Two Proverbs.


"NEVER cry about what you can't help."

So rang out the cherry voice of Nellie Granger,

as she trotted down the lane, milk can

in hand.

And what made her say it was the sight

of a little boy standing in the middle of the

lane and crying with a loud boo-hoo,

with both fists in his eyes. "What can be

the matter with that cry-baby now?" thought

Nellie, as she recognized in the chubby boy

her neighbor Sammy Brown.

Nellie soon saw the trouble a big market

basket overturned, with half its contents

spilled out on the ground. It was then that

she sang out in tones half of encouragement

and half of ridicule "Never cry for what

you can't help."

But Sammy only boo-hooed the louder as

she drew near. "I guess you'd cry if you'd

spilled all your dinner," he sobbed.

"Guess I shouldn't," said Nellie. "What

would be the good? It wouldn't pick it up

again, would it?" Then Nellie looked down

at the basket and burst into a merry laugh.

"Three apples rolled out and the food all

done up in a napkin!" said she. "What a

dreadful thing to cry about. I'll give you

another one, Sammy, and just listen to this

with all your ears."

"Never cry about what you can help."

"You could have picked them up a dozen

times while you've stood here crying over

them."

Sammy stopped crying and looked up at

her, wiping his eyes with his fist.

"If I don't cry 'bout what I can't help,

and don't cry 'bout what I can help, I don't

see how I'm going to cry at all," said he.

Nellie laughed merrier than before.

"No, it don't leave much chance," said

she, "but I don't believe you'd die if you

shouldn't cry for three weeks. You just try

it; and begin now by picking up your basket

and trudging on, like a little man."

So saying, Nellie gathered up the apples

and put them in Sammy's hands to put into

the basket. She would not pick it up for

him, but she helped him put it all to rights,

and he found it was a great deal easier than

sitting in the sun and crying because the

things would not pick themselves up.

Sammy learned a lesson that morning he

did not soon forget. Ever after when things

vexed him and he was tempted to give up

and be a cry-baby, he used to help himself

over it by Nellie's two proverbs

Never cry about what you can't help; and

Never cry about what you can help. 





The Myrtle.