One day,our little Harry spent the morning with his young playmate,Johnny Crane,who lived in a fine house,and on Sundays rode to church in the grandest carriage to be seen in all the country round.

When Harry returned home,he said,"Mother,Johnny has money in both pockets!"

"Has he,dear?"

"Yes,ma'am;and he says he could get ever so much more if he wanted it."

"Well,now,that's very pleasant for him,"I returned,cheerfully,as a reply was plainly expected."Very pleasant;don't you think so?"

"Yes,ma'am;only—"

"Only what,Harry?"

"Why,he has a big popgun,and a watch,and a hobbyhorse,and lots of things."And Harry looked up at my face with a disconsolate stare.

"Well,my boy,what of that?"

"Nothing,mother,"and the telltale tears sprang to his eyes,"only I guess we are very poor,aren't we?"

"No,indeed,Harry,we are very far from being poor.We are not so rich as Mr.Crane's family,if that is what you mean."

"O mother!"insisted the little fellow,"I do think we are very poor;anyhow,I am!"

"O Harry!"I exclaimed,reproachfully.

"Yes,ma'am I am,"he sobbed;"I have scarcely any thing—I mean anything that's worth money—except things to eat and wear,and I'd have to have them anyway."

"Have to have them?"I echoed,at the same time laying my sewing upon the table,so that I might reason with him on that point;"do you not know,my son—"

Just then Uncle Ben looked up from the paper he had been reading:"Harry,"said he,"I want to find out something about eyes;so,if you will let me have yours,I will give you a dollar apiece for them."

"For my eyes!"exclaimed Harry,very much astonished.

"Yes,"resumed Uncle Ben,quietly,"for your eyes.I will give you chloroform,so it will not hurt you in the least,and you shall have a beautiful glass pair for nothing,to wear in their place.Come,a dollar apiece,cash down!What do you say?I will take them out as quick as a wink."

"Give you my eyes,uncle!"cried Harry,looking wild at the very thought,"I think not."And the startled little fellow shook his head defiantly.

"Well,five,ten,twenty dollars,then."Harry shook his head at every offer.

"No,sir!I wouldn't let you have them for a thousand dollars!What could I do without my eyes?I couldn't see mother,nor the baby,nor the flowers,nor the horses,nor anything,"added Harry,growing warmer and warmer.

"I will give you two thousand,"urged Uncle Ben,taking a roll of bank notes out of his pocket.Harry,standing at a respectful distance,shouted that he never would do any such thing.

"Very well,"continued the uncle,with a serious air,at the same time writing something in his notebook,"I can't afford to give you more than two thousand dollars,so I shall have to do without your eyes;but,"he added,"I will tell you what I will do,I will give you twenty dollars if you will let me put a few drops from this bottle in your ears.It will not hurt,but it will make you deaf.I want to try some experiments with deafness,you see.Come quickly,now!Here are the twenty dollars all ready for you."

"Make me deaf!"shouted Harry,without even looking at the gold pieces temptingly displayed upon the table."I guess you will not do that,either.Why,I couldn't hear a single word if I were deaf,could I?"

"Probably not,"replied Uncle Ben.So,of course,Harry refused again.He would never give up his hearing,he said,"no,not for three thousand dollars."

Uncle Ben made another note in his book,and then came out with large bids for "a right arm,"then "left arm,""hands,""feet,""nose,"finally ending with an offer of ten thousand dollars for "mother,"and five thousand for "the baby."

To all of these offers Harry shook his head,his eyes flashing,and exclamations of surprise and indignation bursting from his lips.At last,Uncle Ben said he must give up his experiments,for Harry's prices were entirely too high.

"Ha!ha!"laughed the boy,exultingly,and he folded his dimpled arms and looked as if to say,"I'd like to see the man who could pay them!"

"Why,Harry,look here!"exclaimed Uncle Ben,peeping into his notebook,"here is a big addition sum,I tell you!"He added the numbers,and they amounted to thirty-two thousand dollars.

"There,Harry,"said Uncle Ben,"don't you think you are foolish not to accept some of my offers?""No,sir,I don't,"answered Harry,resolutely."Then,"said Uncle Ben,"you talk of being poor,and by your own showing you have treasures for which you will not take thirty-two thousand dollars.What do you say to that?"

Harry didn't know exactly what to say.So he blushed for a second,and just then tears came rolling down his cheeks,and he threw his chubby arms around my neck."Mother,"he whispered,"isn't God good to make everybody so rich?"

哈利的財富

一天，小哈利和他的伙伴約翰尼·克萊恩一起玩了一上午。約翰尼住在一幢漂亮的大房子里，星期天他總會坐著氣派的馬車去教堂，全鎮的人都能看見。

哈利回到家后說：“媽媽，約翰尼的兩個口袋里都有錢。”

“是嗎，親愛的？”

“是的，媽媽。他還說，只要他想要，他還可以有更多的錢。”

“噢，是嗎？那很好。”媽媽隨便回答說，“非常好，你說呢？”

“是的，媽媽，可是——”

“可是什么，哈利？”

“為什么他有一把大大的玩具槍、一塊手表、一個木馬，還有好多好多東西？”哈利抬起頭悶悶不樂地看著媽媽。

“怎么了，我的孩子？”

“沒什么，媽媽。”可此時泄露秘密的眼淚涌了出來，“只是，我想我們很窮，對嗎？”

“不，不是的，哈利，我們并不窮，但我們也不像克萊恩家里那樣富有，如果這就是你所說的窮的話。”

“噢，媽媽，”小家伙還在難過，“我還是覺得我們很窮，不管怎么樣，我很窮。”

“哈利！”媽媽帶著責備的口氣說。

“是的，媽媽，我就是太窮，”他抽泣著，“我幾乎什么都沒有——我指那些值錢的東西——除了吃的和穿的，那些必須擁有的東西我都沒有。”

“必須擁有的東西？”媽媽重復著他的話，把手中的織物放在桌上，這樣她可以就這個問題和哈利好好談談，“你不知道嗎，我的孩子——”

就在這時，正在讀報紙的本叔叔抬起頭來，“哈利，”他說，“我想研究一下人的眼睛，如果你愿意給我你的眼睛，那么我會給你2美元。”

“要我的眼睛？”哈利大聲喊道，他對此很是吃驚。

“是的，”本叔叔平靜地說，“要你的眼睛。我可以給你麻醉，這樣你就不會感到疼了，你可以戴一對漂亮的玻璃眼球。快點，一美元一只，否則要降價了。你覺得怎么樣？我會很快把它們取出來的。”

“給你我的眼睛，叔叔？”哈利像是無法相信自己的耳朵，“我想不行。”

受驚的小家伙堅決地搖著頭。

“那么，5美元、10美元、20美元，怎么樣？”每一次哈利都不停地搖著頭。

“不，先生，就算你給100美元，我也不會讓你取走我的眼睛。沒有了眼睛我怎么辦？我將不會再看見媽媽，看不見小孩，看不見花，也看不見馬了，什么也看不見了。”哈利說著，越來越激動。

“我給你2000美元。”本叔叔繼續說，并從口袋里掏出一疊錢。哈利站得遠遠的，他永遠不會做這樣的事情。

“那么，好吧。”本叔叔說。此時，他的表情十分嚴肅，一邊在本子上寫著什么，一邊說：“我不能給你高過2000美元的價格，所以，我只能放棄你的眼睛了。但是，”他又說，“我要告訴你我還會怎么做，如果你讓我把這瓶子里的東西滴幾滴到你的耳朵里的話，我會給你20美元。你并不會感覺到疼，但會讓你變聾。你知道，我想做一個關于耳聾的實驗。快，現在就做決定吧，這20美元是給你的。”

“會讓我變聾！”哈利已經快氣瘋了，他看也不看放在桌上的錢，大聲喊道：“我想你不會那樣做的，如果我聾了，我就再也聽不見了，不是嗎？”

“可能吧。”本叔叔說。當然了，哈利還是拒絕了，他說：“不，哪怕給我3000美元，我也不答應。”

本叔叔在本子上又記下了一條。之后，他又出更多的錢要“哈利的右手”，然后是“左手”“雙手”“雙腳”“鼻子”，最后出價10萬要他的“媽媽”，5000美元要“小孩”。

哈利拒絕了所有的建議，他的眼睛閃著光，不停地表達著自己的震驚和憤怒。最后本叔叔說他必須放棄他的實驗，因為哈利的價格實在太高了。

“哈哈！”哈利高興地笑了，他架著胳膊，似乎在說：“我倒要看看誰能買得起！”

“來，哈利，看這兒！”本叔叔看著筆記本里的東西，“這兒有一大筆錢呢！”他把所有的數目加起來，一共是32000美元。

“現在，哈利，”本叔叔說，“你不覺得放棄這么一大筆錢太愚蠢了嗎？”

“不，先生，我不要。”哈利堅決地說。

“那么，”本叔叔說，“你說你很窮，但又不肯拿你所有的東西來換取32000美元，這是為什么呢？”

哈利不知道怎么回答，他漲紅了臉，淚水順著臉頰流了下來，他用胖乎乎的手摟著媽媽的脖子。“媽媽，”他在媽媽的耳旁輕聲說，“上帝實在太好了，他讓我們每個人都那么富有。”