do her work, and she
thought it would be a nice way of "serving one another," if she were
just to run down and light Widow Hill's fire, and put her room neat.
No sooner planned than done. Away she ran; half-an-hour, with Amy's
light feet and busy fingers, did the work which would have cost the
old woman an hour or two; and rich with the widow's thanks, and
hungry with work, she tripped back to breakfast, happy to think how
her mother would be pleased with what she had done.

But on entering the cottage, Amy's spirits received a sudden check;
the family were all at breakfast, and her father spoke rather severely
to her about her never being in time for anything. Amy did not answer;
she felt ill-used, and she was too much hurt to say what she had been
about; so she sat down in silence to her breakfast. Kitty was beside
her, yawning as if she had only just got out of bed. "Yet," thought
Amy, "no one ever scolds her; it is no good to try to please people."
So Amy sat, getting angrier and angrier, and not enjoying her
breakfast a bit, and thinking everybody very unkind, although she said
nothing; you might, perhaps, have thought she bore the rebuke very
meekly. Now, I do not mean to deny that this was a trial for poor
Amy. It is a very great trial to be blamed and misunderstood when we
have been seeking to please people; but it is the pride of our own
hearts which makes it so trying. If we were lowly, harsh words would
not have half the power to wound us. Amy felt this, and she felt she
was doing wrong, but that only made her more vexed; for instead of
acknowledging her fault to herself, and asking God to forgive her and
strengthen her against it, she went on brooding over her wrongs and
nursing her anger in silence. After breakfast, Kitty asked her if she
had been working in their garden all this time.

"No," said Amy shortly.

"Have you been learning your lessons for next Sunday, then?"

"No," answered Amy still more sharply.

Kitty looked puzzled for a minute, and then she laughed, and said, "I
can't see what good you've got, Amy, by being in such haste to get
up. You seem to have done nothing but lose your temper."

This was altogether more than Amy could bear; she made a bitter reply,
and a quarrel began between the sisters, which made their walk to
school very uncomfortable. It was so different from yesterday, Amy
felt ready to cry, but she was ashamed that Kitty should see. Poor Amy
entered the school-room with