Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1851-12-03
MIS- G Il l. L A N Y.
MUTUAL EORBEARANCE.

That house will be kept in turmoil
where there Is no tolerance of each other S
errors, no lenity shown TO failings, no meek
submission to Injuries, no soft answers to
turn away wrath. If you lay single stick
of wood upon the andiions and apply fire
to it, it will 90 out put on another stick,
and they will burn; add half dozen, and
you will have grand conAagration. There
are other fires subject to the same condi-
tions. II one member Of a family gets into
a passion and is let alone he will cool down,
and possibly be ashamed and repent. But
oppose temper to temper pile on the fuel {;
draw in the other members Of the group, and
there will soon be blaze which will enwrap
them all in its lurid splendors. The vene-
rable Philip Henry understood this well,
and when his son Matthew Henry, the Com
mentator was married, he sent these lines
to the welded pair -
''Love one another; pray oft together; and see
You never both together angry be:
If one speak fire, tother with water come;
Is one provoked be tother soft OF dumb''
So thought the excellent Bishop Cowper,
of whom this remarkable anecdote is relat-
ed. The wife of this good man was afraid
he would injure his health oy close confne-
ment. So, one day, like kind-hearted, off
ci Gus wife, she went into his library in his
absence, and gathering up all the manu.
script notes he had been eight years collect
ing for his dictionary, threw them into the
fire. When he came home, she told him
what she had done. Assured of the kind
motive which had prompted her to that act
OF Vandalism, his only reply to her was,
woman thou hast put me to eight years
study more
This, it must be confessed, is CARRYING
meekness about as far as flesh and blood can
ordinarily be expected to go. But even a
less measure Of this quality would be found
a great sedative to those ebulitons of pas
sion which rufie the serenity of households.
Allied with sound judgment and with true
affection, it would aim at shutting out from
the circle such topics of conversation as
were known to produce an irritating effect
upon any of the group.
The same spirit would restrain family
from pushing question, on which they diff
fered, to the point of peremptory decision
IL MOuAO dN>houtsu Nucu Tic ICE was
beginning to culver and crackle, and show
them where they must stop. unless they
meant to break through. There are too
many who refuse to see, or at least to heed
these indications, and whom nothing will
arrest but an actual plunge into the wintry
wave. They will insist upon their point
with such pertinacity as to bring down at
length that terrific You shoT," or "You
shaH no" which in conjugal lifeis as freez-
ing as a bath in December. Happy are
those families where discussion never reach
es this crisis. 1t is said that in the business
meetings OF that exemplary Christian Soci-
ETY., the Friends" there is no rotine. The
Clerk gathers the views of the members
from their observations. and frames a cor
responding minute, which, unless except
ed to, stands, without vote, as the act of the
body, This is a safe principle for house
holds. The opinions Of those who wear the
purple can usually be got at without vote;
and voting sometimes creates difference
OF feeling where there was simply diver
slty OF sentiment -Rcr. DR.. Boardman.