A few minutes more, and all Joe's dahlias would have been
sacrificed. Fred saved them, raked the border neatly, tied up the
plants, and restored all to order again; and who can tell but those who
thus act, the pleasure, the comfort of Fred's heart? Why, not the first
prize at the horticultural show for the first dahlia in the country,
would have given him half the joy; and a still nobler sacrifice he
made--he did not tell of his good deeds. Now, Fred began to realise the
pleasures of forbearance and kindness indeed.
There could not have been a better way of reaching young White's heart
than through his garden. Fred's was a fortunate commencement. He never
boasted of the act, but one of the boys told Mr. Barton, who did not
fail to remind Joe of it at a suitable time, and that time was when
White presented his master with a splendid bouquet of dahlias for his
supper table, when he was going to have a party of friends. The boys,
who were treated like members of the family, were invited to join that
party, and then did Mr. Barton narrate the scene of the donkey's
invasion, of which, however, the guests did not perceive the point; but
those for whom it was intended understood it all.
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