Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1904-11-05

same set lines which drew down the
corners of your mouth drew down his.
He did not cry. he did not even whim-
per. lie took his punishment i'll dog
ged silence. and then lie sullenly went
10 his room.
There is an old saying that all the
natures of the wild and the domestic
beasts are Gagged up in every mans
heart. 1t only depends upon which
cage you open which nature will domi-
nate the man. In the hearts menag-
erie are the jaclial. the lion. the tiger,
the swine and the lamb. and all other
kinds of four legged beasts. That
whipping which you gave your boy
On.y developed the mulish part of his
nature. He became obstinate and ugly.
The more you beat him the more OBJ
stinate and mul.Sh he grew. The rod
and the rebuke never ma1e your child
bend his will To your will.
But what happened when your wife
went to your boys room? All. she re-
Gagged the snarling tiger and the kick
Ing mule in his heart. She let free the
lamb OF his better nature. When she
first went in lis eyes were blazing
with rage His teeth were gritting to-
gether Ills hands were clinshed He
was rapidly walking up and down the
room. Up and down he went When
your wife first entered he would not
look nj her But up and down he walk
ed. up and down. Then he said:
Mother. | am going to leave home. I
am not going To college. | am not gOs
ing to let father give me another cent.
| am too big to he whipped, and he
might as well know il now and once
for ALL Mother | hate him. l hate
father because | know father has no
love for me" What did your wife do?
Did she begin To scold? Oh. no! She
simply went up to her boy and put her
arm lovingly around his neck and said:
Harry. Why. Harry. Are you going
to leave ne: Would you leave your
mother: oh. my boy. you know not
what you are saying" The boy start
ed. TIE tears began to flow. He never
even whimpered under your blows. but
with his mother he just sobbed like a
little child Then she took his head
talk to him. She told him how anxious
you were To see him grow up to be
good and true and brave She told him
that you had right to expect obedi-
ence from him and that il grieved you
to have To punish him. And while she
talked his heart melted. and he was as
soft rs WAX in her hand. That night
I'm the quietudc Of your room your wife
said: Husband. never strike that boy
again. You will rue the day that you
do. You can get Harry to do anything
If you are only gentle with him. But
strike him. and some day he will either
strike you back or leave home in anger
forever
Gentleness VIII Win.
We all know that ii is only by gentle
ness we have our greatest influence
over our loved ones. Yet. strange to
say. when anything goes wrong at the
store or in the home and we lose our
tempcrs we nearly always turn our an
ger against our own children or our own
wives or our own husbands or our own
brothers and sisters. IL the cook Is
mean and suddenly leaves us i'm the
lurch or the laundryman ruins our best
washed dress or we become fatigued
from the spring or the fall house clean
Ing or our clerks cheat us at the store.
then we are very apt to vent our dis
pleasure upon our helpless children or
our wives or husbands. who have done
nothing. The domestic squalls and up
heavals are often due entirely to out
sions. Now. my friends. let us one and
all learn To guard against speaking
harsh words against those we love.
Let us deal gently with those who are
by our side and who are bound to US
by the strong ties of domestic affec-
tons.
Remember that in the influence of
the gentle life in the home we can
serve God just as truly in the small
things and in the little duties as in the
great LIN the effort TO appreciate va
rious forms of greatness" wrote Ed
ward Howard Greggs. I'VE must not
underestimate the value of simple.
good life Just TO be good. TO keep life
pure from degrading elements. to make
it constantly helpful in little ways to
those who are touched by it. TO keep
ones spirit always sweet and avoid all
manner of petty anger and irritability,
that is an ideal as noble as il is diff
cult" But that is an ideal which God
will let us all reach if we daily go to
him in prayer. That is an ideal we all
should try To reach. for in order TO
have our loved ones spiritually sweet
we must set them an example and
avoid all manner of petty anger and
irritability. We ourselves must learn
by practice to be true types of the
Christians gentle life.
Deal gently with father, mother. hus-
band. wife. brother. sister and child.
Yes, but the text goes further than
this Ii bids us deal gently with those
who are fighting us and our work be-
cause they do not see conditions as we
see them. We should deal gently with
our enemies as well as our friends.
with our dcfamers and with those who
arp doing al they can tn destroy uS