THE FIRST WRONG BUTTON.



"DEAR me!" said little Janet, "I buttoned just one button wrong, and that made all the rest go wrong;" and Janet tugged away and fretted, as if the poor buttons were quite at fault for her trouble.

"Patience! Patience!" said mamma, smiling at the little fretful face, "and next time look out for the first wrong button; then you will keep the rest right. And," added mamma as the last button was put in its place and the scowling face was smooth once more, "look out for the first wrong deed of any kind; another and another is sure to follow."

Janet remembered how, one day not long ago, she struck baby Alice; that was the first wrong deed. Then she denied having done it; that was another. Then she was unhappy and cross all day because she had told a lie. What a long list of buttons fastened wrong just because her naughty little hand struck baby! The best thing she could do to make it right again was to tell mamma how naughty she had been, and ask her to forgive her; but that was much harder than just to do the buttons again.  Janet thought it all over, and between the buttons and her very unhappy day I think she learned never again to forget to look out for the first wrong deed.