Young as I was
this circumstance fretted and annoyed me. I remember saying one day to
my mother, in a vexed impatient tone, "it seems too bad that we should
be so poor. Some of my companions who have rich parents, spend more
money every year upon toys and candy than would buy me a whole new suit
of clothes, and now to obtain a few new articles of clothing for me you
and my little sister must do without what you really need; if the
dispensing of money were left in my hands, I would make every one rich
alike, and then no one should be ashamed of their poverty as I have
often been, when among the rich boys of the village." "Be ashamed of
nothing but doing wrong," replied my mother, "and you had best leave the
dispensation of wealth or poverty to the One whose right it is, for, be
assured, He knows best what is for our good; I had much rather see you
grow up a good man than a rich one. If your life is spared, and you
prove to be a useful and honorable man, people will never inquire
whether your boyhood was passed amid wealth or poverty.
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