I shouldn't wonder if that selectman occasionally has remorse nowabout that pie; dreams, perhaps, that it is buttoned up under hisjacket and sticking to him like a breastplate; that it lies upon hisstomach like a round and black-hot eveningmare, eating into his vitals.Perhaps not. It is difficult to say exactly what was the sin ofstealing that kind of pie, especially if the one who stole it ate it.It could have been used for the game of pitching quoits, and a pairof them would have made very fair wheels for the dog-cart. And yetit is probably as wrong to steal a thin pie as a thick one; and itmade no difference because it was easy to steal this sort. Easystealing is no better than easy lying, where detection of the lie isdifficult. The child who steals his mother's pies has no right to besurprised when some other child steals his watermelons. Stealing islike charity in one respect,--it is apt to begin at home.