Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-08-16
Keeping the Peace.

| purchased an Illuminated motto
BLESSED are the Peacemakers ''-antl
had it framed and hung in the family
room. For many weeks after the cere-
mony of placing it on the walls, and
the talk that accompanied the cere-
mony, whenever any unpleasant differ
| ence threatened to arise between the
children, some one of them would shout
out, blessed are the Peacemakers, -
with perceptible happy effect. Alter a
while, however, the novelty wore out,
and when call was made for pictures
to cover the baroness, of the walls of the
new school house, consultation was
held by the family to see which of their
precious pictures could be spared Each
one had a history; almost every one
was framed with associations and men,
cries that made it precious. At last the
younger; little girl exclaimed: why,
send Blessed are The fPeacemakers;'
were all through with thai"
Now. it does seem Sometimes as
though THAT beatitudeT the natural PEN
!, dentNto the Golden Rule was quite 10
noretand forgotsenGin sone professed-
lx Christian households, Jas though they
hadsgot '.all through With Mai:' and
Yet what is a family where there are no
peacemakers, where each seeks his
own and none ''foilow aftertt things
which make for peace. and things
| whercwith one may. edify. another?''
| Whatever such a family may be, it is
not an Eden, not a Paradise, not a little
''heaven to 60 to Heaven in.'
These ale noble quarfels. The fight
going on Within rs all between the evil
and the gbod, between sApollyon and
God, is 4 noble fight. The fight against
ignorance. poverty, intemperance, is
noble; the fight for any true principle is
noble. But. it is not aly ays easy to dis
tinguish betweenPrinciple and people;
we are apt to GEE them confused with
each other, and sonnet INES we turn upon
our friends the energy that should be
used only in fighting our foes and even
in lighting them we are 10 ''hate the sin
with all our hearts, yet still the sinner
love" A great many people of eXecu-
tive, aggressive temperaments strike
because they feel like striking, not be-
cause they see some great wrong to be
righted, some abuse to be corrected,
some evil to be rebuked. Wisdom sug-
gests getting out of the way of such folk
till the parOXysm be past. Sharp
words flow as naturally from some lips
as gentle words from others. Is any
emollient better in such cases than ut
ter silence? Some are never so happy
as when they can ':stir up the animals
and set them all to bowling. Prudence
su rgests that when such persons appeat
all the clubs and long sticks lying round
be carefully put away out of reach.
"a soft answer turneth away wrath,
but grievous words stir up anger
The bale of Il pail measures no more
lying down than it does standing up
Engineers never 90 over a mountain or
tunnel through it. when they can more
advantageously go aroundit The self
respected person will not permit him
self to be dragged into a petty quarrel
and suffer all his fine enthusiasts to be
worn away by such mean attrition. He
Will rather with both fingers in his ears
run away, crying Life, life" Silence
has wonderfully healing influence
wnen properly employed Ii people
can be induced to keep their voices
keyed low when they are i'll an irritable
humor, this will allay strife. Children
rarely disagree widely in whispers, or
grown people, cit Ter; as their tempers
rise their voices rise. until high words
are followed by hard blows We knew
I. man once who was married to a wo-
man who had a temper of her own, and
he kept her so smothered with honeyed
words and actions that to him she was
always sweet.
The love of whatsoever things are
lovely and of good report, viii keep
people from evil As effectually as the in
tense and active hatred of evil, and the
cultivation of this principle of love, of
the good for its own sake, brings wi h
it mildness and gentleness; brings with
it balmy airs in which the genial fruits
of charity and peace naturally ripen
Ii people could divest themselves of ex-
.aggerated ideas of their own self-impor-
lance there would be far less strife than
there is. If ''he who would be greatest
of all'' were content to be servants of
all,' social and domestic quarreling.
would be rare. 'L"'1
A man drunk with wine can not really
insult a gentleman. The gentleman APP
peals from Phillip drunk to Philip
sober A man crazy with passion or
anger is a lunatic to a degree, and is to
be treated accordingly. When he
''comes to himself he may be induced
to make amends for what he has done
when he was beside himself The per-
son who can hold himself true to truth
and virtue, and front with serene face
fretfulness, unreasonable irritation, un-
just accusations. groundless fault-find-
ing, and that ceaseless friction that is
found in al grades and stations in life,
has wealth within himself beyond COM
putation. Such person is a treasure
in the family circle, in the church and
in society.
A little girl in the midst of a large
family once set herself the task of keep
ing the peace among those around her.
She tried to ease at every point she
could the burdens of her parents; she
did not answer back when reproved, or
say biting words when provocations
arose. She constituted herself the guar
dan of the children younger than she
was, and had leagues with them of
mutua! kindness and forbearance. She
tried to pour oil on the waters when
ever they were troubled. and remove
all causes of strife she could reach. AS
zone sinner destroyeth much good" so
ono kay. not Tply p1apto6 bo