I have forgotten the name of the old lady, who was a customer (顾客) on my newspaper route when I was twelve. Yet she taught me a lesson that I shall never forget.
On a winter afternoon, a friend and I were throwing stones onto the roof of the old lady's house near her garden. I found myself a perfectly smooth rock and threw it. The stone was too smooth, however, so it slipped (滑) from my hand as I let it go and headed straight for a small window on the lady's door. At the sound of broken glass, we knew we were in trouble. We ran faster than any of our stones which flew off her roof.
I was too scared about getting caught that first night to be concerned about the old lady with the broken window in winter. However, a few days later, when I was sure that I hadn't been discovered, started to feel guilty for her trouble. She still greeted me with a smile each day when I gave her the newspaper, but I was no longer able to act comfortably when seeing her.
I decided that I would save my paper delivery (送) money, and in three weeks I had the seven dollars that I thought would cover the cost of her window. I put the money in an envelope (信封) with a note saying that I was sorry for breaking her window and hoped that the seven dollars would cover the cost of repairing it.
The next day, I handed the old lady her paper. She thanked me for the paper and gave me a bag of biscuits she had made herself. I thanked her and ate the biscuits as I continued my route.
After several biscuits, I felt an envelope and pulled it out of the bag. When I opened the envelope, I was shocked. Inside were the seven dollars and a short note that said, "I'm proud of you."