. + +"I think," she observed, when he concluded, "that all Tom's sin in this +matter came from breaking the tenth commandment. If he had not first +coveted the apricots, he would not have been tempted to steal them. +Through earnestly desiring what did not belong to him, he was led not +only to commit a great sin himself, but to be the means of leading a +fellow-creature into sin also. Fred Morris would not have thought of +robbing the apricot-tree had not Tom put it into his head. In the Bible +we are frequently charged not to lead our brother into sin; and heavy +punishments are denounced against him who shall cause another to do +evil." + +"I used to think, grandmother," observed Ned, "that the tenth +commandment must be the least important of all; I did not suppose there +could be any very great harm in merely wishing for what belongs to +another person; but I shall never think so in future." + +Several weeks passed away, and the weather began to grow cold and +winterly. Ned could not help sighing when he saw his grandmother +suffering from the cold, and recollected that she had no cloak to keep +her warm, and would have none all the winter. + +He sometimes sighed, too, as he looked at the apricot-tree, whose +branches were now dead and withering; and so did Tom. Both the boys +agreed that it had better be cut down, and taken away entirely. + +"How I wish," exclaimed Tom, "that we had another to put in its place!" + +"So do I," rejoined Ned; "but apricot-trees, I believe, are very dear to +buy. A gardener my father used to work for, and who is now dead, gave me +this. I fear there is no chance of our ever getting another." + +"How I do wish I was rich!" cried Tom; "I would give you an +apricot-tree, and all manner of things besides. I should like to be as +rich as our Squire best; but it would do to be as rich as Farmer +Tomkyns. Oh, if I had only half as many sheep, and pigs, and cows, and +haystacks, as he has, how happy I should be! Don't you wish you had some +of the Squire's or Farmer Tomkyns's riches, Ned?" + +"No," replied Ned, "I don't; because we ought not to wish for other +people's things." + +He then told Tom all that he could remember of what his grandmother had +said to him about the sin of coveting what does not belong to us; and +that doing so, besides breaking one commandment, is very likely to lead +to the breaking of others also. + +"But," asked Tom, "how is it possible to help longing sometimes for +things we have not got, and yet see other people have?" + +"We may not," said Ned's grandmother, who had come out to call the boys +in to tea, and had overheard the latter part of their conversation; "we +may not, perhaps, be always able to prevent covetous or envious thoughts +from entering our mind; but we should directly endeavour to drive them +away, and pray to God to make us contented with 'that state of life in +which it has pleased Him to place us.' 'Be content with such things as +ye have,' says St. Paul. And again, speaking of himself, he tells us, 'I +have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.' Besides, +Tom, the rich are not always happy. They have a great many cares and +anxieties that we know nothing of. You cannot have forgotten what +trouble Farmer Tomkyns was in last spring when so many of his cattle +died of the distemper, and he was afraid he should lose the rest. It is +true the Squire can afford to have always a grand dinner to sit down to; +but of what use is that when he is, and has been for years, in such a +bad state of health that the choicest dainties afford him no pleasure! +Do not you think, Tom, that if you were in his place, you would gladly +give all the fine clothes, dainty food, and wealth that you possessed, +to be strong and hearty again, even though you had only a poor cottage +to live in, and a crust of bread to eat?" + +"Yes," replied Tom, "that I would, I am sure." + +"We are all," resumed the old woman, "too apt, I fear, to think more of +the blessings and comforts we want, or fancy we want, than of those we +already possess. We forget that c those among us who have least, have +far more than they deserve.'" + +"What you say, grandmother," observed Ned, "puts me in mind of some +verses in one of Watts's Hymns, that I learned by heart a little while +ago. May I say them?" + +"Do so, my dear," replied his grandmother. And Ned repeated the +following verses:-- + + "Not more than others I deserve, + Yet God hath given me more; + For I have food while others starve, + Or beg from door to door. + + "While some poor wretches scarce can tell + Where they may lay their head, + I have a home wherein to dwell, + And rest upon my bed. + + "While others early learn to swear, + And curse, and lie, and steal; + Lord, I am taught Thy name to fear, + And do Thy holy will. + + "Are these Thy favours, day by day, + To me above the rest; + Then let me love Thee more than they, + And try to serve Thee best." + + +"They are very pretty verses indeed," said his grandmother, when Ned +had finished; "and I am glad that you remember them at the right time." + +The day after this conversation, Tom told Ned that he should not be +able to go home with him when work was over that evening, because his +uncle was coming. + +It was frosty, and nothing could be done in the garden; so when Ned had +mended a rail in the little wicket gate that was broken, and had had +his tea, read the Bible, got by heart a column-of spelling, and said it +to his grandmother, he sat down on a stool near the fire, and amused +himself by going on with a stocking he had begun to knit. + +"How thankful I am to you for having taught me to knit," said he, +"because it is something pleasant to do when I am in-doors of a +winter's evening." + +Just as Ned left off speaking a knock was heard at the cottage door. He +ran to open it, and was rather surprised to see Tom, and with him a +well-dressed, pleasant-looking man, whom he did not remember to have +seen before. + +"This is my uncle," said Tom. + +Ned bowed, and set a chair for their visitor. + +"I come," said Mr. Graham, for that was the name of Tom's uncle, "to +thank you, my young friend, for your kindness to my nephew. I have long +intended adopting Tom, and taking him to live with me when he was old +enough to learn my trade, which is that of a carpenter, but when I came +to Ryefield, a year ago, I found him so different in many respects from +what I could have wished, that I gave up my intention, for I could not +undertake to teacli a boy who was idle and unsteady. I now find him so +much altered for the better, and Farmer Tomkyns gives me such a good +account of his behaviour, that I am quite ready to give him a trial. He +tells me that he has to thank you, Ned, for his improvement; that he +has learned from your example to be steady and industrious, and to try +to correct his faults; and that it is you and your good grandmother who +have taught him to love his Bible, and take pleasure in going to +church. Tom also tells me that it is his fault your nice apricot tree +was spoiled. Now there is a nurseryman, a friend of mine, whom I have +several times had an opportunity of obliging, and I have no doubt that +he will give me for you a strong young tree, at the proper time for +planting fruit trees." + +Ned thanked Mr. Graham, who then added-- + +"The town where I live is several miles off, so that you and Tom will +not be able to see each other as often as you used, but Tom can walk +over here on Sundays, and go with you to Ryefield Church sometimes, and +I hope your grandmother will allow you now and then to come and see +him." + +Ned's grandmother promised that she would; and then Tom told Ned that +Farmer Tomkyns had very kindly said he would employ Robert, his younger +brother, in place of himself. + +"I am glad to hear it," said Ned. + +"And so am I," said his grandmother. "It will be a great help to your +father, Tom, to have you taken quite off his hands, and one of your +brothers employed also." + +Tom then said he had heard that Fred Morris had been caught stealing +some faggots, and taken before the magistrates, who had sent him to +prison. + +The next day Farmer Tomkyns told Ned that in consequence of his good +behaviour since he had been in his service, he was going to raise his +wages. + +"Now," said he to himself, "I shall very soon, I trust, be able to get +grandmother a cloak with my own earnings." + +This thought, and the prospect of having another apricot tree, made him +feel happy; and so he told his grandmother. + +"But, granny," added he, "do you know there is something that makes me +feel happier still than the thought of the cloak or the apricot tree +either; and that is poor Tom's good fortune, and"---- + +He stopped and hesitated. + +"What were you going to say, my dear?" inquired his grandmother. + +"And knowing that his good fortune is partly owing to me, I was going +to have said, grandmother," answered Ned, blushing; "only it sounds +like praising myself." + +"It is very natural that you should feel glad at this, my dear boy," +rejoined his grandmother, smiling kindly; "for there is no pleasure so +great as that we feel when conscious of having contributed to the +welfare and happiness of a fellow-creature." + + + + + +R. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Apricot Tree + +Author: Unknown + +Release Date: February 7, 2004 [EBook #10976] +Last Updated: July 27, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE APRICOT TREE *** + + + + +Produced by Internet Archive; University of Florida, Children, Sjaani +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h1>THE APRICOT TREE.</h1> + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<img src="img1.jpg" align="left" alt="" /> +<div class="publish" align="center">PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF<br /> +THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION,<br /> +APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING<br /> +CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +LONDON:<br /> +<br /> +PRINTED FOR THE<br /> +SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE;<br /> +SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORY,<br /> +<br /> +GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS;<br /> +AND 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE.<br /> +<br /> +1851. + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<p>Price TWOPENCE.</p> + +<p><i>R. Clay, Printer</i>,</p> + +<p><i>Bread Street Hill</i>.</p></div> + + +<br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<br /> + +<p>It was a fine evening in the beginning of autumn. The last rays of the +sun, as it sunk behind the golden clouds, gleamed in at the window of a +cottage, which stood in a pleasant lane, about a quarter of a mile from +the village of Ryefield. On each side of the narrow gravel walk that led +from the lane to the cottage-door, was a little plot of cultivated +ground. That on the right hand was planted with cabbages, onions, and +other useful vegetables; that on the left, with gooseberry and +currant-bushes, excepting one small strip, where stocks, sweet-peas, and +rose-trees were growing; whose flowers, for they were now in full bloom, +peeping over the neatly trimmed quick-hedge that fenced the garden from +the road, had a gay and pretty appearance. Not a weed was to be found in +any of the beds; the gooseberry and currant-bushes had evidently been +pruned with much care and attention, and were loaded with fine ripe +fruit. But the most remarkable thing in the garden was an apricot-tree, +which grew against the wall of the cottage, and which was covered with +apricots of a large size and beautiful colour.</p> + +<p>The cottage itself, though small and thatched with straw, was clean and +cheerful, the brick floor was strewed with sand, and a white though +coarse cloth was spread on the little deal table. On this table were +placed tea-things, a loaf of bread, and some watercresses. A cat was +purring on the hearth, and a kettle was boiling on the fire.</p> + +<p>Near the window, in a large arm-chair, sat an old woman, with a Bible on +her knees. She appeared happy and contented, and her countenance +expressed cheerfulness and good temper. After reading for some time with +great attention, she paused to look from the window into the lane, as if +expecting to see some one. She listened as if for a footstep; but all +was silent. She read again for about ten minutes longer, and then +closing the Sacred Volume, rose, and, having laid the Book carefully on +a shelf, opened the door, and went out into the garden, whence she could +see farther into the lane, and remained for a considerable time leaning +over the little wicket gate, in anxious expectation.</p> + +<p>"What can be the reason that Ned is so late?" she said, half aloud, to +herself. "He always hastens home to his poor old grandmother as soon as +he has done work. What can make him an hour later than usual? I hope +nothing has happened to him. But, hush!" she continued, after a few +minutes' pause, "surely I hear him coming now."</p> + +<p>She was not mistaken, for in a minute or two Ned appeared, running quite +fast up the lane, and in a few moments more he was standing by her side, +panting and breathless.</p> + +<p>"Dear grandmother," he exclaimed, as soon as he had recovered breath +enough to speak, "I have a great deal of good news to tell you. Farmer +Tomkyns says he will employ me all through the winter, and pay me the +same wages that he does now. This is one piece of good news. And the +other is, that Mr. Stockwell, the greengrocer, will buy all my apricots, +and give me a good price for them. I am to take them to him next +market-day. I had to wait more than half-an-hour before I could speak to +him, and that made me so late. O how beautiful they are!" continued he, +gazing with admiration at the tree. "O grandmother, how happy I am!"</p> + +<p>His grandmother smiled, and said she was glad to hear this good news. +"And now come in and have your tea, child," she added; "for I am sure +you must be hungry."</p> + +<p>"O grandmother," said Ned, as they sat at tea, "now that Mr. Stockwell +will buy the fruit, you will be able to have a cloak to keep you warm +this winter. It often used to grieve me, last year, to see you obliged +to go to church such bitter cold weather, with only that thin old shawl +on. I know you said you could not spare money to get a cloak for +yourself, because you had spent all you could save in buying me a +jacket. My tree has never borne fruit till this year; and you always +said that when it did, I should do what I pleased with the money its +fruit would fetch. Now, there is nothing I should like to spend it on +better than in getting a cloak for you."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Ned," replied his grandmother; "it would indeed be a very +great comfort. I do not think I should have suffered so much from +rheumatism last winter, if I had had warmer clothing. If it was not for +your apricot-tree, I must have gone without a cloak this winter also; +for, what with our pig dying, and your having no work to do in the +spring, this has been but a bad year for us."</p> + +<p>"The money Mr. Stockwell is going to give me," resumed Ned, "will be +enough all but sixpence; and I have a new sixpence, you know, in a +little box upstairs, that my aunt gave me last June, when I went to +spend the day with her; so when I carry him the fruit, I shall take that +in my pocket, and then when I come home in the evening I can bring the +cloak with me. O that will be a happy day!" continued Ned, getting up to +jump and clap his hands for joy.</p> + +<p>"There is another thing I am very glad of," said he, sitting down again. +"Master is going to turn Tom Andrews away next week."</p> + +<p>"You ought not to be glad of that, Ned. Tom is one of a large family; +and his father being very poor, it must be a great help to have one of +his children earning something."</p> + +<p>"But he is ill-natured to me, and often plagues me very much. It was +only yesterday he broke the best hoe, by knocking stones about with it, +and then told master it was my doing. Besides, he is idle, and does not +mind what is said to him, and often gets into mischief."</p> + +<p>"And do you think being turned away from Farmer Tomkyns's will help to +cure these faults?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered Ned; "I do not suppose it will."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, is it not likely that he will grow more idle, and get +oftener into mischief, when he has no master to look after him, and +nothing to do all day long but play about the streets?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, that is true. Still, it will serve him right to be turned +away. I have heard Mr. Harris, our rector, say that those who do wrong +ought to be punished."</p> + +<p>"Pray, Ned," asked his grandmother, "can you tell me what is the use of +punishment?"</p> + +<p>"The use of punishment!--" repeated Ned, thoughtfully. "Let me think. +The use of punishment, I believe, is to make people better."</p> + +<p>"Right. Now, Ned, you have allowed that Tom's being turned away is not +likely to make him better, but worse; so that I am afraid the true +reason why you rejoice at his disgrace is because you bear resentment +against him, for having been ill-natured to yourself. Think a minute, +and tell me if this is not the case."</p> + +<p>Ned owned that his grandmother was right; and then observed, "It is very +difficult not to bear ill-will against any one who has done us wrong."</p> + +<p>"Yet," rejoined his grandmother, "it is our duty to pardon those who +have injured us. St. Paul says, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, 'Be ye +kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God +for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.' And our blessed Saviour has +commanded us to 'love our enemies,' to 'do good to them that hate us, +and to pray for those that despitefully use us, and persecute us.' If +you will look at the fourteenth and fifteenth verses of the sixth +chapter of St. Matthew, you will see what else our Lord says on the +subject."</p> + +<p>Ned took the Bible, and having found the place, read, "For if ye forgive +men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if +ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father +forgive your trespasses."</p> + +<p>"Before you go to bed," said his grandmother, when he had finished +reading, "I wish you to get by heart these three texts, and repeat them +to me."</p> + +<p>Ned did as he was desired, and then his grandmother kissed him, and bid +him good-night.</p> + +<p>Ned loved his grandmother very much, for she had always been kind to +him. His parents had both died when he was very young; and she then +brought him home to live with her, and had taken care of him ever since. +She taught him to read and write, and cast up sums; to be steady and +industrious; and, above all, it was her great care to instil into his +mind religious principles. She had often told him that the way to profit +by what we read, as well as by the good advice that may be given us, is +to think upon it afterwards; and she frequently desired him to make a +practice of saying over to himself every night whatever verses from the +Bible he had learnt by heart during the day.</p> + +<p>This evening, when Ned repeated his texts, he felt that he had been +wrong to rejoice at Tom Andrews's disgrace, because he had behaved ill +to himself; and he prayed God to make Tom see his faults, and leave off +his bad ways.</p> + +<p>The next day Ned, as usual, went early to his work. Tom Andrews was +very teasing, but Ned tried not to be provoked; and when Tom said +ill-natured things to him, he checked the angry replies he was tempted +to make. Two days afterwards, when Ned came home to tea, he thought with +pleasure that to-morrow was market-day at the town where Mr. Stockwell +lived; and he ran in and out twenty times, to look at, and admire, his +beautiful apricot-tree. "I must get up very early indeed to-morrow +morning," he said to his grandmother, "that I may gather the apricots, +and take them to Mr. Stockwell before I go to my work." Accordingly the +next morning he rose as soon as it was light, and, taking a basket the +greengrocer had lent him in his hand, went into the little garden to +line it with fresh green leaves, before putting the fruit into it.</p> + +<p>What was his surprise and sorrow when he saw that every one of his +apricots was gone, and the tree itself sawn nearly in two, close to the +root!</p> + +<p>Throwing down his basket, Ned ran to his grandmother, who was just come +down stairs, and had begun to light the fire.</p> + +<p>He could only exclaim, "O my apricots, my apricots, they are all gone! +And my beautiful tree—" then covering his face with his hands, he burst +into tears.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter, my dear?" inquired his grandmother.</p> + +<p>Ned replied by taking her by the hand, and leading her into the garden.</p> + +<p>"Who can have done this?" he exclaimed, sobbing. "If they had only +stolen the apricots, I could have borne it better! But to see my dear +tree spoiled—It must die—it must be quite killed—only look how it is +cut!"</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry for you, my poor boy," said his grandmother, kindly. +"It is a most vexatious thing."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Ned, "if I did but know who it was that had done it—"</p> + +<p>"I would be revenged on them, some how or other," he was going to have +added; but the texts which he had learned a few days before concerning +the forgiveness of injuries, and which he had frequently repeated to +himself since, came into his mind, and he stopped short.</p> + +<p>On looking round the garden, to see if they could discover any traces of +the thief, Ned and his grandmother saw the prints of a boy's shoe, +rather bigger than Ned's, in several of the beds, and hanging on the +quick-hedge were some tattered fragments of a red cotton handkerchief +checked with white. "I know this handkerchief," said Ned; "it is Tom +Andrews's; I have often seen him with it tied round his neck. It must be +he who stole my apricots."</p> + +<p>"You cannot be sure that it is Tom who stole your apricots," rejoined +his grandmother. "Many other people besides him have red handkerchiefs."</p> + +<p>"But I am sure it can be no one but Tom; for only yesterday, when I told +him about my apricots, and the money I expected to get for them, he said +he wished he knew how to get some, that he might have money too. Oh! if +I could but get hold of him—"</p> + +<p>Again he stopped, and thought of our Saviour's words; then, turning to +his grandmother, he said, "Whoever it is that has robbed us of the +fruit, I forgive him, even if it is Tom Andrews."</p> + +<p>Ned went to work that day with a heavy heart. Tom Andrews was in high +glee; for his master had said he would give him another week's trial. +Ned told him of the misfortune that had happened to him, and thought +that Tom looked rather confused. He also remarked that his companion had +not got the red handkerchief on that he usually wore about his neck; and +he asked him the reason.</p> + +<p>"I tore it last night, scrambling through a hedge," replied Tom +carelessly.</p> + +<p>"How came you to be scrambling through a hedge last night?" inquired +Ned.</p> + +<p>"What makes you ask me that question?" returned the other, sharply.</p> + +<p>"Because," answered Ned, fixing his eyes upon him, "because the person +who stole my apricots left part of a red handkerchief hanging on our +hedge."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say, then, that <i>I</i> stole them?" exclaimed his +companion, in an angry tone. "I'll teach you to tell this of me."</p> + +<p>So saying, he struck Ned a blow on the face with his fist, before Ned +was aware what he was going to do.</p> + +<p>Ned was very much tempted to strike in return; but just as he raised his +arm, something seemed to whisper that he ought not to do so; and, +drawing back a few steps, he called after Tom, who was beginning to run +away, saying,</p> + +<p>"You need not be afraid of me. I am not going to strike you, though you +did strike me; because it is wrong to return evil for evil."</p> + +<p>"Fine talking, indeed!" rejoined Tom, tauntingly. "I know very well the +reason why you will not strike me again. You dare not, because I am the +biggest and strongest. You are afraid of me."</p> + +<p>Now Ned was no coward. He would have fought in a good cause with a boy +twice his size; and he was very much provoked at the words and manner of +his companion.</p> + +<p>He had a hard struggle with himself not to return the blow; but he kept +firm to the good resolution he had made, and went away.</p> + +<p>As he was returning home very sorrowful, he could not help thinking how +happy he had expected to be that evening; and he regretted extremely +that his grandmother would have no cloak to keep her warm in the cold +weather. Still, the recollection that he had patiently borne the blow +and insulting speeches of Tom, and thus endeavoured to put in practice +the good precepts he had been taught, consoled him, and made him feel +less sad than he would otherwise have been.</p> + +<p>"How did you get that black eye, Ned?" asked his grandmother, as soon as +she saw him. "I hope you have not been fighting."</p> + +<p>"No, grandmother, indeed I have not," replied Ned; and he told her how +it had happened.</p> + +<p>His grandmother said that he was a good boy to have acted as he did, and +added, "It makes me happier to find that you behave well, than twenty +new cloaks would."</p> + +<p>The next day, at dinner time, when Ned went into the little outhouse +where he and Tom usually ate this meal, he found Tom sitting there +crying.</p> + +<p>"What makes you cry, Tom?" inquired Ned.</p> + +<p>"Because I have no dinner," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"How happens that?" asked Ned.</p> + +<p>"Because, now father's out of work, mother says she can only give us two +meals a-day. I only had a little bit of bread this morning; and I shall +have nothing else till I go home in the evening, and then she will give +me a cold potato or two."</p> + +<p>Ned's grandmother had given him that day for his dinner a large slice of +bread, and a piece of cold bacon. Ned had been working hard, and was +very hungry. He could have eaten all the bread and bacon with pleasure, +and felt certain that if he had got no dinner and Tom had, Tom would not +have given him any of his. He recollected that Tom had never in his life +shown him any kindness; that, a fortnight ago, when Tom had had four +apples given him, he had eaten them all himself, without even offering +him part of one; and, above all, he called to mind that Tom was in all +probability the person who had robbed him of his apricots, and killed +his favourite apricot-tree.</p> + +<p>But he remembered our Saviour's command, "Do good to them that hate +you;" and though Tom was a bad boy, yet it grieved Ned to see him crying +with hunger, whilst he himself had food to eat. So he divided both the +bread and the bacon into two equal shares, with his knife, and then, +going up to Tom, gave him one portion, and desired him to eat it. Tom +looked at Ned in some surprise, and then, taking the food that was +offered him, ate it in a ravenous manner, without saying a word.</p> + +<p>"He might just have thanked me," thought Ned to himself; but he forbore +to tell Tom so.</p> + +<p>Ned always read a chapter in the Bible to his grandmother every night +when he came home from work. It happened that this evening the chapter +fixed on was the twelfth of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. He was +much struck by one of the verses in it: "Therefore if thine enemy +hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou +shalt heap coals of fire upon his head."</p> + +<p>"Grandmother," said Ned, when he had concluded the chapter, "I +understand the first part of this verse very well, it is plain enough; +but what is meant by the words, 'for in so doing thou shalt heap coals +of fire upon his head?'"</p> + +<p>His grandmother replied, that this passage had once puzzled her; but +that an old lady with whom she had lived when she was a girl, and who +kindly took great pains in explaining different parts of the Bible that +were hard to be understood, had made this quite clear to her.</p> + +<p>"She told me," continued his grandmother, "that the Apostle alludes to +the custom of melting gold and other metals by fire; and his meaning is, +that as coals of fire melt and soften the metals on which they are +heaped, so by kindness and gentleness we may melt and soften our enemy, +and make him love, instead of hating us."</p> + +<p>Ned thanked his grandmother for this explanation, and then was silent +for some little time.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," he said to himself, "if I go on being kind to Tom Andrews, I +shall at last make him love me, and leave off teasing me and saying +ill-natured things."</p> + +<p>He would not tell his grandmother that he had given Tom part of his +dinner, for fear she should another day give him more; and he knew she +could not do this without robbing herself.</p> + +<p>Tom's father remained out of work for several weeks; and Tom would have +been obliged to go without a dinner most days, if Ned had not regularly +given him half his.</p> + +<p>For some time Tom received his companion's kindness sulkily, and without +appearing at all grateful; but at last Ned's good-natured conduct +appeared to touch him, and he said—</p> + +<p>"How kind you are to me, Ned! though I am sure I have done nothing to +deserve kindness from you. Father often says he wishes I was more like +you; and I do think I should be happier if I was, for you always seem +cheerful and contented, though you work harder than I do."</p> + +<p>"I like working," answered Ned; "nothing makes me so dull as being idle. +Besides, as grandmother says, people are far more likely to do wrong +when they are not employed. You know the lines in the hymn,—</p> + +'For Satan finds some mischief still<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For idle hands to do,'"</span><br /> + +<p>Tom looked down and coloured.</p> + +<p>Ned, who had not meant to give him pain by what he said, added, on +observing Tom's confusion—</p> + +<p>"I have so many things I like to do when I go home after work, that I +don't deserve praise for not being idle."</p> + +<p>"I wish I had anything I liked to do when work is over," returned Tom; +"but I have nothing to do but play, and I soon get tired of that."</p> + +<p>"So do I," rejoined Ned. "I like a game of ball or cricket every now and +then as well as anybody; but it is a great waste of time, to say the +least of it, to spend all one's spare hours in play; besides, as you +say, we get tired, and do not enjoy play if we have too much of it."</p> + +<p>"What do you do of an evening, that is so pleasant?" inquired Tom.</p> + +<p>"Why I keep our little garden in order;—that takes up a good deal of +time; and I write a copy, and do a sum or two, and read the Bible to +grandmother."</p> + +<p>"I should like that very well," observed Tom, "all except reading the +Bible."</p> + +<p>"Oh, do not say so!" exclaimed Ned; "surely you do not mean it."</p> + +<p>"I dare say," rejoined Tom, "that I should like the Bible well enough if +I could understand it; but it's so hard! <i>You</i> understand it all, I +suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear no! that I do not; but grandmother sometimes explains what is +hard, and tells me a great many pleasing things about the manners of the +country where our Saviour and his Apostles lived. I never am happier +than when I read to her, and she talks to me about what I have read."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tom, "mother hears me read a chapter now and then, but she +always seems to think it a trouble; and so I read as fast as I can, to +get it the sooner over. Father commonly says, he's too tired to listen."</p> + +<p>Ned said no more on the subject then; but when they had both done work, +he asked Tom if he would like to walk home with him, and look at his +garden.</p> + +<p>Tom hesitated at first; there seemed to be something in the idea that +made him uncomfortable. But he had been gradually growing fond of Ned, +and Ned's account of the pleasures and comfort of his home had made him +wish to go there; so he told his companion that he would go with him.</p> + +<p>Ned's grandmother received the two boys very kindly, and gave them some +tea and bread and butter. Having learned from Tom that his parents would +not be uneasy at his absence, she asked him to stay with them all the +evening.</p> + +<p>The next day Tom looked wistfully at Ned, as if he wished to go home +with him, but did not like to say anything about it. Ned observed this, +and told him that his grandmother had said he might come whenever he +liked.</p> + +<p>"Then I'll go to-night," said Tom.</p> + +<p>And accordingly he went home with Ned that evening, and almost every +evening afterwards for some time. He helped Ned to work in his garden, +and took a part in all his other employments. Ned always read the Bible +after tea, which Tom at first thought very tiresome; and he would not +have stayed, had he not wished for Ned's company afterwards to walk part +of the way back with him to the village; but soon he became so much +interested in what he heard read, as well as by the improving and +interesting conversation of Ned's grandmother, that he looked forward to +the evening's reading as one of the pleasantest events of the day.</p> + +<p>One afternoon, as the two boys were digging a bed in the garden, Tom +said to his companion—</p> + +<p>"I have long been going to tell you of something that makes me very +uncomfortable; but I have never yet had courage to do it. I know you +think that I stole your apricots, don't you?"</p> + +<p>Ned did not immediately reply. His good-nature made him unwilling to own +that he <i>did</i> suspect Tom; and he could not tell an untruth, by saying +that he did not suspect him.</p> + +<p>"Well," continued Tom, "I am sure you must; and I do not wonder at it. +Now the truth is, that when you told me about your apricots, I thought +to myself that I would come when it was dusk, and take two or three of +them just to eat, thinking that you would not miss such a small number. +But I did not like to go by myself; so I asked Fred Morris if he would +go with me. He said, 'O yes; he would go anywhere, or do anything, to +get some apricots.' He did not know of your tree, he added; or he should +have paid it a visit before. I began to be sorry I had told him, and +made him promise that he would not take more than three. When it got +dark, and we were set out, I felt that I was doing very wrong. I wished +to turn back; but Fred would not let me. He said I need not take any +fruit myself if I wanted to back out; but that if I did not go with him +to show him the tree, he would beat me within an inch of my life. So we +came to the wicket together; it was fastened, and we clambered over the +hedge. Fred had a large basket with him, which I had several times asked +him about, and tried to make him say what he brought it for. He told me +that I should see when the time came. As soon as he got to the tree, he +began gathering the apricots as fast as he could, and putting them into +his basket. I tried to hinder him, and said I would shout and wake you; +but he declared that, if I did, he would kill me; and you know, Ned, he +is nearly twice as big as I am, and terribly violent; so all I could do +was to hold my tongue, and let him alone. Just as we were going away, he +caught up a saw that was lying in the garden, and spoiled the tree with +it. I do believe he did this just for the love of mischief, or maybe +partly to spite me, because I had told him not to steal all the +apricots. He would not let me have one for my share; though I do not +think I could have eaten it if he had, I was so much frightened, and so +surprised at him for stealing all your fruit. He besides ordered me not +to tell what he had done, and bullied me a great deal about it, till at +last I got away from him. I was too much afraid to tell you for a good +while, but I could not bear that you should think I had been so very +wicked; and at last I made up my mind to tell you exactly how it was.</p> + +<p>"I know that I have been very wrong," continued Tom; "and that if it had +not been for me the apricots would not have been stolen. I can't be more +sorry than I am. And now that you have heard all, Ned, will you forgive +me, and try not to think as badly of me as I deserve?"</p> + +<p>Ned said he was glad to hear Tom had had no more share in the affair; +and then, holding out his hand to Tom, he assured him of his entire +forgiveness.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, Tom," he added, "I forgave you in my heart long ago."</p> + +<p>"I am sure you did," rejoined Tom warmly, "or you would not have been so +kind to me. O Ned, you cannot think how unhappy it makes me when I +recollect how often I have been teasing and ill-natured to you, +notwithstanding your good-nature to me!"</p> + +<p>"Say no more about that," replied Ned; "you have not been teasing or +ill-natured lately. We shall, I hope, always be good friends for the +future."</p> + +<p>When Tom was gone, Ned related this conversation to his grandmother.</p> + +<p>"I think," she observed, when he concluded, "that all Tom's sin in this +matter came from breaking the tenth commandment. If he had not first +coveted the apricots, he would not have been tempted to steal them. +Through earnestly desiring what did not belong to him, he was led not +only to commit a great sin himself, but to be the means of leading a +fellow-creature into sin also. Fred Morris would not have thought of +robbing the apricot-tree had not Tom put it into his head. In the Bible +we are frequently charged not to lead our brother into sin; and heavy +punishments are denounced against him who shall cause another to do +evil."</p> + +<p>"I used to think, grandmother," observed Ned, "that the tenth +commandment must be the least important of all; I did not suppose there +could be any very great harm in merely wishing for what belongs to +another person; but I shall never think so in future."</p> + +<p>Several weeks passed away, and the weather began to grow cold and +winterly. Ned could not help sighing when he saw his grandmother +suffering from the cold, and recollected that she had no cloak to keep +her warm, and would have none all the winter.</p> + +<p>He sometimes sighed, too, as he looked at the apricot-tree, whose +branches were now dead and withering; and so did Tom. Both the boys +agreed that it had better be cut down, and taken away entirely.</p> + +<p>"How I wish," exclaimed Tom, "that we had another to put in its place!"</p> + +<p>"So do I," rejoined Ned; "but apricot-trees, I believe, are very dear to +buy. A gardener my father used to work for, and who is now dead, gave me +this. I fear there is no chance of our ever getting another."</p> + +<p>"How I do wish I was rich!" cried Tom; "I would give you an +apricot-tree, and all manner of things besides. I should like to be as +rich as our Squire best; but it would do to be as rich as Farmer +Tomkyns. Oh, if I had only half as many sheep, and pigs, and cows, and +haystacks, as he has, how happy I should be! Don't you wish you had some +of the Squire's or Farmer Tomkyns's riches, Ned?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Ned, "I don't; because we ought not to wish for other +people's things."</p> + +<p>He then told Tom all that he could remember of what his grandmother had +said to him about the sin of coveting what does not belong to us; and +that doing so, besides breaking one commandment, is very likely to lead +to the breaking of others also.</p> + +<p>"But," asked Tom, "how is it possible to help longing sometimes for +things we have not got, and yet see other people have?" "We may not," +said Ned's grandmother, who had come out to call the boys in to tea, and +had overheard the latter part of their conversation; "we may not, +perhaps, be always able to prevent covetous or envious thoughts from +entering our mind; but we should directly endeavour to drive them away, +and pray to God to make us contented with 'that state of life in which +it has pleased Him to place us.' 'Be content with such things as ye +have,' says St. Paul. And again, speaking of himself, he tells us, 'I +have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.' Besides, +Tom, the rich are not always happy. They have a great many cares and +anxieties that we know nothing of. You cannot have forgotten what +trouble Farmer Tomkyns was in last spring when so many of his cattle +died of the distemper, and he was afraid he should lose the rest. It is +true the Squire can afford to have always a grand dinner to sit down to; +but of what use is that when he is, and has been for years, in such a +bad state of health that the choicest dainties afford him no pleasure! +Do not you think, Tom, that if you were in his place, you would gladly +give all the fine clothes, dainty food, and wealth that you possessed, +to be strong and hearty again, even +though you had only a poor cottage to live in, and a crust of bread to +eat?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes," replied Tom, "that I would, I am sure." +</p> + +<p> +"We are all," resumed the old woman, "too apt, I fear, to think more of +the blessings and comforts we want, or fancy we want, than of those we +already possess. We forget that c those among us who have least, have +far more than they deserve.'" +</p> + +<p> +"What you say, grandmother," observed Ned, "puts me in mind of some +verses in one of Watts's Hymns, that I learned by heart a little while +ago. May I say them?" +</p> + +<p> +"Do so, my dear," replied his grandmother. And Ned repeated the +following verses:-- +</p> + +<p> + "Not more than others I deserve,<br> + Yet God hath given me more;<br> + For I have food while others starve,<br> + Or beg from door to door.<br> +</p> + +<p> + "While some poor wretches scarce can tell<br> + Where they may lay their head,<br> + I have a home wherein to dwell,<br> + And rest upon my bed.<br> +</p> + +<p> + "While others early learn to swear,<br> + And curse, and lie, and steal;<br> + Lord, I am taught Thy name to fear,<br> + And do Thy holy will.<br> +</p> + +<p> + "Are these Thy favours, day by day,<br> + To me above the rest;<br> + Then let me love Thee more than they,<br> + And try to serve Thee best."<br> +</p> + +<br> + +<p> +"They are very pretty verses indeed," said his grandmother, when Ned +had finished; "and I am glad that you remember them at the right time." +</p> + +<p> +The day after this conversation, Tom told Ned that he should not be +able to go home with him when work was over that evening, because his +uncle was coming. +</p> + +<p> +It was frosty, and nothing could be done in the garden; so when Ned had +mended a rail in the little wicket gate that was broken, and had had +his tea, read the Bible, got by heart a column-of spelling, and said it +to his grandmother, he sat down on a stool near the fire, and amused +himself by going on with a stocking he had begun to knit. +</p> + +<p> +"How thankful I am to you for having taught me to knit," said he, +"because it is something pleasant to do when I am in-doors of a +winter's evening." +</p> + +<p> +Just as Ned left off speaking a knock was heard at the cottage door. He +ran to open it, and was rather surprised to see Tom, and with him a +well-dressed, pleasant-looking man, whom he did not remember to have +seen before. +</p> + +<p> +"This is my uncle," said Tom. +</p> + +<p> +Ned bowed, and set a chair for their visitor. +</p> + +<p> +"I come," said Mr. Graham, for that was the name of Tom's uncle, "to +thank you, my young friend, for your kindness to my nephew. I have long +intended adopting Tom, and taking him to live with me when he was old +enough to learn my trade, which is that of a carpenter, but when I came +to Ryefield, a year ago, I found him so different in many respects from +what I could have wished, that I gave up my intention, for I could not +undertake to teacli a boy who was idle and unsteady. I now find him so +much altered for the better, and Farmer Tomkyns gives me such a good +account of his behaviour, that I am quite ready to give him a trial. He +tells me that he has to thank you, Ned, for his improvement; that he +has learned from your example to be steady and industrious, and to try +to correct his faults; and that it is you and your good grandmother who +have taught him to love his Bible, and take pleasure in going to +church. Tom also tells me that it is his fault your nice apricot tree +was spoiled. Now there is a nurseryman, a friend of mine, whom I have +several times had an opportunity of obliging, and I have no doubt that +he will give me for you a strong young tree, at the proper time for +planting fruit trees." +</p> + +<p> +Ned thanked Mr. Graham, who then added-- +</p> + +<p> +"The town where I live is several miles off, so that you and Tom will +not be able to see each other as often as you used, but Tom can walk +over here on Sundays, and go with you to Ryefield Church sometimes, and +I hope your grandmother will allow you now and then to come and see +him." +</p> + +<p> +Ned's grandmother promised that she would; and then Tom told Ned that +Farmer Tomkyns had very kindly said he would employ Robert, his younger +brother, in place of himself. +</p> + +<p> +"I am glad to hear it," said Ned. +</p> + +<p> +"And so am I," said his grandmother. "It will be a great help to your +father, Tom, to have you taken quite off his hands, and one of your +brothers employed also." +</p> + +<p> +Tom then said he had heard that Fred Morris had been caught stealing +some faggots, and taken before the magistrates, who had sent him to +prison. +</p> + +<p> +The next day Farmer Tomkyns told Ned that in consequence of his good +behaviour since he had been in his service, he was going to raise his +wages. +</p> + +<p> +"Now," said he to himself, "I shall very soon, I trust, be able to get +grandmother a cloak with my own earnings." +</p> + +<p> +This thought, and the prospect of having another apricot tree, made him +feel happy; and so he told his grandmother. +</p> + +<p> +"But, granny," added he, "do you know there is something that makes me +feel happier still than the thought of the cloak or the apricot tree +either; and that is poor Tom's good fortune, and"---- +</p> + +<p> +He stopped and hesitated. +</p> + +<p> +"What were you going to say, my dear?" inquired his grandmother. +</p> + +<p> +"And knowing that his good fortune is partly owing to me, I was going +to have said, grandmother," answered Ned, blushing; "only it sounds +like praising myself." +</p> + +<p> +"It is very natural that you should feel glad at this, my dear boy," +rejoined his grandmother, smiling kindly; "for there is no pleasure so +great as that we feel when conscious of having contributed to the +welfare and happiness of a fellow-creature." +</p> + +<br><br><br><br> + +<p> +R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL. +</p> + +<br><br><br><br> + +<div align="center"> + <img src="img2.jpg" alt="back cover"/> </div> + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Apricot Tree, by Unknown + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE APRICOT TREE *** + +***** This file should be named 10976-h.htm or 10976-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/9/7/10976/ + +Produced by Internet Archive; University of Florida, Children, Sjaani +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Apricot Tree + +Author: Unknown + +Release Date: February 7, 2004 [EBook #10976] +Last Updated: July 27, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE APRICOT TREE *** + + + + +Produced by Internet Archive; University of Florida, Children, Sjaani +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + +THE + +APRICOT TREE. + + + +PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF + +THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, + +APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING + +CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. + + + +LONDON: + +PRINTED FOR THE + +SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; + +SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORY, + +GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS; + +AND 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE. + +1851. + + * * * * * + +Price TWOPENCE. + +_R. Clay, Printer_, + +_Bread Street Hill_. + +[Illustration] + + + +THE APRICOT-TREE. + + +It was a fine evening in the beginning of autumn. The last rays of the +sun, as it sunk behind the golden clouds, gleamed in at the window of a +cottage, which stood in a pleasant lane, about a quarter of a mile from +the village of Ryefield. On each side of the narrow gravel walk that led +from the lane to the cottage-door, was a little plot of cultivated +ground. That on the right hand was planted with cabbages, onions, and +other useful vegetables; that on the left, with gooseberry and +currant-bushes, excepting one small strip, where stocks, sweet-peas, and +rose-trees were growing; whose flowers, for they were now in full bloom, +peeping over the neatly trimmed quick-hedge that fenced the garden from +the road, had a gay and pretty appearance. Not a weed was to be found in +any of the beds; the gooseberry and currant-bushes had evidently been +pruned with much care and attention, and were loaded with fine ripe +fruit. But the most remarkable thing in the garden was an apricot-tree, +which grew against the wall of the cottage, and which was covered with +apricots of a large size and beautiful colour. + +The cottage itself, though small and thatched with straw, was clean and +cheerful, the brick floor was strewed with sand, and a white though +coarse cloth was spread on the little deal table. On this table were +placed tea-things, a loaf of bread, and some watercresses. A cat was +purring on the hearth, and a kettle was boiling on the fire. + +Near the window, in a large arm-chair, sat an old woman, with a Bible on +her knees. She appeared happy and contented, and her countenance +expressed cheerfulness and good temper. After reading for some time with +great attention, she paused to look from the window into the lane, as if +expecting to see some one. She listened as if for a footstep; but all +was silent. She read again for about ten minutes longer, and then +closing the Sacred Volume, rose, and, having laid the Book carefully on +a shelf, opened the door, and went out into the garden, whence she could +see farther into the lane, and remained for a considerable time leaning +over the little wicket gate, in anxious expectation. + +"What can be the reason that Ned is so late?" she said, half aloud, to +herself. "He always hastens home to his poor old grandmother as soon as +he has done work. What can make him an hour later than usual? I hope +nothing has happened to him. But, hush!" she continued, after a few +minutes' pause, "surely I hear him coming now." + +She was not mistaken, for in a minute or two Ned appeared, running quite +fast up the lane, and in a few moments more he was standing by her side, +panting and breathless. + +"Dear grandmother," he exclaimed, as soon as he had recovered breath +enough to speak, "I have a great deal of good news to tell you. Farmer +Tomkyns says he will employ me all through the winter, and pay me the +same wages that he does now. This is one piece of good news. And the +other is, that Mr. Stockwell, the greengrocer, will buy all my apricots, +and give me a good price for them. I am to take them to him next +market-day. I had to wait more than half-an-hour before I could speak to +him, and that made me so late. O how beautiful they are!" continued he, +gazing with admiration at the tree. "O grandmother, how happy I am!" + +His grandmother smiled, and said she was glad to hear this good news. +"And now come in and have your tea, child," she added; "for I am sure +you must be hungry." + +"O grandmother," said Ned, as they sat at tea, "now that Mr. Stockwell +will buy the fruit, you will be able to have a cloak to keep you warm +this winter. It often used to grieve me, last year, to see you obliged +to go to church such bitter cold weather, with only that thin old shawl +on. I know you said you could not spare money to get a cloak for +yourself, because you had spent all you could save in buying me a +jacket. My tree has never borne fruit till this year; and you always +said that when it did, I should do what I pleased with the money its +fruit would fetch. Now, there is nothing I should like to spend it on +better than in getting a cloak for you." + +"Thank you, Ned," replied his grandmother; "it would indeed be a very +great comfort. I do not think I should have suffered so much from +rheumatism last winter, if I had had warmer clothing. If it was not for +your apricot-tree, I must have gone without a cloak this winter also; +for, what with our pig dying, and your having no work to do in the +spring, this has been but a bad year for us." + +"The money Mr. Stockwell is going to give me," resumed Ned, "will be +enough all but sixpence; and I have a new sixpence, you know, in a +little box upstairs, that my aunt gave me last June, when I went to +spend the day with her; so when I carry him the fruit, I shall take that +in my pocket, and then when I come home in the evening I can bring the +cloak with me. O that will be a happy day!" continued Ned, getting up to +jump and clap his hands for joy. + +"There is another thing I am very glad of," said he, sitting down again. +"Master is going to turn Tom Andrews away next week." + +"You ought not to be glad of that, Ned. Tom is one of a large family; +and his father being very poor, it must be a great help to have one of +his children earning something." + +"But he is ill-natured to me, and often plagues me very much. It was +only yesterday he broke the best hoe, by knocking stones about with it, +and then told master it was my doing. Besides, he is idle, and does not +mind what is said to him, and often gets into mischief." + +"And do you think being turned away from Farmer Tomkyns's will help to +cure these faults?" + +"No," answered Ned; "I do not suppose it will." + +"On the contrary, is it not likely that he will grow more idle, and get +oftener into mischief, when he has no master to look after him, and +nothing to do all day long but play about the streets?" + +"Why, yes, that is true. Still, it will serve him right to be turned +away. I have heard Mr. Harris, our rector, say that those who do wrong +ought to be punished." + +"Pray, Ned," asked his grandmother, "can you tell me what is the use of +punishment?" + +"The use of punishment!--" repeated Ned, thoughtfully. "Let me think. +The use of punishment, I believe, is to make people better." + +"Right. Now, Ned, you have allowed that Tom's being turned away is not +likely to make him better, but worse; so that I am afraid the true +reason why you rejoice at his disgrace is because you bear resentment +against him, for having been ill-natured to yourself. Think a minute, +and tell me if this is not the case." + +Ned owned that his grandmother was right; and then observed, "It is very +difficult not to bear ill-will against any one who has done us wrong." + +"Yet," rejoined his grandmother, "it is our duty to pardon those who +have injured us. St. Paul says, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, 'Be ye +kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God +for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.' And our blessed Saviour has +commanded us to 'love our enemies,' to 'do good to them that hate us, +and to pray for those that despitefully use us, and persecute us.' If +you will look at the fourteenth and fifteenth verses of the sixth +chapter of St. Matthew, you will see what else our Lord says on the +subject." + +Ned took the Bible, and having found the place, read, "For if ye forgive +men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if +ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father +forgive your trespasses." + +"Before you go to bed," said his grandmother, when he had finished +reading, "I wish you to get by heart these three texts, and repeat them +to me." + +Ned did as he was desired, and then his grandmother kissed him, and bid +him good-night. + +Ned loved his grandmother very much, for she had always been kind to +him. His parents had both died when he was very young; and she then +brought him home to live with her, and had taken care of him ever since. +She taught him to read and write, and cast up sums; to be steady and +industrious; and, above all, it was her great care to instil into his +mind religious principles. She had often told him that the way to profit +by what we read, as well as by the good advice that may be given us, is +to think upon it afterwards; and she frequently desired him to make a +practice of saying over to himself every night whatever verses from the +Bible he had learnt by heart during the day. + +This evening, when Ned repeated his texts, he felt that he had been +wrong to rejoice at Tom Andrews's disgrace, because he had behaved ill +to himself; and he prayed God to make Tom see his faults, and leave off +his bad ways. + +The next day Ned, as usual, went early to his work. Tom Andrews was +very teasing, but Ned tried not to be provoked; and when Tom said +ill-natured things to him, he checked the angry replies he was tempted +to make. Two days afterwards, when Ned came home to tea, he thought with +pleasure that to-morrow was market-day at the town where Mr. Stockwell +lived; and he ran in and out twenty times, to look at, and admire, his +beautiful apricot-tree. "I must get up very early indeed to-morrow +morning," he said to his grandmother, "that I may gather the apricots, +and take them to Mr. Stockwell before I go to my work." Accordingly the +next morning he rose as soon as it was light, and, taking a basket the +greengrocer had lent him in his hand, went into the little garden to +line it with fresh green leaves, before putting the fruit into it. + +What was his surprise and sorrow when he saw that every one of his +apricots was gone, and the tree itself sawn nearly in two, close to the +root! + +Throwing down his basket, Ned ran to his grandmother, who was just come +down stairs, and had begun to light the fire. + +He could only exclaim, "O my apricots, my apricots, they are all gone! +And my beautiful tree--" then covering his face with his hands, he burst +into tears. + +"What is the matter, my dear?" inquired his grandmother. + +Ned replied by taking her by the hand, and leading her into the garden. + +"Who can have done this?" he exclaimed, sobbing. "If they had only +stolen the apricots, I could have borne it better! But to see my dear +tree spoiled--It must die--it must be quite killed--only look how it is +cut!" + +"I am very sorry for you, my poor boy," said his grandmother, kindly. +"It is a most vexatious thing." + +"Oh!" cried Ned, "if I did but know who it was that had done it--" + +"I would be revenged on them, some how or other," he was going to have +added; but the texts which he had learned a few days before concerning +the forgiveness of injuries, and which he had frequently repeated to +himself since, came into his mind, and he stopped short. + +On looking round the garden, to see if they could discover any traces of +the thief, Ned and his grandmother saw the prints of a boy's shoe, +rather bigger than Ned's, in several of the beds, and hanging on the +quick-hedge were some tattered fragments of a red cotton handkerchief +checked with white. "I know this handkerchief," said Ned; "it is Tom +Andrews's; I have often seen him with it tied round his neck. It must be +he who stole my apricots." + +"You cannot be sure that it is Tom who stole your apricots," rejoined +his grandmother. "Many other people besides him have red handkerchiefs." + +"But I am sure it can be no one but Tom; for only yesterday, when I told +him about my apricots, and the money I expected to get for them, he said +he wished he knew how to get some, that he might have money too. Oh! if +I could but get hold of him--" + +Again he stopped, and thought of our Saviour's words; then, turning to +his grandmother, he said, "Whoever it is that has robbed us of the +fruit, I forgive him, even if it is Tom Andrews." + +Ned went to work that day with a heavy heart. Tom Andrews was in high +glee; for his master had said he would give him another week's trial. +Ned told him of the misfortune that had happened to him, and thought +that Tom looked rather confused. He also remarked that his companion had +not got the red handkerchief on that he usually wore about his neck; and +he asked him the reason. + +"I tore it last night, scrambling through a hedge," replied Tom +carelessly. + +"How came you to be scrambling through a hedge last night?" inquired +Ned. + +"What makes you ask me that question?" returned the other, sharply. + +"Because," answered Ned, fixing his eyes upon him, "because the person +who stole my apricots left part of a red handkerchief hanging on our +hedge." + +"Do you mean to say, then, that _I_ stole them?" exclaimed his +companion, in an angry tone. "I'll teach you to tell this of me." + +So saying, he struck Ned a blow on the face with his fist, before Ned +was aware what he was going to do. + +Ned was very much tempted to strike in return; but just as he raised his +arm, something seemed to whisper that he ought not to do so; and, +drawing back a few steps, he called after Tom, who was beginning to run +away, saying, + +"You need not be afraid of me. I am not going to strike you, though you +did strike me; because it is wrong to return evil for evil." + +"Fine talking, indeed!" rejoined Tom, tauntingly. "I know very well the +reason why you will not strike me again. You dare not, because I am the +biggest and strongest. You are afraid of me." + +Now Ned was no coward. He would have fought in a good cause with a boy +twice his size; and he was very much provoked at the words and manner of +his companion. + +He had a hard struggle with himself not to return the blow; but he kept +firm to the good resolution he had made, and went away. + +As he was returning home very sorrowful, he could not help thinking how +happy he had expected to be that evening; and he regretted extremely +that his grandmother would have no cloak to keep her warm in the cold +weather. Still, the recollection that he had patiently borne the blow +and insulting speeches of Tom, and thus endeavoured to put in practice +the good precepts he had been taught, consoled him, and made him feel +less sad than he would otherwise have been. + +"How did you get that black eye, Ned?" asked his grandmother, as soon as +she saw him. "I hope you have not been fighting." + +"No, grandmother, indeed I have not," replied Ned; and he told her how +it had happened. + +His grandmother said that he was a good boy to have acted as he did, and +added, "It makes me happier to find that you behave well, than twenty +new cloaks would." + +The next day, at dinner time, when Ned went into the little outhouse +where he and Tom usually ate this meal, he found Tom sitting there +crying. + +"What makes you cry, Tom?" inquired Ned. + +"Because I have no dinner," was the reply. + +"How happens that?" asked Ned. + +"Because, now father's out of work, mother says she can only give us two +meals a-day. I only had a little bit of bread this morning; and I shall +have nothing else till I go home in the evening, and then she will give +me a cold potato or two." + +Ned's grandmother had given him that day for his dinner a large slice of +bread, and a piece of cold bacon. Ned had been working hard, and was +very hungry. He could have eaten all the bread and bacon with pleasure, +and felt certain that if he had got no dinner and Tom had, Tom would not +have given him any of his. He recollected that Tom had never in his life +shown him any kindness; that, a fortnight ago, when Tom had had four +apples given him, he had eaten them all himself, without even offering +him part of one; and, above all, he called to mind that Tom was in all +probability the person who had robbed him of his apricots, and killed +his favourite apricot-tree. + +But he remembered our Saviour's command, "Do good to them that hate +you;" and though Tom was a bad boy, yet it grieved Ned to see him crying +with hunger, whilst he himself had food to eat. So he divided both the +bread and the bacon into two equal shares, with his knife, and then, +going up to Tom, gave him one portion, and desired him to eat it. Tom +looked at Ned in some surprise, and then, taking the food that was +offered him, ate it in a ravenous manner, without saying a word. + +"He might just have thanked me," thought Ned to himself; but he forbore +to tell Tom so. + +Ned always read a chapter in the Bible to his grandmother every night +when he came home from work. It happened that this evening the chapter +fixed on was the twelfth of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. He was +much struck by one of the verses in it: "Therefore if thine enemy +hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou +shalt heap coals of fire upon his head." + +"Grandmother," said Ned, when he had concluded the chapter, "I +understand the first part of this verse very well, it is plain enough; +but what is meant by the words, 'for in so doing thou shalt heap coals +of fire upon his head?'" + +His grandmother replied, that this passage had once puzzled her; but +that an old lady with whom she had lived when she was a girl, and who +kindly took great pains in explaining different parts of the Bible that +were hard to be understood, had made this quite clear to her. + +"She told me," continued his grandmother, "that the Apostle alludes to +the custom of melting gold and other metals by fire; and his meaning is, +that as coals of fire melt and soften the metals on which they are +heaped, so by kindness and gentleness we may melt and soften our enemy, +and make him love, instead of hating us." + +Ned thanked his grandmother for this explanation, and then was silent +for some little time. + +"Perhaps," he said to himself, "if I go on being kind to Tom Andrews, I +shall at last make him love me, and leave off teasing me and saying +ill-natured things." + +He would not tell his grandmother that he had given Tom part of his +dinner, for fear she should another day give him more; and he knew she +could not do this without robbing herself. + +Tom's father remained out of work for several weeks; and Tom would have +been obliged to go without a dinner most days, if Ned had not regularly +given him half his. + +For some time Tom received his companion's kindness sulkily, and without +appearing at all grateful; but at last Ned's good-natured conduct +appeared to touch him, and he said-- + +"How kind you are to me, Ned! though I am sure I have done nothing to +deserve kindness from you. Father often says he wishes I was more like +you; and I do think I should be happier if I was, for you always seem +cheerful and contented, though you work harder than I do." + +"I like working," answered Ned; "nothing makes me so dull as being idle. +Besides, as grandmother says, people are far more likely to do wrong +when they are not employed. You know the lines in the hymn,-- + + + 'For Satan finds some mischief still + For idle hands to do,'" + + +Tom looked down and coloured. + +Ned, who had not meant to give him pain by what he said, added, on +observing Tom's confusion-- + +"I have so many things I like to do when I go home after work, that I +don't deserve praise for not being idle." + +"I wish I had anything I liked to do when work is over," returned Tom; +"but I have nothing to do but play, and I soon get tired of that." + +"So do I," rejoined Ned. "I like a game of ball or cricket every now and +then as well as anybody; but it is a great waste of time, to say the +least of it, to spend all one's spare hours in play; besides, as you +say, we get tired, and do not enjoy play if we have too much of it." + +"What do you do of an evening, that is so pleasant?" inquired Tom. + +"Why I keep our little garden in order;--that takes up a good deal of +time; and I write a copy, and do a sum or two, and read the Bible to +grandmother." + +"I should like that very well," observed Tom, "all except reading the +Bible." + +"Oh, do not say so!" exclaimed Ned; "surely you do not mean it." + +"I dare say," rejoined Tom, "that I should like the Bible well enough if +I could understand it; but it's so hard! _You_ understand it all, I +suppose?" + +"Oh, dear no! that I do not; but grandmother sometimes explains what is +hard, and tells me a great many pleasing things about the manners of the +country where our Saviour and his Apostles lived. I never am happier +than when I read to her, and she talks to me about what I have read." + +"Well," said Tom, "mother hears me read a chapter now and then, but she +always seems to think it a trouble; and so I read as fast as I can, to +get it the sooner over. Father commonly says, he's too tired to listen." + +Ned said no more on the subject then; but when they had both done work, +he asked Tom if he would like to walk home with him, and look at his +garden. + +Tom hesitated at first; there seemed to be something in the idea that +made him uncomfortable. But he had been gradually growing fond of Ned, +and Ned's account of the pleasures and comfort of his home had made him +wish to go there; so he told his companion that he would go with him. + +Ned's grandmother received the two boys very kindly, and gave them some +tea and bread and butter. Having learned from Tom that his parents would +not be uneasy at his absence, she asked him to stay with them all the +evening. + +The next day Tom looked wistfully at Ned, as if he wished to go home +with him, but did not like to say anything about it. Ned observed this, +and told him that his grandmother had said he might come whenever he +liked. + +"Then I'll go to-night," said Tom. + +And accordingly he went home with Ned that evening, and almost every +evening afterwards for some time. He helped Ned to work in his garden, +and took a part in all his other employments. Ned always read the Bible +after tea, which Tom at first thought very tiresome; and he would not +have stayed, had he not wished for Ned's company afterwards to walk part +of the way back with him to the village; but soon he became so much +interested in what he heard read, as well as by the improving and +interesting conversation of Ned's grandmother, that he looked forward to +the evening's reading as one of the pleasantest events of the day. + +One afternoon, as the two boys were digging a bed in the garden, Tom +said to his companion-- + +"I have long been going to tell you of something that makes me very +uncomfortable; but I have never yet had courage to do it. I know you +think that I stole your apricots, don't you?" + +Ned did not immediately reply. His good-nature made him unwilling to own +that he _did_ suspect Tom; and he could not tell an untruth, by saying +that he did not suspect him. + +"Well," continued Tom, "I am sure you must; and I do not wonder at it. +Now the truth is, that when you told me about your apricots, I thought +to myself that I would come when it was dusk, and take two or three of +them just to eat, thinking that you would not miss such a small number. +But I did not like to go by myself; so I asked Fred Morris if he would +go with me. He said, 'O yes; he would go anywhere, or do anything, to +get some apricots.' He did not know of your tree, he added; or he should +have paid it a visit before. I began to be sorry I had told him, and +made him promise that he would not take more than three. When it got +dark, and we were set out, I felt that I was doing very wrong. I wished +to turn back; but Fred would not let me. He said I need not take any +fruit myself if I wanted to back out; but that if I did not go with him +to show him the tree, he would beat me within an inch of my life. So we +came to the wicket together; it was fastened, and we clambered over the +hedge. Fred had a large basket with him, which I had several times asked +him about, and tried to make him say what he brought it for. He told me +that I should see when the time came. As soon as he got to the tree, he +began gathering the apricots as fast as he could, and putting them into +his basket. I tried to hinder him, and said I would shout and wake you; +but he declared that, if I did, he would kill me; and you know, Ned, he +is nearly twice as big as I am, and terribly violent; so all I could do +was to hold my tongue, and let him alone. Just as we were going away, he +caught up a saw that was lying in the garden, and spoiled the tree with +it. I do believe he did this just for the love of mischief, or maybe +partly to spite me, because I had told him not to steal all the +apricots. He would not let me have one for my share; though I do not +think I could have eaten it if he had, I was so much frightened, and so +surprised at him for stealing all your fruit. He besides ordered me not +to tell what he had done, and bullied me a great deal about it, till at +last I got away from him. I was too much afraid to tell you for a good +while, but I could not bear that you should think I had been so very +wicked; and at last I made up my mind to tell you exactly how it was. + +"I know that I have been very wrong," continued Tom; "and that if it had +not been for me the apricots would not have been stolen. I can't be more +sorry than I am. And now that you have heard all, Ned, will you forgive +me, and try not to think as badly of me as I deserve?" + +Ned said he was glad to hear Tom had had no more share in the affair; +and then, holding out his hand to Tom, he assured him of his entire +forgiveness. + +"Indeed, Tom," he added, "I forgave you in my heart long ago." + +"I am sure you did," rejoined Tom warmly, "or you would not have been so +kind to me. O Ned, you cannot think how unhappy it makes me when I +recollect how often I have been teasing and ill-natured to you, +notwithstanding your good-nature to me!" + +"Say no more about that," replied Ned; "you have not been teasing or +ill-natured lately. We shall, I hope, always be good friends for the +future." + +When Tom was gone, Ned related this conversation to his grandmother. + +"I think," she observed, when he concluded, "that all Tom's sin in this +matter came from breaking the tenth commandment. If he had not first +coveted the apricots, he would not have been tempted to steal them. +Through earnestly desiring what did not belong to him, he was led not +only to commit a great sin himself, but to be the means of leading a +fellow-creature into sin also. Fred Morris would not have thought of +robbing the apricot-tree had not Tom put it into his head. In the Bible +we are frequently charged not to lead our brother into sin; and heavy +punishments are denounced against him who shall cause another to do +evil." + +"I used to think, grandmother," observed Ned, "that the tenth +commandment must be the least important of all; I did not suppose there +could be any very great harm in merely wishing for what belongs to +another person; but I shall never think so in future." + +Several weeks passed away, and the weather began to grow cold and +winterly. Ned could not help sighing when he saw his grandmother +suffering from the cold, and recollected that she had no cloak to keep +her warm, and would have none all the winter. + +He sometimes sighed, too, as he looked at the apricot-tree, whose +branches were now dead and withering; and so did Tom. Both the boys +agreed that it had better be cut down, and taken away entirely. + +"How I wish," exclaimed Tom, "that we had another to put in its place!" + +"So do I," rejoined Ned; "but apricot-trees, I believe, are very dear to +buy. A gardener my father used to work for, and who is now dead, gave me +this. I fear there is no chance of our ever getting another." + +"How I do wish I was rich!" cried Tom; "I would give you an +apricot-tree, and all manner of things besides. I should like to be as +rich as our Squire best; but it would do to be as rich as Farmer +Tomkyns. Oh, if I had only half as many sheep, and pigs, and cows, and +haystacks, as he has, how happy I should be! Don't you wish you had some +of the Squire's or Farmer Tomkyns's riches, Ned?" + +"No," replied Ned, "I don't; because we ought not to wish for other +people's things." + +He then told Tom all that he could remember of what his grandmother had +said to him about the sin of coveting what does not belong to us; and +that doing so, besides breaking one commandment, is very likely to lead +to the breaking of others also. + +"But," asked Tom, "how is it possible to help longing sometimes for +things we have not got, and yet see other people have?" + +"We may not," said Ned's grandmother, who had come out to call the boys +in to tea, and had overheard the latter part of their conversation; "we +may not, perhaps, be always able to prevent covetous or envious thoughts +from entering our mind; but we should directly endeavour to drive them +away, and pray to God to make us contented with 'that state of life in +which it has pleased Him to place us.' 'Be content with such things as +ye have,' says St. Paul. And again, speaking of himself, he tells us, 'I +have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.' Besides, +Tom, the rich are not always happy. They have a great many cares and +anxieties that we know nothing of. You cannot have forgotten what +trouble Farmer Tomkyns was in last spring when so many of his cattle +died of the distemper, and he was afraid he should lose the rest. It is +true the Squire can afford to have always a grand dinner to sit down to; +but of what use is that when he is, and has been for years, in such a +bad state of health that the choicest dainties afford him no pleasure! +Do not you think, Tom, that if you were in his place, you would gladly +give all the fine clothes, dainty food, and wealth that you possessed, +to be strong and hearty again, even though you had only a poor cottage +to live in, and a crust of bread to eat?" + +"Yes," replied Tom, "that I would, I am sure." + +"We are all," resumed the old woman, "too apt, I fear, to think more of +the blessings and comforts we want, or fancy we want, than of those we +already possess. We forget that c those among us who have least, have +far more than they deserve.'" + +"What you say, grandmother," observed Ned, "puts me in mind of some +verses in one of Watts's Hymns, that I learned by heart a little while +ago. May I say them?" + +"Do so, my dear," replied his grandmother. And Ned repeated the +following verses:-- + + "Not more than others I deserve, + Yet God hath given me more; + For I have food while others starve, + Or beg from door to door. + + "While some poor wretches scarce can tell + Where they may lay their head, + I have a home wherein to dwell, + And rest upon my bed. + + "While others early learn to swear, + And curse, and lie, and steal; + Lord, I am taught Thy name to fear, + And do Thy holy will. + + "Are these Thy favours, day by day, + To me above the rest; + Then let me love Thee more than they, + And try to serve Thee best." + + +"They are very pretty verses indeed," said his grandmother, when Ned +had finished; "and I am glad that you remember them at the right time." + +The day after this conversation, Tom told Ned that he should not be +able to go home with him when work was over that evening, because his +uncle was coming. + +It was frosty, and nothing could be done in the garden; so when Ned had +mended a rail in the little wicket gate that was broken, and had had +his tea, read the Bible, got by heart a column-of spelling, and said it +to his grandmother, he sat down on a stool near the fire, and amused +himself by going on with a stocking he had begun to knit. + +"How thankful I am to you for having taught me to knit," said he, +"because it is something pleasant to do when I am in-doors of a +winter's evening." + +Just as Ned left off speaking a knock was heard at the cottage door. He +ran to open it, and was rather surprised to see Tom, and with him a +well-dressed, pleasant-looking man, whom he did not remember to have +seen before. + +"This is my uncle," said Tom. + +Ned bowed, and set a chair for their visitor. + +"I come," said Mr. Graham, for that was the name of Tom's uncle, "to +thank you, my young friend, for your kindness to my nephew. I have long +intended adopting Tom, and taking him to live with me when he was old +enough to learn my trade, which is that of a carpenter, but when I came +to Ryefield, a year ago, I found him so different in many respects from +what I could have wished, that I gave up my intention, for I could not +undertake to teacli a boy who was idle and unsteady. I now find him so +much altered for the better, and Farmer Tomkyns gives me such a good +account of his behaviour, that I am quite ready to give him a trial. He +tells me that he has to thank you, Ned, for his improvement; that he +has learned from your example to be steady and industrious, and to try +to correct his faults; and that it is you and your good grandmother who +have taught him to love his Bible, and take pleasure in going to +church. Tom also tells me that it is his fault your nice apricot tree +was spoiled. Now there is a nurseryman, a friend of mine, whom I have +several times had an opportunity of obliging, and I have no doubt that +he will give me for you a strong young tree, at the proper time for +planting fruit trees." + +Ned thanked Mr. Graham, who then added-- + +"The town where I live is several miles off, so that you and Tom will +not be able to see each other as often as you used, but Tom can walk +over here on Sundays, and go with you to Ryefield Church sometimes, and +I hope your grandmother will allow you now and then to come and see +him." + +Ned's grandmother promised that she would; and then Tom told Ned that +Farmer Tomkyns had very kindly said he would employ Robert, his younger +brother, in place of himself. + +"I am glad to hear it," said Ned. + +"And so am I," said his grandmother. "It will be a great help to your +father, Tom, to have you taken quite off his hands, and one of your +brothers employed also." + +Tom then said he had heard that Fred Morris had been caught stealing +some faggots, and taken before the magistrates, who had sent him to +prison. + +The next day Farmer Tomkyns told Ned that in consequence of his good +behaviour since he had been in his service, he was going to raise his +wages. + +"Now," said he to himself, "I shall very soon, I trust, be able to get +grandmother a cloak with my own earnings." + +This thought, and the prospect of having another apricot tree, made him +feel happy; and so he told his grandmother. + +"But, granny," added he, "do you know there is something that makes me +feel happier still than the thought of the cloak or the apricot tree +either; and that is poor Tom's good fortune, and"---- + +He stopped and hesitated. + +"What were you going to say, my dear?" inquired his grandmother. + +"And knowing that his good fortune is partly owing to me, I was going +to have said, grandmother," answered Ned, blushing; "only it sounds +like praising myself." + +"It is very natural that you should feel glad at this, my dear boy," +rejoined his grandmother, smiling kindly; "for there is no pleasure so +great as that we feel when conscious of having contributed to the +welfare and happiness of a fellow-creature." + + + + + +R. 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