The Sisters | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 6, 1883

The Sisters.

"I'm sorry; but one of you will have to stay at home," said the mother. "Hannah's father is sick and I promised her that she should go to see him; and I cannot take the care of Eddy all day."

Of course, she could not. You had only to look into her pale face, and on her thin, weak body, to know that.

Her two little girls, Fanny and Alice, were standing before her when she said this. She saw their countenances fall.

"I wish it were not so," the mother added, feebly; "but I would be in bed, sick, before the day was half over, if I were left alone with Eddy. Some one has to be after him all the time."

Fanny pouted and scowled, I am sorry to say, Alice looked sober and disappointed. They went from their mother's room without speaking. When so far away that her voice could not be heard, Fanny said, in a sharp, resolute tone, from which all kind feeling had died out:—

"I'm not going to stay at home, Miss Alice! You can make your mind up to that."

Alice did not reply, but sat down quietly. Her disappointment was keen, for some little girls in the neighborhood had made up a small picnic party, and were going to have a pleasant day in the woods.

"It will be as mother says," she spoke out, after thinking for awhile.

"I'm the oldest and have the best right to go," answered Fanny, selfishly. "And what's more, I'm going;" and she commenced putting on her things.

A few tears crept into the eyes of Alice. It would fall upon her to stay at home; she saw that. Fanny was selfish and strong-willed, and unless positively ordered by her mother to remain at home and let her sister go, would grasp as her own, the pleasure to which Alice had an equal right with herself. If the decision was referred to her mother, a contention would spring up, and then Fanny would speak and act in a way to cause her distress of mind.

"If mother were to make Fanny stay at home," Alice said, in her thought, "she would pout, and fling, and act so ugly, that there'd be no comfort with her; and mother isn't strong enough to bear it."

The tender love that Alice held in her heart for both her mother and dear little two-year-old Eddy, was all-prevailing, and soon turned her thought away from the picnic and its promised delights, to the pleasures and loving duties of home.

"I'm going to stay," she said, coming back into her mother's room, with a bright face and cheerful voice.

"Are you, dear?" It was all she said; but in her tone and looks there was a precious heart-reward for Alice.

"He's been so sweet all day!" said Alice, coming into where her mother sat by a window, with the cool air of the late afternoon fanning her wasted cheeks. She had a weary look.

"And you have been sweet, too, my darling!" answered the mother, in a very tender voice, as she laid her hand on Alice's head. "I don't know what I should have done without you. It has been one of my weak days. But you look tired, dear," she added. "Sit down in that easy-chair and rest yourself. Come, Eddy."

And she held out her hands for the child; but he clambered into Alice's lap and laid his cunning little head against her bosom. Both were tired—loving sister and sweet pet brother. It seemed hardly a minute before they were asleep; and as the mother, with eyes that were fast growing dim, looked at their tranquil faces and quiet forms, she thanked the good Father in heaven for a gift so precious and beautiful.

Bang! went the door, startling the mother from peaceful thoughts and arousing Alice from the light slumber into which she had fallen. In came Fanny, all in disorder, and threw herself into a chair, looking the picture of unhappiness.

"Have you had a pleasant time?" asked the mother, speaking with a kind interest in her voice.

"I've had a horrid time!" answered Fanny, flinging out the words angrily. "I never saw such a mean set of girls in my life. They wouldn't do anything I wanted to do, nor go anywhere I wanted to go."

"That was bad," said the mother. "And I suppose you wouldn't do anything they wanted to do, nor go anywhere they wanted to go."

Fanny did not reply.

"How was it, my child?" urged the mother.

"Hadn't I as much right to have my way about things as any of them?" demanded Fanny. "There was that Kate Lewis—I can't bear her! If she said 'Let us do this,' or 'Let us do that,' every one agreed in a minute."

"You with the rest," said the mother.

"Indeed, then, and I didn't!" replied Fanny, impatiently. "Kate Lewis can't lead me about by the nose, as she does other girls. I have a mind of my own."

"Perhaps," answered the mother, seriously, "you would have come nearer to the truth, my child, if you had said a self-will of your own. I find, from your account of things, that you wanted everything your own way, and because the rest wouldn't give up to you, made yourself disagreeable and unhappy, and so lost all the pleasure of the day. I'm afraid you were not in just the best state of mind for enjoyment, when you left this morning."

This was too much for Fanny, already feeling so miserable; and she broke out into a fit of sobbing and crying.

In what different states of mind were the two girls at the close of the day! Alice, awakened from a brief, but refreshing sleep by the entrance of Fanny, sat, with tranquil heart and peaceful face, looking at her unhappy sister, who had selfishly claimed the day of pleasure, not caring how wearily it might pass for her, and pitied her miserable condition, while Fanny cried from very shame and wretchedness.

Dear little readers, need I ask any of you, even the youngest, what made all this difference? Already you have come to know, through some painful as well as pleasant experiences, that happiness waits not on any selfish demand, but creeps lovingly into every heart which, forgetful of its own ease, or comfort, or pleasure, seeks the comfort and blessing of others.

Do not forget this, dear children. Keep it always in mind, and it will not only save you many unhappy hours, but put warm floods of sunshine and joy into your hearts.—Arthur's Home Magazine.