But she tried to
appease her conscience by thinking that it could do no harm. Having
thus commenced disobedience, she could every day eat more freely, and
with less reluctance. At last she was taken sick. Her mother asked
her if she had been eating any of the green apples at school. Here
came another temptation to sin. When we once commence doing wrong,
it is impossible to tell where we shall stop. She was afraid to
acknowledge to her mother her disobedience; and to hide the fault she
told a lie. She declared that she had not eaten any of the apples.
Unhappy girl! she had first disobeyed her mother, and then told a lie
to conceal her sin. But she continually grew more sick, and it became
necessary to send for the physician. He came, and when he had looked
upon her feverish countenance, and felt her throbbing pulse, he said
there was something upon her stomach which must be removed. As he was
preparing the nauseous emetic, the conscience-smitten girl trembled
for fear that her disobedience and her falsehood should both be
brought to light. As soon as the emetic operated, her mother saw, in
the half-chewed fragments of green apples, the cause of her sickness.
What could the unhappy and guilty girl say? Denial was now, of
course, out of the question. She could only cover her face with her
hands, in the vain attempt to hide her shame. We hope that this
detection and mortification will teach that little girl a lesson
which she will never forget.
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