1856.] "May Be So." 375 



C^" 



A CHAPTER FOR MOTHERS. 



Next time you go out, you'll buy me a wagon, won't you, mother?" 

 said my little boy to me one day. 



I didn't want to say "no," and destroy his happy feelings, and I 

 was not prepared to say "yes," and so I gave the evasive reply sa 

 often used under such circumstances, "May be so,'"' and which was 

 meant rather as a negative than an affirmative. The child was satisfied; 

 for he gave my words the meaning he wished them to have. In a 

 little while after I had forgotten all about it. Not so my boy. To 

 him the "may be so" was "yes;" and he set his heart confidently on 

 receiving the wagon the next time I should go out. This happened to 

 be on the afternoon of that very day. It was toward evening when I 

 returned. The moment I rang the bell at my own door, I heard his 

 pattering feet and gleeful voice in the entry. 



"Where's my wagon?" said he, as I entered, a shade of disappoint- 

 ment falling suddenly upon his excited, happy face. 



^'What wagon, dear?'^ I asked. 



'*My wagon. The wagon you promised to buy me." 



^'I didn't promise to buy a wagon, my son." 



"Oh, yes, you did, mother! You promised me this morning." 



Tears were already in his eyes, and his face wore a look of distressing 

 disappointment. 



"I promised to buy you a wagon? I am sure I remember nothing 

 about it," I replied confidently. " What in the world put that in your 

 head" 



"Didn't I ask you?" said the child, the tears now overflowing his 

 cheeks. 



"Yes, I believe you did ask me something about a wagon; but I 

 didn't promise to buy you one." 



" Oh, yes you did, mother. You said ' may be so.' " 



" But ' may be so ' does n't mean yes." 



At this the little fellow uttered a distressing cry. His heart was 

 almost broken by disappointment. He had interpreted my words 

 according to his own wishes, and not according to their real meaning. 



Unprepared for an occurrence of this kind, I was not in the mood 

 to sympathize with my child fully. To be met thus, at the moment of 

 my return home, disturbed me. 



