The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-04-30
J..e'S Temper.

Joe was a smart boy. Everybody
said so. He drove the COWS to the pas
lure and brought them home, fed the
pigs and mended the holes in the
lences, and did many useful things all
day long. Besides, he went to school
and stood high up in all his classes.
But in spite of all this, Joe did not
have many friends, and if you lived
with him while you would not won.
der that nobody liked him much. II
you asked the boys aud girls why they
did not like to play with him, they
would say, 20, it's no fun to play with
Joe, he gets mad too quick!"
That was the secret. Poor Joe had q
temper, a terrible temper, and it was
completely his master. When in a fit
of passion, he would say and do cruel
things for which he would be very sor-
ry afterward. When his mother talk
ed to him lovingly of the sin of his
fault, or when she was obliged to pun
ish him for some very bad outbreak,
he tearfully and earnestly would prom
ise to conquer the bad spirit, but just
the next time he was crossed in any
way, he would give way to it again.
So that was why everything feared,
and nothing loved him.
But one day q terrible thing happen
ed, something that cured Joe forever OF
his fault of getting angry.
Joe had a pretty little sister, not
quite three years old, who loved her
big brother very much, and tried to
follow him everywhere he went. He
was very proud of her, and when he
was in good humor, loved to take
her with him.
But one day he was hunting for eggs
in the loft over the big barn, and did
not want to be bothered with Daisy,
who had found him up there, so he
told her to.stay down on the ground,
or 90 back to the house. But Daisy
wanted to hunt eggs, too, so she began
to climb up the long steps by herself.
"Go back 60 back! l say" Joe
called out angrily, but Daisy only
shook her little curly head, and said:
"Me tumin' too, me am" and Joe
got worse and worse angry every min
ute as he kept screaming.
Don't come up here, I tell you
don't! Come another step and I'll
push you down." he cried ut last, fair
ly choking with anger, and Daisy,
who was already scared to find herself
so far from the ground, caught sight OF
his threatening face, lost her grasp on
the step above her, and fell to the
ground. Fell, and did not move or
cry out, but lay quite still in little
white heap at the foot of the steps.
Trembling with horror and shame,
Joe dashed away his hat full of eggs,
and carried the quiet little form to his
mother.
20, mother, have killed her" was
all the poor boy could say.
Daisy was not dead, but it was long
time before she opened her blue eyes
again, and then when the doctor eX-
amined her, he said her little spine
was hurt, and she would never be
straight and we'll again, but would be
crippled all her life. Joe would almost
have died to see her strong and well
again, but they told him it could nev-
er be.
That was many years ago when Joe
was little boy, and now he is a gray
haired man, but that lesson was
enough for lifetime, and no one has
ever seen him very angry since. He
has spent his life in taking care of Dali
sy, trying to atone for his part in her
saddened life.
Daisy, who was too young to re-
member how she came to be crippled
often wonders why her dear brother is
so patient with her, but Joe does not
want her ever to know.
T1rgiyaia in Christian Observer.