Daily Dose

From Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1, edited by Harriet Elinor Smith

A CHILD'S ENVY

"A child's envy of the privileges and distinctions of its elders is often a delicately flattering attention, and the reverse is unwelcome, but sometimes the envy is not placed where the beneficiary is expecting it to be placed. Once, when Susy was seven, she sat breathlessly absorbed in watching a guest of ours adorn herself for a ball. The lady was charmed by this homage; this mute and gentle admiration: and was happy in it. And when her pretty labors were finished, and she stood at last perfect, unimprovable, clothed like Solomon in his glory, she paused, confident and expectant, to receive from Susy's tongue some tribute that was burning in her eyes. Susy drew an envious little sigh and said,
'I wish I could have crooked teeth and spectacles!'"

From Monday, February 5, 1906