"Why do you guess you'd 'better' ?" "Well," said Penrod, with a full mouth, "it might get all dried up if nobody took it, and get thrown out and wasted." "You're beginning finely," Mrs.Crim remarked.

"A year ago you'd have taken the cookie without the same sense of thrift." "Ma'am ?" "Nothing.

I see that you're twelve years old, that's all.

There are more cookies, Penrod." She went away, returning with a fresh supply and the observation, "Of course, you'll be sick before the day's over; you might as well get a good start." Mrs.Schofield looked thoughtful.

"Aunt Sarah," she ventured, "don't you really think we improve as we get older ?" "Meaning," said the old lady, "that Penrod hasn't much chance to escape the penitentiary if he doesn't?
Well, we do learn to restrain ourselves in some things; and there are people who really want someone else to take the last cookie, though they aren't very common.