Not long ago, an old man was sitting on a park bench, feeding the pigeons and thinking about his long life and how little good he had done for his friends and neighbors over the years. After much thought, he decided that he was going to do something good for everyone in town, even the animals.

He was not rich, so he could not give money away. But he did think of some very unusual ideas. For example, he had been collecting old padlocks for many years and thought of a way to do something good with them. The old man loved children, so he thought of a way to make them happy.

Early one morning, before the sun came up, he went to several schools in the neighborhood. He snapped his padlocks on all of the doors of the schools. When the children and teachers arrived, they could not get in and school could not begin. Of course, the children were happy. They played games in the schoolyard for over an hour before the repairman could pry open the locks.

This was only the beginning. Very early the next morning, with a big sack on his back, Mister Do-Good quietly gathered every morning newspaper from all the apartments and houses in the neighborhood. You see, he believed that the newspaper was just full of bad news and that people would be happier if they didn’t read it.

These unusual events went on for quite some time. Everyone in town wondered who this “Mister Do-Good” might be. Some people wanted him arrested. One morning, they got their wish. Mister Do-Good had felt sorry

for the dogs that were locked up in their yards. So bright and early, he went around opening gates to all the yards where dogs lived. The dogs were so happy to be free that they followed Mister Do-Good wherever he went, and the police couldn’t help but discover who he was. They arrested him and took him before the judge. But when the judge read the charges brought before him, he couldn’t make up his mind about what to do with Mister Do-Good.

Even though he had done some bad things, Mister Do-Good thought he was doing good things. What should the judge do? He couldn’t put Mister Do-Good in jail for doing good things. Yet he should be punished for doing the bad things. It was a very hard decision.

Finally, Mister Do-Good said, “You Honor, why don’t you just let me go?”

The judge then asked, “And what good would that do?”

Mister Do-Good replied, “It would be a good ending for this story!”