VI.  SMILES. (35)

1.  Poor lame Jennie sat at her window, looking out upon the dismal, narrow street, with a look of pain and weariness on her face.  “Oh, dear,” she said with a sigh, “what a long day this is going to be,” and she looked wishfully up the street.

2.  Suddenly she leaned forward and pressed her pale face against the glass, as a rosy-checked boy came racing down the street, swinging his schoolbooks by the strap.  Looking up to the window, he took off his hat and bowed with a bright, pleasant smile.

3.  “What a nice boy he is,” said Jennie to herself, as he ran out of sight.  “I am so glad he goes by here on his way to school.  When he smiles, it seems like having the sun shine.  I wish everybody who goes by would look up and smile.”

4.  “Mamma,” said George West, as he came from school, “I can’t help thinking about that poor little girl I told you of the other day.  She looks so tired.  I took off my hat and bowed to her to-day.  I wish I could do something for her,”

5.  “Suppose you should carry her a handful of pretty flowers some time when you go to school,” said Mrs. West.  “I’ll do that to-morrow morning,” said George, “if I can find my way into that rickety old house.”

6.  The next morning, as Jennie sat leaning her head wearily against the window, watching the raindrops chasing one another down the glass, she spied George with a handful of beautiful flowers carefully picking his way across the street.  He stopped in front of her window, and, smiling very pleasantly, said, “How shall I find the way to your room?”

7.  Jennie pointed to an alley near by, where he turned in, and with some difficulty found his way to the dingy staircase.  Opening the door to Jennie’s gentle “Come in,” he said, “I have brought you a handful of flowers to look at this rainy day.”

8.  “Are they for me?” exclaimed Jennie, clapping her hands in delight.  “How kind you are,” she continued, as George laid them in her lap.  “I have not had a flower since we live in the city.”

9.  “Did you use to live in the country?” asked George.  “Oh, yes,” answered Jennie, “we used to live in a beautiful cottage, and there were trees and flowers and green grass, and the air was so sweet.”

10.  “Well, what made you move here?” “Oh,” said Jennie, softly, “papa died, and mamma was sick so long that the money was all gone.  Then mamma had to sell the cottage, and she moved here to try to get work to do.”

11.  “Do you have to sit here all day?” asked George, glancing around the bare room and out into the dismal street.  “Yes,” said Jennie, “because I am lame; but I would not care for that, if I could only help mamma.”

12.  “I declare, it’s too had!” said George, who dreaded nothing so much as being obliged to stay in the house.  “Oh, no, it isn’t,” said Jennie, pleasantly; “mamma says maybe we should forget the Lord if we had everything we wanted, and He never forgets us, you know.”