"Kind Words Can Never Die."
[A short time since I was reading in "Lessons in Life" by Titcomb. He was talking upon the subject of, "Reproduction in Kind," from which I make a short extract, thinking it may be of interest to the readers of the "Review." H. F. Phelps.] "I have been thinking how, in accordance with this law of which we are talking, our modes, our passions, our sympathies, our moral frames and conditions, reproduce themselves, after their kind, in the minds and lives around us. I call my child to my knee in anger; I strike him a hasty blow that carries with it the peculiar sting of anger; I speak a loud reproof that bears with it the spirit of anger; and I look in vain for any relenting in his flashing eyes, flushed face, and compressed lips. I have made my child angry, and my uncontrolled passion has produced after its kind. I have sown anger, and I have reaped anger instantaneously. Perhaps I become still more angry, in consequence of the passion manifested by my child, and speak and strike again. He is weak and I am strong; but though he bowed his head, crushed into silence, I may be sure that there is a sullen heart in the little bosom, and anger the more bitter because it is impotent. I put the child away from me, and think of what I have done. I am full of relentings, I long to ask his pardon, for I know that I have offended and deeply injured one of my little ones. I call him to me again, press his head on my breast, kiss him and weep. No word is spoken, but the little bosom heaves, the little heart softens, the little eyes grow tenderly penitent, the little hands come up and clasp my neck, and my relentings and my sorrow have produced after their kind. The child is conquered and so am I. If I utter fretful words, they come back to me like echoes. If I bristle all over with irritability, the quills will begin to rise all about me.87One thoroughly irritable person in a breakfast room spoils coffee and toast, sours milk, and destroys appetite for a whole family. He produces after his kind." Let parents and teachers ponder and remember these words. Remember we can, and it is our duty to correct, but not in anger. "Let patience have her perfect work that we may be perfect and entire wanting nothing," in that day that is fast hastening. "Speak gently, it is better far,
To rule by love than fear;
Speak gently, let not harsh words mar
The good we might do here;
Speak gently to the little child,
Its love be sure to gain,
Teach it in accents soft and mild
From evil to refrain."