Part 2 — ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON AND THE POOR BOY
Reading edition
When Robert Louis Stevenson became a man, he still loved children.
He was always kind to them.
Whenever he could he tried to please them and make them happy.
One day he was sitting in a park in Scotland.
It was summer.
The birds were singing.
The flowers were all in bloom.
Mr. Stevenson saw a little boy lying under a bush.
The boy seemed very poor.
His clothes were ragged; he wore no shoes.
He was listening to the birds and did not know that a man was sitting just back of him.
Mr. Stevenson thought to himself, “How poor that child must be!
He looks so ragged and lonely.
Perhaps he is hungry, too.
I should like to do something to please him.”
He thought for a little while, then he said to himself, “I know what I will do!”
Stepping softly over the grass, so that the boy would not hear him, he slipped a penny into one of the lad’s pockets.
Then softly he returned to his seat.
After a while the boy got up.
He stretched himself, then thrust his hands into his pockets.
He started to walk away, but suddenly stopped, drew his hand from his pocket, and stood staring at the bright new penny.
Where had it come from?
Perhaps he thought a fairy had put it in his pocket.
He could not guess how it ever came to be there.
But his face showed how glad he was to get it.
His look of pleasure and surprise filled Mr. Stevenson with joy.
After the boy had hurried off to spend his wonderful penny, Mr. Stevenson smiled and started home as happy as the poor boy.