A Fortune

One day a man was walking along the street, and he was sad at heart. Business was dull; he had set his desire upon a horse that cost a thousand dollars, and he had only eight hundred to buy it with. There were other things, to be sure, that might be bought with eight hundred dollars, but he did not want those; so he was sorrowful, and thought the world a bad place. As he walked, he saw a child running toward him; it was a strange child, but when he looked at it, its face lightened like sunshine, and broke into smiles. The child held out its closed hand. "Guess what I have!" it cried gleefully. "Something fine, I am sure!" said the man. The child nodded and drew nearer; then opened its hand. "Look!" it said; and the street rang with its happy laughter. The man looked, and in the child's hand lay a penny. "Hurrah!" said the child. "Hurrah!" said the man. Then they parted, and the child went and bought a stick of candy, and saw all the world red and white in stripes. The man went and put his eight hundred dollars in the savings-bank, all but fifty cents, and with the fifty cents he bought a hobby-horse for his own little boy, and the little boy saw all the world brown, with white spots. "Is this the horse you wanted so to buy, father?" asked the little boy. "It is the horse I have bought!" said the man. "Hurrah!" said the little boy. "Hurrah!" said the man. And he saw that the world was a good place after all.