Parker's Second Reader Part 17

12. Here was the fruit of disobedience! And as it was with Jarvis, so will it be with every one who acts disobediently.

13. Whenever you feel a temptation to disobey G.o.d; to disobey his holy word; to disobey the admonitions of your own conscience; to disobey your parents, your teachers, or any in authority over you,--be sure that a punishment awaits you, if you do not resist it.

14. As you are not able to resist it in your own strength, ask G.o.d's a.s.sistance for Christ's sake, and it will not be withheld. Now, remember Jarvis, and the bed of stinging nettles!

15. The Bible tells us very plainly how much G.o.d sets his face against disobedience. "The children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord."

16. "Let no man deceive you with vain words: for, because of these things cometh the wrath of G.o.d upon the children of disobedience." Nor is it disobedience to G.o.d that is alone hateful in his sight; for disobedience to parents is spoken of as an evil thing, too.

17. "The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pluck it out, and the young eagles shall eat it."

18. But I cannot bear to think that you are disobedient! I would rather consider you obedient in all things, and encourage you in holding on your way, obeying the will of G.o.d, and the word of all in authority over you.

"The Lord rules over sea and land, And blest indeed are they Who all his counsels understand, And his commands obey."

19. I have often been struck with the simplicity with which some children obey their parents. This tractable disposition is very amiable in a child.

20. It was no longer ago than last week, that, in crossing a field, I overtook three children: one, a little girl of about five years old, was on the foot-path, and, just as I came up, her brother called her to him, where he was in the field.

21. "No, William," said the little maid; "my mother told me not to go off the foot-path, and it would be very wicked to disobey my mother."

22. I caught the little creature up in my arms; and having a small neat book in my pocket, suitable for a child, I gave it to her, and told her to remember that the reason why I gave it was, that she had been obedient to her mother.

"Though cares on cares in parent hearts be piled, Great is that blessing--an obedient child!"

23. Without obedience there can be no order. The man must obey his master, the maid her mistress, and the scholar his teacher. If you attend a Sunday-school, whatever cla.s.s you are in, be obedient to your instructors, or you will make but little progress. By obedience you will learn faster, secure the respect of those about you, and set a proper example to those younger than yourself.

24. If you are in a place of work, be obedient to your employer. Those make the best masters and mistresses who have been the most obedient servants; for the discharge of one duty disposes us to perform another.

25. The best way to qualify yourselves to act well when grown up, is to act well while you are children.

LESSON x.x.xIX.

_Obstinacy._--LESSONS WITHOUT BOOKS.

1. There is a certain fault which almost all children have in a greater or less degree. It is called by different names; sometimes it is termed wilfulness, sometimes pertinacity, and sometimes it receives the still harsher name of obstinacy.

2. Almost all our faults are owing to the perversion or abuse of propensities originally good; and perseverance, when carried too far, or expended upon unworthy objects, becomes a troublesome infirmity.

3. Louisa and Emily had both something of this infirmity, but differing both in degree and in its mode of operation.

4. What are called _little things_ did not trouble Emily at all; and, on the contrary, they troubled Louisa very much.

5. But, when anything did seem peculiarly desirable to Emily,--when she set her heart upon having her own way,--she carried her perseverance to a degree which deserved to be called obstinacy.

6. She could _give up_, as children term it, with less effort, and more grace, than most others; but if anything determined her not to give up, she was immovable.

7. "You are almost always in the right," my daughter, her father once said to her, "and Heaven preserve you from error; for when you once fall into it, you will be too apt to persevere."

8. It happened, at one time, that she and Louisa were having some nice sun-bonnets made. Emily went for them at the time when they were to be finished, and finding only one completed, immediately appropriated it to herself, because she was really in greater need of it than Louisa, who had one that answered her purpose very well.

9. Louisa resented this, because that, being the eldest, she considered herself as having the first right; but Emily could not be persuaded to give up, although Louisa's equanimity was very much disturbed on that account.

10. If it had been proposed to her beforehand to let Louisa have the bonnet voluntarily, she would not have hesitated, for she was not selfish; but when Louisa claimed it as a right, she resisted.

11. Her mother afterwards told her that she should always avoid irritating the peculiar humors of her companions. "You," said she, "would not have minded waiting for the other bonnet a day or two, but to Louisa it was quite a serious evil."

12. And here let me remark upon the p.r.o.neness which all children have to magnify the importance of little things. A strife often arises among them, about just nothing at all, from a mere spirit of compet.i.tion.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

13. One says, "This is my seat." Another, who would not else have thought of desiring that particular seat, immediately regards it in the light of a prize, and exclaims, "No, I meant to have that seat; and I had it just before you took it."

14. Half a dozen claimants will appear directly, and perhaps get into a serious quarrel; whereas, had the reply been, in the first instance, "Very well, let it be your seat," there would have been an end to the matter.

15. But to return to Louisa. She magnified a thousand little things, of every day occurrence, in such a manner as proved a very serious inconvenience to herself.

16. She wished to have her potato sliced, but never mashed. She could not bear to see a door open a single moment; and, even if she were at her meals, and the closet door happened to stand ajar, she would jump up and fly to shut it, with the speed of lightning.

17. She could not _endure_ the feeling of gloves; nor could she any better endure to have her hat tied. Her aunt bore with all these follies a while, and then deliberately resolved to counteract them.

18. Louisa at first thought this was very hard and unreasonable. "Why can't I have my potato sliced, Aunt Cleaveland?" said she; "what hurt can it do? And why can't I shut the door when it is open? is there any harm in that?"

19. "Not at all, my dear, in the thing itself," Mrs. Cleaveland replied; "but there is a great deal of evil in having your tranquillity disturbed by things of such small moment.

20. "If you allow yourself to be distressed by trifles now, how will you bear the real trials of life, which you must inevitably sustain, sooner or later?

21. "By and by, you will find out that your suffering from these sources is all imaginary, and then you will thank me for having restrained you.

22. "Now, here is this nice dish of mashed potatoes, which we have every day. If such a little hungry girl as you are, since you have breathed our healthy mountain air, cannot eat it, and with relish too, I am greatly mistaken; and, in process of time, I have no doubt you will cease to observe whether the door is open or shut."

23. On the first day of trial, Louisa just tasted the potato, and left the whole of it upon her plate. Her aunt took no notice of this. The next day, Louisa came in to dinner after a long walk, and was very hungry.

24. There was but one dish of meat upon the table, and it was of a kind which she did not much like; so, forgetting all her repugnance to mashed potato, she ate it very heartily.

25. Mrs. Cleaveland, however, forbore to take any notice of this change; and it was not until after several weeks had elapsed, and Louisa had ceased to think of the distinction between sliced potato and mashed potato, that her aunt reminded her of the importance which she had formerly attached to the former.

26. "Now, my dear Louisa," said Mrs. Cleaveland, "since you find the task is not so very difficult as you apprehended, promise me that you will try to cure yourself of all these little infirmities; for such I must term them.

27. "There is so much real suffering in life, that it is a pity to have any which is merely imaginary; and though, while you are a little girl, living with indulgent friends, your whims might all be gratified, a constant and uniform regard to them will be impossible by and by, when you are old enough to mingle with the world."