Upon this Tommy retired into a corner, crying as if his heart would break; when Harry, who could not bear to see his friend so unhappy, looked up, half-crying, into Mr. Barlow’s face, and said, “Pray, sir, may I do as I please with my dinner?”

“Yes, to be sure, my boy,” was the reply.

“Why, then,” said Harry, “I will give it to poor Tommy, who wants it more than I do.”

Tommy took it and thanked Harry; but without turning his eyes from the ground.

“I see,” said Mr. Barlow, “that though certain gentlemen are too proud to be of any use to themselves, they are not above taking the bread that other people have been working hard for.”

At this Tommy cried more bitterly than before.

The next day, when they went into the garden, Tommy begged that he might have a hoe, too, and, having been shown how to use it, soon worked with the greatest pleasure, which was much increased when he was asked to share the fruit provided after the work was done.  It seemed to him the most delicious fruit that he had ever tasted.

Harry read as before, the story this time being about the gentleman and the basket-maker.  It described how a rich man, jealous of the happiness of a poor basket-maker, destroyed the latter’s means of livelihood, and was sent by a magistrate with his humble victim to an island, where the two were made to serve the natives.  On this island the rich man, because he possessed neither talents to please nor strength to labour, was condemned to be the basket-maker’s servant.  When they were recalled, the rich man, having acquired wisdom by his misfortunes, not only treated the basket-maker as a friend during the rest of his life, but employed his riches in relieving the poor.

II.—­Gentleman Tommy Learns to Read

From this time forward Mr. Barlow and his two pupils used to work in their garden every morning; and when they were fatigued they retired to the summer-house, where Harry, who improved every day in reading, used to entertain them with some pleasant story.  Then Harry went home for a week, and the morning after, when Tommy expected that Mr. Barlow would read to him as usual, he found to his great disappointment, that gentleman was busy and could not.  The same thing happening the next day and the day after, Tommy said to himself, “Now, if I could but read like Harry, I should not need to ask anybody to do it for me.”  So when Harry returned, Tommy took an early opportunity of asking him how he came to be able to read.

“Why,” said Harry, “Mr. Barlow taught me my letters; and then, by putting syllables together, I learnt to read.”

“And could you not show me my letters?” asked Tommy.

“Very willingly,” was Harry’s reply.  And the lessons proceeded so well that Tommy, who learned the whole alphabet at the very first lesson, at the end of two months was able to read aloud to Mr. Barlow “The History of the Two Dogs,” which shows how vain it is to expect courage in those who lead a life of indolence and repose, and that constant exercise and proper discipline are frequently able to change contemptible characters into good ones.