The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1899-07-28
Good Temper.

What "A cOnteuted mind is TO the
possessor good temper-not the sup
CRITICAL good temper of frivolous
nature, but the good temper that is
based upon the solid foundation of
moral worth--is to those among
whom the happy mortal endowed
with this most precious of attributes
has an abiding place. Like the tor
lnPr, it is antagOuistic to selfishneSs,
Counteracting with gentle power
to which the most morbidly keen
susceptibilities and the most tensely
strung nerves will unconsciously
respond-the tendency, inherent in
most persons, to regard the facts and
events of oaily life from an unduly
personal stand point. This it does,
dltfusing within the sphere of its in
huenre the steady light of re Ison, by
which the mum cradle factors that
enter into every tact and event of
life may be vaguely disc1rned if not
clearly perceived, SO aiding to estab-
lish the true relations existing re-
tween fact and event and individ-
ual.
When the happy pOssessor of this
gift of good temper Is the master or
more especially, the mistress of the
household, its beneticent effects will
naturally be much farther reaching,
as its absence, in the opposite case,
will be mucn more widely and more
deeply felt Good temper Will serve
as a sort OF balance wheel to regulate
the working of the domestic ma
chinery, curOing che angry outbreak,
checking the impatient response,
adjusting differences, and aVertlng
Disbursements, with patient tact
that will derive something of aided
power from the weight of authority
behind it. 1t Will act as sort OF
moral solvent, in which harnesses
of mooi-and even of disposition,
with time-will disappear, removing
sources of friction that serve not to
round and perfect but to roughen
and spoil the character. 1t will Gre
ate an atmosphere, in snort, that
will be favorable to the growth of all
good qualities and sentiments, and in
which noXious growths, if they
should unhappily appear, finding
nothing on which to Iced, Will quick
ly wltner and die. And so powerful
will be this influence tor good that
it is even conceivable that the at
mosphere of such home could be
shown by chemical analysis to differ
in itS constituent elements 1ronl the
atmosphere of household presided
over by a woman Of a sour or violent
temper. That it will affect even the
casual visitor with sense of physi-
cal well-being, as the other does
with IA sense of physical discomfort,
however well ordered it may appar-
emily be, is certain.
Nor is the happy influence exert
ed by "a good temper by any means
confined to the limits of the home.
Like the sunshine, it cheers and an
mates wherever il reaches. Who is
not conscious, when friend or ac-
quaintance possessing this gift enters
the room, Oh thrill of pleasure, of
an increased confidence IN his kind
and in the powers that make for
good or, at all events, of sense of
present contentment, the reverse of
the feelings which the entrance of a
pessimistic or ill-natured person
would awaken in the mind.
And in general intercourse the
possession of good temper is of in
calculable value. To hken it again
to the sun, it will prevail when the
blusterer, like the Wind iii the fable
will fail of his purpose. Good temper
is the essence OF good-breeding, as
il is also of business sctence.-Har'
per's Bazaar.
-
BIRTH.