OR, HONESTY REWARDED.
TO WHICH ARE ADDED OTHER TALES.
BY SELINA BUNBURY.
FANNY, THE FLOWER-GIRL
"Come, buy my flowers; flowers fresh and fair. Come, buy my flowers.Please ma'am, buy a nice bunch of flowers, very pretty ones, ma'am.Please, sir, to have some flowers; nice, fresh ones, miss; only justgathered; please look."
Thus spoke, or sometimes sung, a little girl of perhaps eight yearsold, holding in her hand a neat small basket, on the top of which lay aclean white cloth, to shade from the sun the flowers which she praisedso highly, and a little bunch of which she presented to almost everypasser-by, in the hope of finding purchasers; while, after one hadpassed rudely on, another had looked at her young face and smiled,another had said, "What a nice child!" but not one had taken theflowers, and left the penny or the half-penny that was to pay for themthe little girl, as if accustomed to all this, only arranged again thepretty nosegays that had been disarranged in the vain hope of sellingthem, and commenced anew in her pretty singing tone, "Come, buy myflowers; flowers fresh and fair."
"Your flowers are sadly withered, my little maid," said a kind,country-looking gentleman, who was buying some vegetables at a stallnear her.
"Oh, sir! I have fresh ones, here, sir; please look;" and the childlifted up the cover of her basket, and drew from the very bottom abunch of blossoms on which the dew of morning still rested.
"Please to see, sir; a pretty rose, sir, and these pinks andmignonette, and a bunch of jessamine, sir, and all for one penny."
"Bless thee! pretty dear!" said the old lame vegetable-seller, "thou'ltmake a good market-woman one of these days. Your honor would do well tobuy her flowers, sir, she has got no mother or father, God help her,and works for a sick grandmother."
"Poor child!" said the old gentleman. "Here, then, little one, give methree nice nosegays, and there is sixpence for you."
With delight sparkling in every feature of her face, and her colorchanged to crimson with joy, the little flower-girl received in onehand the unusual piece of money; and setting her basket on the ground,began hastily and tremblingly to pick out nearly half its contents asthe price of the sixpence; but the gentleman stooped down, and takingup at random three bunches of the flowers, which were not the freshest,said,
"Here, these will do; keep the rest for a more difficult customer. Be agood child; pray to God, and serve Him, and you will find He is theFather of the fatherless."
And so he went away; and the flower-girl, without waiting to put herbasket in order, turned to the old vegetable-seller, and cried,"Sixpence! a whole sixpence, and all at once. What will grandmother saynow? See!" and opening her hand, she displayed its shining before herneighbor's eyes.
"Eh!" exclaimed the old man, as he approached his eyes nearer to it."Eh! what is this? why thou hast twenty sixpences there; this is ahalf-sovereign!"
"Twenty sixpences! why the gentleman said, there is sixpence for thee,"said the child.
"Because he didn't know his mistake," replied the other; "I saw himtake the piece out of his waistcoat-pocket without looking."
"Oh dear! what shall I do?" cried the little girl.
"Why, thou must keep it, to be sure," replied the old man; "give it tothy grandmother, she will know what to do with it, I warrant thee."
"But I must first try to find the good gentleman, and tell him of hismistake," said the child. "I know what grandmother would say else; andhe cannot be far off, I thin