THE BOY AND THE NETTLES

A BOY was gathering berries from a hedge when his hand was stung by a Nettle. Smarting with the pain, he ran to tell his mother, and said to her between his sobs, “ I only touched it ever so lightly, mother.” “ That’s just why you got stung, my son,” said she ; “ if you had grasped it firmly, it wouldn’t have hurt you in the least.”