A lady in Berlin was accustomed to give her servants a generous present every year on Christmas eve. One Christmas the cook and the housemaid each received only of a pair of warm winter gloves. Since they had always been given much more than this, the housemaid was angry at receiving what seemed so little. Consequently, she threw them, in a fit of anger, into the fire; and she went so far as to tell her mistress what she had done with the gift.

The cook, who was older, more experienced, and wiser, thanked her mistress for the gift and tried on the gloves. She could not get her fingers into them, for in each of the fingers there was a piece of paper; she pulled out the papers, ten five-mark notes, in all 150 marks (thirty dollars). Upon seeing this the housemaid rushed to the stove, but it was too late; the flames had already consumed her gloves, and the money with them. Such are the consequences of ingratitude!

Thanksgiving is an important, and often overlooked, part of our prayer; and an important virtue in every Catholic's life. Their motto should be: Be grateful for all, however small.