News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-03-14
Speak Kindly.

Why not? Why should not husbands
and wives, bound together as they are
in the most intimate of all earthly rela-
tions, and necessarily in constant inter
course with each other, consecrate and
hallow the sacred relation, and bless
themselves, by always using kind words
when they speak to each other? Where
is the place for hard words, angry words
and words of reproach and bitterness?
Such words always leave sharp sting
behind them. They are not the words
of affection, and become neither hus-
band nor wife. They contribute moth
ing to the happiness of either, and are
the prolific source of a large amount OF
misery. The husband who abuses his
wife by his words, and the wife who
snaps and snarls at her husband, are
alike untrue to their marital pledge,
and really in a very bad wsy. Such
husbands and wives ought at once to
repent of their sins against each other,
and acquire better affections and better
manners.
Speak kindly. Why should not par
ents always speak in this way to their'
children, and why should not children:
always SO speak to their parents? If
parents thus speak children will natur-
ally learn do the same thing. The
example of the parents will reproduce
itself in the practice and habits of the
children; and the latter will grow up
into manhood or womanhood with O
gentleness and softness of manners, and
a carefulness in the use of words, that
is characteristic of refined and cultivated
beings. Authority, when exercised
through kind words, is scarcely felt
simply as authority. The element of
severity is withdrawn from it and ODE
dience to it is secured by love. Parents
who allow themselves to get into fits of
passion with their children, and then
thunder and storm at them in the Ian
guage of vehemence and anger, are MAX
ing grave mistake in the matter of
family government. Such parents need
first of all to govern themselves and
put their own passions under health
full restraint.
Speak kindly. Why not? Why
should not brothers and sisters living
in the same house, eating at the same
table, and fed and clothed by the same
bounty, always speak to each other IN
this way? By so doing they will min
lister to each others happiness, avoid
petty quarrels, make home pleasant,
cultivate good affections, crafty their
affections and please God. AS they be-
come men and women they will be
scattered hither and thither; and when
thus scattered, it will be pleasant for
them to look back to their childhood
days, and remember that their inter-
course with one another was kindly and
affectionate. The friendship then
formed will follow them through life.
Yes, speak kindly. Why not? Why
should not men who are associated to-
gether in business study and practice
the law of kind words toward each
other? Why should not the master
speak kindly to his servants? Why
should not one speak kindly to a
stranger who may ask him q question
Why should not those who differ in
opinion address each other i'll the use of
respectful and kindly words? Why
should not those who oppose moral evil
temper their language with the law of
kindness in the form of utterance
Why should not the minister of the
gospel. the doctor and the nurse In the
sick-room, the buyer and seller, the
banker and the merchant, the governor
and the governed, the Judge on his
bench, the warden of a prison, and, in
deed, every man and every woman, OF
all occasions, in all circumstances, anC
under all provocations, both study ant
practice the law of kind words In the to
tai intercourse of life from the cradle t.
the grave? -The Independent.