Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

THE WISHING CAP.

"I WONDER What Arthur has found so deeply interesting. Here, for more than an hour, some of us have been playing at bagatelle, and others have been rattling the piano, and one thing with another we have been about as noisy as we well could be; but all the time Arthur has scarcely looked up from his book. What can it be that has taken his fancy so wonderfully ?"

It was the Christmas holidays, and all Mr. Pringle's family were at home. The eldest two, indeed, had done with school, and George was in his father's office in the city; whilst Mary was of great service to her mamma both in the management of the house and in the care and education of the youngest children. Next came Jane, Thomas, and Arthur, all of whom had been at boardingschools in the country; and then followed three younger ones. Their ages ranged from eighteen down to five. Along with their father and mother, they were all in the room, and a very pleasant family group they formed. Mr. Pringle had determined to give as much time as possible to his children during the vacation; and both he and Mrs. Pringle had been with them in the drawing-room ever since tea.

It was Mary who, having noticed Arthur's complete absorption, called her papa's attention to it in a tone quite low enough to be heard by nearly all the party. A good many eyes were immediately directed to Arthur, who, seated in a low chair by the fire-side, was quite unconscious that he was the object of special attention.

"Arthur," said Mr. Pringle.

"Yes, papa, what is it?" replied Arthur, as though he had just been aroused from a dream.

"We can't allow that in the holidays, Arthur," said Mr. Pringle, "at all events in the evenings."

"What, papa?"

A somewhat amused expression passed over Mr. Pringle's countenance, as he replied, "Well, Arthur, such hard study. According to the reports which you have brought home, you must have been very diligent all the half-year; and I hope, should you be spared to go back to school, you will be quite as diligent next half-year; but I think you had better not study so hard during the vacation. Let geography and grammar and Euclid alone for

the present. You know, 'all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.'

[ocr errors]

Arthur laughed out loudly and said, "Now, papa, you're chaffing me. You know very well I'm not so fond of geography and Euclid as all that."

So saying, he held up his book, which, as Mr. Pringle had suspected, proved to be one which his uncle Bradshaw had sent him as a present. Perhaps a better book might have been selected for the purpose; but there can be no doubt that for a boy of Arthur's age it was deeply interesting. It was a collection of very romantic stories, some old and some quite new. It made them all the more attractive

that each story was illustrated by a splendid picture.

66

Capital Euclid that," said George, good-humouredly; “I should think you would not have much difficulty in standing an examination."

"Come, tell us, Arthur,

"Well, let us see," said papa. what you have been reading about."

With a little pressing Arthur complied. The story he had just finished, he said, was about a very wonderful cap which a fairy had given to a youth called Fortunatus, and which had this remarkable property, that whatever anybody wished while it was on his head, he was sure to get it almost immediately. And so Fortunatus had wished and wished-wished for money, for fine horses, for servants, for beautiful palaces, for a great kingdom, till at last he became so rich and powerful that he scarcely knew what more to wish for.

66

" I

A wonderful cap that, Arthur," said Mr. Pringle. dare say we should most of us like to borrow a cap like that for a little while."

66

Yes, that we should," exclaimed several voices at once. "Let us make believe we have a wishing cap, and have a game at wishing," said Nelly, a merry little body, about eight years old.

Everybody entered heartily into the proposal, the juveniles expecting some capital fun; whilst papa, who was always ready to engage in anything harmless which would afford pleasure to his children, thought that possibly something better than mere amusement could be got out of it.

"But we had better have a real cap," said Mary. " I'll make one in half a minute." So saying, she produced a sheet of paper from under the sofa-cushion, and in a minute

or two her nimble fingers had fashioned out of it what they agreed should be the "wishing cap.”

"Now who is to put the cap on first?" asked Mr. Pringle.

66

I think," said mamma, "as Nelly proposed the game, she should begin."

Nelly had no objection, and everybody else applauded; so the cap was put on her head. Everybody looked towards her; and, except a suppressed titter from the youngest children, all waited in silence to hear what was Nelly's wish.

66

Nelly pursed up her mouth, closed her eyes, and sat a minute or two apparently in deep thought. At length a bright smile passed over her face, which seemed to say, "I have got it ;" and then she said, Willy poked my doll's eyes out, and then left her on the fender, when the fire was hot; so now she has neither mouth, nor chin, nor eyes. I should like to have a new doll, bigger and nicer than the old one-as big as cousin Fanny's, and a new cradle to put it in."

66

Aha!" shouted Arthur, "that's just like a girl. Girls never think about anything but dolls and such like.”

"Well, well," said papa, "I don't think Nelly's too old for a doll yet; and perhaps if all our wishes were as moderate, we might have a good chance of getting what we wished."

"Done into English," said Tom; "I suppose that means Nelly's to have a new doll."

"Well, who is to have the cap next?" asked Mr. Pringle. The three little ones hereupon pressed their claims very urgently; and, to quiet their importunities, they were allowed to put on the cap in turn. As their wishes were very juvenile, we need not mention them; although, as they were uttered, they occasioned a good deal of merri

ment.

"It will be Arthur's turn next," said Mary. 66 You know, papa, it really began with him and his book."

Arthur put on the cap. Arthur's ideas had been greatly enlarged so he thought, at any rate-by the stories he had been reading, so that, unlike Nelly, no playthings of any sort would satisfy him. After a little consideration he said, "I wish I had plenty of money, so that I could have a nice large house, and ever so many servants, and be able to go just where I wanted, and to do just what I liked.”

"A great

"Large notions, Arthur," said his papa. many people, however, wish for all that as well as you, my boy. Thousands are trying with all their might to get rich; and I am afraid there are vast numbers who are sadly disappointed because they can't. But do you really think that if you had ever so much money, you would be so happy as to desire nothing more?"

[ocr errors]

Well, papa," said George, who thought he had seen a great deal more than Arthur, having been two years in his father's office in the city, "don't you think it would go a great way to make him so ?”

66

I don't deny," said Mr. Pringle, "that money can do a great deal. A man who has money can buy with it many very nice and very useful things; it wins for him friends and influence; it puts within his power many pleasures which poor people cannot enjoy; and I don't doubt that a man will feel very proud as he looks round him on a beautiful house and great possessions, and says, All these are mine.' But we must have something else than either money or the best things that money can buy, if we are to be truly happy. Who is the richest king mentioned in the Bible?"

[ocr errors]

66

Solomon," said several of the children.

"Then was he the happiest man about whom we read?" "No, papa," replied Mary," I think not; for after he had enjoyed everything that his riches could procure for him, he had still to cry, All is vanity and vexation of spirit.'

[ocr errors]

"Don't we find, too," said Mr. Pringle, "that where a man's great wish is to be rich, he is exposed to strong temptations to do things which are wrong, and which will involve him in much trouble? Tom, the Bible is just behind you. Will you just turn to the last chapter of the first Epistle to Timothy and see if you can find anything about it there?"

and

Tom reached the Bible, opened it at the place his father mentioned, and read the ninth and tenth verses: "But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

"Then," resumed Mr. Pringle, "if you look at the

close of the chapter, you will find the apostle speaks of riches as "uncertain riches;" and you remember the Lord Jesus speaks of moth and rust corrupting all earthly treasures, and of thieves breaking through to steal. But how long, think you, at the very longest, can a man keep his money?"

"Only till he dies, papa," said several of the children.

"Very true; and if my memory serves me rightly, the apostle says in that very chapter from which Tom has been reading, "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out." The richest man in all the earth must leave all his riches behind him when he dies."

[ocr errors]

It's Tom's turn now," cried out one of the younger children, who began to think it was time to have a little change.

"Never mind the cap, Tom," said Mr. Pringle, as he saw some marks of unwillingness on Tom's part to have it put on his head. "Just go on without it."

66

Well, if I must keep up the game," replied Tom, “I would say that I don't care a great deal about money, although I should not like to be in want; but there are several fellows who have gone to the university from our school, who have made themselves ever so famous. should like to win the first honours of the university." "Well done, Tom," said George.

Now I

"Well wished, you mean, I suppose," said his father. "But Tom, what is the purpose for which you would like to do all that? Is it because you would like to have everybody praising you and saying, 'What a wonderfully clever fellow Tom Pringle is?' or is it that you may use your learning, and the influence it will give you, to do men good and to glorify God? I remember reading in the Life of Henry Martyn,' who was senior wrangler at Cambridge, that after he had won the distinction, he felt that he had grasped but a shadow. I am afraid, however, that a good many would like the honours and praises of learning, who don't care very much about the hard work that is needed to take only a very moderate position."

"I've just been thinking, papa," said Jane, "what a world of disappointment this must be. How few people get half their wishes!"

66

Very true, my dear," replied Mr. Pringle; " but you might have said much more than that. How few people

« ForrigeFortsett »