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 THE 
 
 NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 
 
 ■^*% **#*" " 
 
 SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, _) 
 
 
 
the 
 
 NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 
 
 -♦•♦- 
 
 SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 
 
 •JUU MULBERRY-STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
 
THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 
 
 "Five dollars, ma! five dollars 
 more!" said little Clara May on a 
 bright New-year's morn. ""What 
 shall I do with it? I wish it had 
 come last night, and then yon could 
 have bought something with it to put 
 into my stocking." 
 
 " But your stocking was full as it 
 
4 THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 
 
 was, my child," said Mrs. May with 
 a kiss; "I should not have known 
 where to put anything more, I am 
 sure." 
 
 " yes you would, ma ! you 
 would have put it in some way, I 
 know," said Clara with an extra skip, 
 as she went up and down the room. 
 
 "But what should I have got, my 
 child? I think if you cannot tell 
 what you want it would not be easy 
 for me to do so." 
 
 "Well, now, let's see; what do I 
 
THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 5 
 
 want most?" and Clara sat down in 
 her little chair as demure as if she 
 was to plan out a whole life. " Don't 
 you think Uncle Harry cares what I 
 do with it ? Did he not tell you 
 what to get, not a word?" 
 
 "Not a word, my child. He said 
 he did not know what you might 
 have, and so he would not choose. 
 I think he would want you to have 
 just what you like. It may be 
 Aunt Susan will help you make a 
 choice." 
 
THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 
 
 a 
 
 I'll run and see!" said Clara, and 
 she ran up stairs and went into Aunt 
 Susan's room with a skip and a 
 hop. 
 
 " 0, Aunt Susan ! Uncle Harry 
 has sent ma five dollars to get me a 
 New-year's gift, and ma says I may 
 choose what it shall be, but I can't 
 think, and so I've come to get your 
 help," and the child knelt by her side 
 and laid her head in her aunt's lap. 
 
 Aunt Susan was a dear, good lit- 
 tle lady, a sister to Mrs. May, and 
 
THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 7 
 
 one whom Clara loved very much 
 Her health had been poor for a long, 
 long time, but there was a sweet look 
 on her thin, pale face, and a mild 
 love-light in her dark eye that would 
 have won } T our heart at once. She 
 folded her thin hands around the lit- 
 tle form beside her, and bent her 
 head down till it met that of her 
 niece, and after a little pause she 
 said: 
 
 ''Well, now, my Clara must tell 
 me what she'd like, and then we 
 
8 THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 
 
 may be able to decide what it is best 
 to get." 
 
 "Ah, that's just the point, Aunt 
 Susan. I'm sure I can't tell. It 
 seems to me I've got almost every- 
 thing I can think of: there are two 
 wax dolls and plenty of baby clothes, 
 and chairs, tables, cribs, and bureaus, 
 and three china tea-sets. And 
 then I have all the jewels I want: a 
 gold chain and charms, and breast- 
 pin and pencil. I do wish I knew 
 what to get ! Why, what makes 
 
THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 9 
 
 you smile at me so, Aunt Susan?" 
 said the child all at once as she 
 looked up and saw a sweet, bright 
 smile on the lady's lips. 
 
 "I was thinking, my dear child, 
 how very few little girls there are in 
 the whole world that are so happy 
 as to be able to say those words : " I 
 don't know what to get." 
 
 "Are there, aunty? I did not 
 think of that." 
 
 "And did you not think that the 
 
 five dollars might do some other 
 
 1* 
 
10 THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 
 
 child a great deal more good than it 
 will my little petted, half-spoiled 
 niece, Clara May?" 
 
 Clara looked up once more into 
 those dark tender eyes, but she read 
 only love there, and then she looked 
 into the fire just for a moment. 
 "You think, aunty," said she slowly 
 at last, "that I ought to spend this 
 money for some other child who 
 needs New-year's gifts more than I 
 do, don't you ?" 
 
 "Well, what do you think about it, 
 
THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 11 
 
 Clara? You have had many gifts, 
 would you not like to make some ?" 
 " But I have just now thought of 
 one thing that I do want — a little 
 pearl writing-desk that I saw in a 
 store the other day. It was the 
 dearest little thing, lined with pink 
 velvet, and it had places for pens, 
 and wax, and paper. it was such 
 a love of a desk, and all for live dol- 
 lars. I must have that box this very 
 day. Nothing would make me half 
 so happy!" 
 
12 THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 
 
 "I doubt it, Clara," said her aunt 
 with a gentle shake of the head. 
 
 "Why, what else could I get?" 
 
 "I'm afraid you won't try and see 
 if I tell you." 
 
 "But I think about it, aunty, I 
 will, now. please do tell me!" and 
 she put her arms about her aunt in 
 her most coaxing wa}^. 
 
 " Well, I'll tell you ; but you must 
 think about it well before you make 
 up your mind. I think it will do you 
 more good to give those five dollars 
 
THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 13 
 
 to some poor girl that needs it, than 
 it will to buy this pearl desk." 
 
 Clara stood there with one arm 
 still around her aunt's neck, and her 
 head on her shoulder, and there came 
 to her mind the thoughts of a little 
 pale face that she had last seen on a 
 sick bed in a large room almost at 
 the top of a tall house not far off. It 
 was the face of little Mary Dean, who 
 a year before had a fall that broke 
 her hip and made her lame for life. 
 Mrs. Dean took in sewing for a living, 
 
11 THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 
 
 and by the aid of kind friends she 
 got enough to provide comforts for 
 herself and her child, but she had 
 little to spare for a New-year's 
 gift. 
 
 "Why have I not thought of Mary 
 before ?" said Clara to herself. " The 
 poor child must lie in bed all the 
 while, and has very little to amuse 
 her." 
 
 And then Clara thought a long 
 time what she could get for the poor 
 child, and at last she hit upon a bird, 
 
THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 15 
 
 a canary bird. It would be so nice 
 to have a bright bird in Lor room to 
 flit about the bars of its cage and 
 sing to her of the green woods. And 
 then she would never tire of seeing 
 it peck the seeds from its little china 
 trough, and shake the drops of water 
 from its wings. yes, she would 
 get a bird for Mary. But just then 
 the thought of that pearl desk came 
 up to her mind, and almost shut 
 out the pale face of poor Mary 
 Dean. 
 
1G THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 
 
 It was a long hour after her talk 
 with Aunt Susan, that, with a new 
 glow on her cheeks, Clara sought 
 out her mamma. "I have made up 
 11137- mind now, ma," said she quickly. 
 " If you please, I will buy a bird in 
 a nice little cage for Mary Dean with 
 this five dollars, and it shall be my 
 New-year's gift to her ; and please, 
 ma, let us go and get it at once, for I 
 want to take it to her this very 
 day." 
 
 "You have done well, my child," 
 
THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 17 
 
 said Mrs. May with a fond kiss, 
 "and I will go with yon after 
 lunch." 
 
 That day Mary Dean was quite 
 poorly; nothing seemed to please 
 her. She could not touch even the 
 nice jelly in the white china mug 
 that a friend had sent to her, nor the 
 nice cake with the thick white frost- 
 ing. She looked at them when lier 
 mother brought them, but turned 
 away weary and said : " No, mam- 
 ma, I am tired of them, 1 can't eat 
 
18 THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 
 
 now. Have you nothing else for 
 me?" 
 
 "I don't know, my child. You 
 are tired of the new doll, though you 
 have not had it a day, and you 
 wished me to put away the other 
 toys." 
 
 "Well, I want something else!" 
 Mary was just a little cross; she had 
 been sick so long that she was not 
 easily pleased. I suppose we should 
 feel so too if we were as sick as she 
 was. Mrs. Dean turned away sad- 
 
THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 10 
 
 ]y. She thought of the time when 
 Mr. Dean was living, and said to her- 
 self: "If he were alive now our 
 poor child could have all she might 
 want," and the tear came in her eye. 
 Mary did not see it or her little heart 
 would have melted, and her little 
 hand would have wiped it away. 
 But another little hand was waiting 
 to do the kind deed. Before that 
 tear was dry there came a knock at 
 the door, and Mrs. Dean went to open 
 it, and there stood Mrs. May and 
 
20 THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 
 
 Clara, and the little girl had some- 
 thing in her hand with a silk spread 
 thrown over it. 
 
 As soon as the door was open she 
 sprang to the bedside of the sick 
 child and cried: "It is yours, Mary, 
 all yours ! I have brought it for 
 3'our New-year's gift," and she took 
 off the cover to show a dear little 
 yellow canary bird in a nice little 
 brown cage. 
 
 if you could only have heard 
 the cry of joy from Mary, or seen 
 
THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 21 
 
 the light that came to her pale face 
 as she sprang up in bed, it would 
 have done your heart good. The 
 tired look was gone from her face, 
 and the tear was gone from Mrs. 
 Dean's eye. The two ladies sat 
 down to talk with each other, 
 while the little girls looked at the 
 bird. 
 
 " Has it not a pretty trough for 
 seed and a cup for water? Will it 
 sing?" 
 
 a O yes, it will sing almost all the 
 
22 THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 
 
 time when it has been here a while. 
 It feels a little strange now." 
 
 " Only see it bite the seed I" 
 
 " Yes, it is taking the hull off; 
 and see ! now it takes a sip of water. 
 Only see it turn its little bill up!" 
 
 "My child, you will not get tired 
 of the bird, will you?" said Mrs. 
 Dean. 
 
 "0 never! never! I shall forget 
 the pain in my hip when I hear it 
 sing, and I can watch it all day and 
 see it fly about the cage. I did not 
 
THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 23 
 
 know what I wanted, but here it 
 has come, 1 ' and she threw her arm 
 about Clara's neck and gave her a 
 sweet kiss. 
 
 "Well, dear, was I right?" said 
 Aunt Susan when she had heard all 
 about the bird and the cage, and the 
 joy of Mary Dean. 
 
 " yes, aunty, indeed you were. 
 I'm so glad that I spent that five 
 dollars for Mary Dean. It has done 
 me more good than ten pearl desks 
 would, I am sure ! I shall no'c soon 
 
24 THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 
 
 forget the lesson that you have 
 taught me this day." 
 
 And Aunt Susan laid her thin ha;ad 
 on the soft brown curls and said: 
 " It is more blessed to give than to 
 receive." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 I