Compassion and Empathy

Abigail Faulkner was a strong-willed and high-spirited young girl. She closely identified with her mother who had many of the same traits. Abigail often showed her compassion for other people and demonstrated her willingness to put the interests of others before her own. After going through a grueling punishment in the stockade for a minor offense, she was worried that her grandfather, the minister at the meetinghouse, would build his sermon around her indiscretion.

However, Grandpappy focused his sermon on a different topic, one that he felt was more important. But the congregants were expecting him to show no favoritism and rail against against his granddaughter. At first, Abigail was relieved but after hearing criticism about his action, she began to worry that she had put him in bad light for not making her the target of his words. She would have sat through a sermon...