OIL YOURSELF A LITTLE

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 17, 1879

OIL YOURSELF A LITTLE.

Once upon a time there lived an old gentleman in a large house. He had servants and everything he wanted; and yet he was not happy, and when things did not go as he wished, he was very cross. At last his servants left him. Quite out of temper, he went to a neighbor with the story of his distresses.

“It seems to me,” said the neighbor, sagaciously, “’twould be well for you to oil yourself a little.”

“To oil myself?”

“Yes; and I will explain. Sometime ago, one of the doors in my house creaked. Nobody, therefore, liked to go in or out of it. One day I oiled its hinges, and it has been constantly used by everybody ever since.”

“Then you think I am like a creaking door,” cried the old gentleman. “How do you want me to oil myself?”

“That’s an easy matter,” said the neighbor. “Go home and engage a servant, and when he does right, praise him. If, on the contrary, he does something amiss, do not be cross; oil your voice and your words with the oil of love.”

The old gentleman went home, and no harsh or ugly words were ever heard in the house afterward. Everybody should have a supply of this precious oil, for every family is liable to have a creaking hinge in the shape of a fretful disposition, a cross temper, a harsh tone, or a fault finding spirit.—Sel.