LOUIE’S GOLD PIECE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VII, Issue 4, 24 January 1891, Page 18

LOUIE’S GOLD PIECE.

‘ A sovereign ! < >h, dear ! Isn’t it nice to have a sovereign 1 Mamma, did you ever know before of a little girl no bigger than me having so much money ?’ ‘Not very often,’ said mamma, with a smile.

• How kind Uncle George is. I wish he would come and visit us every summer.’ ‘So that he would give us money? You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Lou,’ said her brother Dick. ‘ Of course I don’t mean that,’ said Louie. • Mamma, what would you do with all this money ’’ ‘ Keep it carefully until you decide on what will be the best way to spend it,’ said mamma. ‘ I’ll be sure to do that,’ said Louie. •Of course she will, ’said Dick, in a teasing tone. ‘As careful as when she lost the shilling out of the hole in her pocket.’ • Now, Dick, there’s no use talking about that. I paid back the shilling out of my own money to punish myself.’ ‘ Or as when she carried the ink to the window-seat and left it there and it was thrown down,’ went on Dick. ‘ You can’t pay that back, for the big black spot will last as long as the carpet.’ ‘ Dick, you needn’t keep on at me so. You know I said that was going to be a lesson to me every time I saw it.’ • You ought to see it a little oftener then,’ persisted Dick. ‘ Mamma had better skew the carpet round and get it right out here in the middle of the floor. Then perhaps you’ll remember to mend my gloves as you promised a week ago. I’ll bet you sixpence you’ll never spend that money, that you’ll lose it.’ ‘ I don’t bet,’ said Louie, with dignity. ‘ No, I guess you hadn't better.’ He ran out with a provoking laugh, while Louie turned to her mother with a mournful face. • I really am trying to cure myself of being so careless, mamma. A month ago I began fining myself a penny for anything I forgot and everything I lost or broke. And it took evei y penny I had. For I put them in my missionary jug. you know, and for two or three weeks it kept getting heavy very fast. Just lift it, mamma.’ She brought to her mother the little earthen jug in which the Sunday-school put their savings for the missionary fund. • I think it will lie full by the time it gets broken,’ went on Louie. ‘ But I’m being more careful now, so it won’t fill up so.’ She took up her gold piece again. • Dick needn't say I’ll lose this. I’m going to be careful. I'll tell you what, mamma. I'm going to make you a promise. lam going to make my gold piece teach me to l>e careful. I won't spend it until you can tell ..me you really ami truly think I’m getting over my carelessness/

‘Very well, dear,’ said mamma, ‘that will surely help you to remember.’ Louie kept the gold piece in a blue, satin-lined corner of her writing desk, very often going to take a look at it, with many a calculation as to how it should be spent. As Christmas drew near she formed enough’ delightful little plans to have used up a dozen pounds. ‘ Haven’t spent it yet, hey, Lou ?’ asked Dick one evening. ‘No, I promised I wouldn’t till I got over being careless.’ ‘ But I think you may do it before long, dear,’ said mamma. • And haven’t lost it ?’ continued Dick. • No, indeed. You’ll find yourself mistaken about it, Dick.’ ‘ Well, I shan’t feel sure about that until I know it is safely spent,’ said Dick, teasingly. ‘ Are you really sure you have it yet ?’ ‘ Of course I am. ’ Louie opened the cover of her desk and took out the gold piece. ‘ I wouldn’t have believed it,’ said Dick, raising his hand in pretended amazement. ‘ She actually knew where to lay her finger exactly upon it. I tell you, Lou, it’s a good thing for me you wouldn t bet. I should have lost my sixpence. How much bigger is it than a sixpence ?’ He drew one from his pocket to measure by, then took a pencil and, laying his coin under a piece of paper, began

rubbing a facsimile of it. Louie brought some paper and produced a very clear impression, first of one side, then the other, of her gold piece. ‘ There’s the door bell,’ said Dick. The visitors proved to be some friends of their own, and both went to the drawing-room to meet them. And not until she was in school next day did Louie remember that she had forgotten her money, "and left it on the library table. Hurrying home at noon she made hasty, anxious search on table and carpet, but no shining gold piece rewarded her efforts. She drew the shades as high as possible, moved chairs and stools, but all to no purpose. Where could it be? ‘ What are you looking for ?’ asked mamma, who entered the room, followed by Dick. ‘For my sovereign, mamma,’ said Louie, a little colour rising to her cheek. ‘ I left it here when Clara and Archie came last night,’ ‘We must ask Jane about it,’ said mamma, ringing the bell for the girF whose duty it was to keep the room in order. ‘ Jane,’ said Louie, as the girl appeared, ‘ did you see any money when you swept here this morning ?’ ‘ Yes,’ said Jane. ‘ I found some lying on the floor and I picked it up and put it in there where I’ve often seen you putting money. I knew ’twould be safe there.’ She pointed to the little earthen jug which stood on the mantelpiece. ‘Safe?’ exclaimed Dick, with a shout of laughter. * Oh, Lou, I’ll have to take it all back. You haven’t lost it. And you can’t. It's in safe keeping, sure enough.’ Foor Louie stared in astonishment and dismay. ‘ Why, mamma, what can Ido about it? How can I get it ?’ ‘Only by breaking the jug, dear, of course,’ said mamma. ‘ But we all promised not to open them till we took thejn to church.’ ..’-.‘Never mind,’ said Dick, mockingly. ‘You’ve given a lot of money, more than any one else will, so you can take comfort in that. ’

• But,’ said Louie, bursting into sobs, ‘ I didn’t mean togive it; it went in spite of me, just because I was careless, and it won’t count as a gift. I meant to give some of it when I changed it, but not all.’ She cried and went to her room, refusing to be comforted, refusing to eat her dinner, and returning at length to school in a very unhappy frame of mind. ‘ May I come in ?’ Dick tapped at the door of Louie’s room after she had gone to it in the evening. ‘ Come in,’ she answered. • Look,’ he said, ‘ here is your money.’ He placed the gold piece in her hand. ‘ Why, Dick, how did you get it? Where is my jug ?’ ‘ Here,’he said, giving her a jug. ‘All the rest of your money is in it.’ • But how could you get this out ?’ ‘ Well,’ said Dick, ‘ I’m not going to be mean to you any longer, Lou, so I’ll out with it. You promised not to break it, but I didn’t. I hunted all over town this afternoon after I came from school to find a jug exactly like yours—’ ‘ Why, I thought you had a baseball game for this afternoon.’ ‘So I had, but another boy took my place. I tell you, Lou, I’m sorry I’ve been so hateful and teasing, and I’m not going to keep it up any longer. ’ ‘ Oh, Dick, you are so good to give up your play for me. But,’ she added, looking doubtfully at the sovereign, ‘I don’t know that I ought to take this back, Dick. I was trying, and trying with all my might, to give it willingly.’ ‘ That’s all nonsense,’ said Dick bluntly. ‘As if you bad to give it just because Jane slipped it in the jug. Next thing you’ll be telling me you’re sorry I got it out. Good night. ’ Nothing more was said about Louie’s money until one evening she had a talk with her mother. ‘So you really think I’m getting over my carelessness, mamma?’ ‘Yes, dear. I think your ngly little fault is losing its hold on you.’ ‘ Well, I told you the gold piece would help me. Ever since I was careless about it and it went into the jug because of that, and it seemed so dreadful when 1 didn’t mean to give it, I have thought of it every time I was going to be careless. And I'm glad you think it has been a help

to me. And now, mamma, see—l am giving it with all my heart now. ’ Into the consecration fund slipped the gold piece, and when the jugs were opened only mamma and Louie and One other knew from whom had come such a liberal gift.