The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1891-09-18

there 10 Jesus Christ the tmpersonation
Of all OF them. Kindnessl You can
not affect 1t, you cannot play II "a a
part, you cannot enact It, you cannot
dramatic II. BY the grace OF God.
you must have It inside you, an ever
lasting summer, or rather q combine
ton OF June and October, the geniality
OF one and the tonic Of the other. 1t
cannot dwell with arrogance or spite or
revenge or malevolence. At Its first
appearance In the soul all these Anal
ekites and Gergishites and Hittites and
Jebusites must quit, and quit forever.
Kindness wishes everybody we'll
every man we'll, every woman well,
every child well, every bird well, every
horse well, every dog well, every cat
we'll. Give this spirit full swing and you
would have no more need of societies
for prevention Of cruelty to animals,
no more need of protective sewing wom-
ans associations, and it would dull every
sword until it would not cut skin deep,
and unwheel every battery till it could
not roll, and make gunpowder Of no
more use in the world except for rock
blasting or pyrotechnic celebration.
Kindness is spirit divinely implant-
ed, and in answer to prayer, and then
to be sedulously cultivated until 1t fills
all the nature with a perfume richer
and more pungent than mignonette,
and, as If you put tuft of that aro-
matte beauty behind the clock on the
mantel, or in some corner where no.
body can see it, you find people walk
ing about your room looking this way
and that, and you ask them, What
are you looking fort" and they answer,
Where is that fowerp' So If one has
in his soul this infinite sweetness of dis
position. its perfume will whelm every
thing.
TRUE KINDNESS rs PERENNIAL.
But If you are waiting and hoping for
SOME one to be bankrupted or exposed
or discounted or in some way over
thrown, then kindness has not taken
possession Of your nature. You are
wrecked on Malta where there are no
oranges. You are entertaining a guest
so unlike kindness that kindness will
not come and dwell under the same
roof. The most exhausting and un-
healthy and ruinous feeling on earth is
a revengeful spirit or retaliating spirit,
as l know by experience, for l have
tried it for five or ten minutes at a time.
When some mean thing has been done
me or said about me, have felt: II
will pay him in his own coin. l will
show him up. The migrated The traitorl
The liarl The villain!"
But Ave or ten minutes of the feeling
has been so unnerving and exhausting
have abandoned it, and I cannot un-
derstand how people can 60 about tor
turing themselves five or ten or twenty
yeara,trying to get even with some
body. The only way you will ever tri-
umph over your enemies Is by forgiYing
them and wishing them all good pd
no evil. As malevolenca is the ! st
uneasy land profitless and dangerous
feeling, kindness is the most healthful
and delightful. And this is not alb
straction. As have tried little of
the retaliation, so have tried little
of the forgiving.
I do not want to leave this world
until I have taken vengeance upon
every man that ever did me wrong
by doing him a kindness. In most of
such cases have already succeeded,
but there are few malignants whom I
am yet pursuing and shall not be
content until l have in some wise
helped them or benefited them or
blessed them. Let us pray for this
spirit of kindness It will settle a
thousand questions. 1t will change
the phase of everything. 1t will mel
low through and through our entire
nature. It will transform a lifetime.
1t is not feeling gotten up for occa-
sions, but perennial
That is the reason l like petunias
better than morning glories. They look
very much alike. and if I should put in
your hand petunia and morning
glory you could hardly tell which is
the petunia and which the morning
glory; but the morning glory blooms
only few hours and then shuts up
for the day, while the petunia is in as
widespread a glow at twelve o'clock at
noon and six o'clock in the evening as
at sunrise. And this grace of kindness
is not spasmodic, is not intermittent, is
not for little while, but it irradiates
the whole nature all through and
clear on till the sunset of our earthly
existence.
Kindness! am resolved to get it.
Are you resolved to get it9 It does not
come by haphazard, but through cul-
ture under the divine help. Thistles
grow without culture. Rocky noun
tain sage grass grows without culture.
Mullen stalks grow without culture.
But that great red rose in the conser
vatory, its leaves packed on leaves,
deep dyed as though it had been
obliged to fight for its beauty and it
were still reeking with the carnage Of
the battle, that rose needed to be cul-