Next Monday morning, at an early hour, Frank had again found his way with great difficulty to the house of Widow Mackay, where he spent all his pocket money on two fine scarlet geraniums. If they had been nettles or cabbages, he would have felt the same pleasure in buying them; and his eyes sparkled with animation when he entered uncle David's room, carrying them in his hand, and saying, "I was so glad to have some money! I could spare it quite well. There is no greater pleasure in being rich than to help such poor people as Evan Mackay and his poor sick mother!" "Yes, Frank, I often wonder that any enjoyment of wealth can be considered equal to the exercise of kind feelings, for surely the most delightful sensation in this world is, to deserve and receive the grateful affection of those around us," replied Major Graham. "What a wretched being Robinson Crusoe was on the desert island alone, though he found chests of gold, and yet many people are as unblessed in the midst of society, who selfishly hoard fortunes for themselves, unmindful of the many around who ought to be gratefully receiving their daily benefits." "I was laughing to read lately of the West India slaves, who collected money all their lives in an old stocking," said Frank, "and who watched with delight as it filled from year to year; but the bank is only a great stocking, where misers in this country lay up treasures for themselves which they are never to enjoy, though too often they lay up no treasures for themselves in a better world." "I frequently think, Frank, if all men were as liberal, kind, and forbearing to each other as the Holy Scriptures enjoin, and if we lived as soberly, temperately, and godly together, what a paradise this world would become, for many of our worst sufferings are brought on by our own folly, or the unkindness of others. And certainly, if we wished to fancy the wretchedness of hell itself, it would only be necessary to imagine what the earth would become if all fear of God and man were removed, and every person lived as his own angry, selfish passions would dictate. Great are the blessings we owe to Christianity, for making the world even what it is now, and yet greater would those blessings be, if we obeyed it better." "That is exactly what grandmama says, and that we must attend to the Gospel from love and gratitude to God, rather than from fear of punishment or hope of reward, which is precisely what we saw in poor widow Mackay and Evan, who seemed scarcely to expect a recompense for behaving so honestly."