The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1879-08-07
Mastered By PASSION.

o4k4ki tAot 4hath "a QuiSh-eSAhPSASe
and that she often says things that she
does not mean"
1t was Hannah Cleaves who spoke, and
she was defending her young and pretty
cousin, who had been not quite two years
the wife of Charles Gray. 80
s'StiN," said Susan Adams, another cous-
in, II must say that she is much to blame.
Her husband Is one of the kindest and best
of men, and know that she often makes
him unhappy. She might do differently
if she would"
nah. '.She is not to blame for the disposi-
tion which was born in her. She cannot
help her own nature. No two of us are
exactly alike in all our feelings, and we
are all apt to act as We feel. 1t is unfor
tunate that some people are diseased: but
I cannot say that those are to blame who
have inherited their disease from their an
cestors. And so it is with our disposition.
"But," suggested Susan, ''that person
who has inherited a disease which works
mischief not only to herself, but all
around her, is certainly to blame IL she
does not make any exertion to get ria of
il.
"Ay," cried Hannah; "but there are dis
eases you cannot get rid rf; and say that
cousin Ruth cannot be blamed for her feel
ings, because they ONE in spite OF her
and when they have come she cannot hide
them"
Aunt Annie Dinsmore laid her knitting
work aside, and gravely shook her head.
.sHpnnah," she said with deep so, ,-un-
ity, "yOu may at some time be q mother
not to teach your children the doctrir e
you have been upholding here"
Aunt Annie was such good kind wo-
man, and she loved US all so well, ID did
so much for our happiness, that even Han
nah Cleaves was respectfully silent be-
meath the gentle reproof.
"a little while ago." our aunt went on,
ss;you were speaking of willful people
Now, admire strong sclf-will when 1t l.
bent in the right direction. The noblest
of Gods children are those who have
strong wills. The Christian martyrs were
extremely selfwilled. Selfwill is a bene.
virtue ard goodness. So cultivate self
will as much as you please, but make II
subservient to right. fear the trouble
. with Ruth Gray is that she has no self
will. What you call selfwill in her is
only her perversenes and Inconsistency
She exercises no will at all, but is the
CT feature of circumstance, suffering her
/. self to be swayed to and fro by every gus
of passion that sweeps across her path
a. The girls made no reply, and presently
Aunt Annie resumed:
"You admit that Ruth is quick-tem
pered, and that she often says things tha
she does not mean; and you say that she
can not help her feelings, and conse
quently, that she Is not to blame for acting
as those feelings dictate, My dear girls
this is all wrong. suppose I am talking
to girls of sense and Judgment, and not tc
mere machines that have Ro independence
of thought and action. We are all OF u.
subject to failings. and she is the bes'
woman who best overcomes her failings
Real virtue consists In conquering evil
The true saint is he who has fought the
good fight, and won the victory. The
Whole sum and substance of aif that i.
good, and true, and virtuous in life may
be stated in one short, simple sentence
we can if we willw
When Aunt Annie laid her knitting
work upon the table, and folded hel
hands in her lap, we knew she had some
thing of interest to say 10 Us, tor she wa!
not q woman who talked fex the sake o
talking.
aI tell you, girls" she said, I'VE can i
we will If we will do right, we can de
right She who practically denies thi.
casts aside the very foundation of virtuou!
character, and erects her structure of life
upon q base of sand. am going TO tel
you . story Of my own life. You call ms
all events, try to be so. But my goodnes!
OF temper came 10 me through mighty
effort Of will, q you shall see. When
was young was more perverse than you
cousin Ruth ever was. My temper wa,
quick and high; was subject to fits o
dependency that made all around me-
miserable; and excused myself upon the
plea that such was my nature-I coulC
not help it. When became the wife o.
Jacob Dinsmore was very happy, and
thought myself very fortunate, for knew
that1 won for husband one Of the bes
young men in the town. Your uncle
Jacob was then Just what he is now
kind, generous, loving, forbearing anG
faithful TO fault. For the first sil
months of our married life did not allow
my bad temper to show itself much; bu
at length my honeymoon waned, and my
old feelings began to manifest themselves
became, in short, just what / was befOrs
] was married. People called me self
willed; but 1 had no selfwilL did no
will TO be cross and petulant. / was eros
and petulant because / had no will to b
otherwise. 8 metimes had bad feelings
and I had no will to ov. rcome them. Tht
slightest thing that crossed me found mt
so entirely devoid Of will that il swsyeG
me at its pleasure. At the end of two
years there was more of misery than o.
happiness in my home. and / could no
hide from myself the fact that was the
cause of it all: and yet tried to convince
myself that / was not to blame. Wher
my mother talked with me declared tha
/ could not help it; and when my hus
band ventured to allude to the subject,
flew into q passion, could not bear 9
chiding from him. In fact, his very kind
mess and goodness sometimes fretted me
and when he offered to point out to me my
errors, 1t seemed as though he were preach
ing TO me, and / would not listen.
aGirls, tell you truly when tell you
that believe no one was ever more firmly
fixed in the habit of ill-feeling than was
at that time; and l did certainly believe
that I could not help IT. - =.
&. "Some time before we were married
there had been volunteer artillery com.
pany in our town; and as Jacob was the
only commissioned officer living in the
town itself, he took charge of the property
which belonged to the corps, thus retain.
ing control Of the two handsome cannon.
One royal birthday the townspeople
raised money for q celebration Of the oc-
CASTOR. and. among other things q royal
salute was to be fired in the morning, at
noon, and at sundown, of which my hus-
band was to have charge. s.
During the day received an invita-
tion to join some friends in sail upon the
river; and as could not very well 60 to
the landing alone, asked Jacob to go
with me- He said it would interfere with
other duties and he could not go. asked
him If he thought the firing Of the salute
was of more importance than the making
of happiness for his wife ;and when he had
f,i1x6 af arOnvnonf I soEoA hin,
why he could moi let some one else take
charge Of the cannon. He answered me
calmly and candldly that he dared not
trusH the gun in other hands. He was the
only one who understood how to properly
handle 1t, and he felt obliged 70 attend to
It He told me how many accidents had
happened through mistakes of inexperi.