About a month or two after Miss _Lydia_’s Mamma had begun to write an account of her behaviour, the little girl was playing with a few companions at a bench close by the garden-gate. Her Papa had made her a present of a small basket of cherries out of the hot-house, and the little girls were amusing themselves with tying them on sticks, as the fruiterers do when they first bring them to market.
While they were thus employed, a little girl very tidily dressed walked by, leading by the hand her brother, who appeared between two and three years old. The girl’s attention was taken by the sight of the fruit at so early a season, and the little boy, who thought they looked nice, though he did not know what they were, said, Look, _Sally_!—_gapes_! The girl did not speak nor give offence to any body; but one of the Misses, whose pride predominated over her good-nature, asked her, in a haughty tone of voice, What she wanted? and bade her not be so impertinent as to stand staring at them. The little girl moved on directly; but the poor little boy pulled from her, and said, in a crying tone of voice, _Gapes!_ I want _gapes_! This produced a second huffing from the same Miss; who said, Get you gone, you little monkey. His sister then immediately took him away.
Miss _Lydia_, who was much hurt at her friend’s behaviour, said, How could you speak so crossly to the poor little things? why should not they love fruit as well as we; and more too, as it must appear a greater rarity? She then went out at the gate, and stepping after the little children, put into the little boy’s hand a stick of cherries which she had just tied up. There, little boy, said she, these are not grapes; they are cherries: when you have played with them a little while you must give your sister half. Yes; said he, I always give sister half—Look, _Sally_!
But you should say, Thank you, Miss, said _Sally_, making a pretty courtesy; and do not pull them off till you have shown them to my mammy: they are so pretty!
Little _Lydia_ felt pleased and very comfortable after she had done this good-natured action; and she could not help being conscious that her Mamma would have approved of her for it; but she knew too well what was right and becoming to tell of it herself, or even to give a hint of it; for though nothing gave her so much pleasure as her mother’s commendations, yet she knew that a good action loses all its beauty when it is done for the sake of any reward whatever. Her behaviour, however, did not pass unobserved, for the maid, who was walking in the garden with a baby in her arms, saw the whole transaction, and was so delighted with it, that when she went to dress her mistress, she told her how sweetly Miss _Lydia_ had behaved. Miss _Lydia_’s Mamma, however, took no notice at all to her of it. Think what was the dear girl’s surprise in the morning, when she heard the whole story read aloud in her Mamma’s journal; and think what pleasure she received from praises so well deserved as those which were bestowed upon her. Her Mamma inquired of her whether she knew the little girl’s name, or where she lived? she answered, No, Mamma: she looked very clean and neat, Mamma; but I observed that she had no tippet, nor any thing to keep her neck from the sun; and the little boy’s toes came through his shoes. If you please, I will give her the garden shawl I have just left off; and I think those red shoes, which are too little for _Edwin_, will fit the little boy. Then you shall have the pleasure of giving those things to them, said her Mamma; you may ask _Mary_ for them, and I have a bit of check by me, which I will cut into an apron, and you shall make it for the little girl; _Mary_ says she is about your height.—_Lydia_ did not forget the permission she had. The shawl and shoes were laid carefully by, and with them a paper of almonds and raisins, which she had bought with her own money.