XXX. BAD TEMPER.
Paul was a little boy who was very fond of having his own way, and when he could not get it he used to throw himself into the most dreadful tempers. He would take his pocket-handkerchief and tear it all to pieces in his rage, not to mention lying on the floor and kicking with his heels. One day his governess said to him, "Paul, I will tell you a true story". Paul sat down ready to listen, for he loved stories, so the governess began:—
"There was once a little boy, bright, honest and truthful, always ready to run messages for his mother, or to help a schoolmate with his lessons, he was so good-natured. But Henry (for that was his name) had one great fault—he would get into violent passions when any one vexed him, and as he grew older his passion became stronger, and had the mastery of him more and more. He was a sailor, and as time went on he had a ship of his own, and was captain of it. Henry could manage the ship well; he knew just how to turn the wheel to make her go East or West, and he knew also how to trim the sails to make the ship move swiftly along. If he could have controlled his temper as he did his ship, all might have been well. But he used to be very angry with the sailors when they did not please him, and one day when the cabin-boy had done something that vexed him, the captain in a fit of passion beat the poor boy so cruelly that he died. When the ship came home the captain was taken to prison, and in the end he lost his life for having taken the boy's life."
The governess paused, and Paul gazed up into her face with wide-open, anxious eyes. "Is that what happens to boys who get into a passion?" he asked.
"It happened to the captain," said she.
"Then I will never give way to passion again if it has such a dreadful ending," said Paul, and the governess told me that he kept his word.
(Blackboard.)
If Bad Temper gets the Mastery, it leads to sad Results.
73. The Young Horse.
Edgar was riding in the train with his mother one day. He sat next the window, as children like to do, so that he could see all that was going on. How the train speeds along! now passing through a tunnel, then out again into the sunshine; next it goes over a long row of arches built across a valley, and called a viaduct. "How high up we seem to be," said Edgar; "see, mother, the river is down there ever so far below!" Now they are passing through fields again, and there, looking over the hedge, is a beautiful young horse. But as the train whirls by, the horse runs off and scampers round and round the field. Edgar watched him as long as he could see, and then he said: "What a lovely horse, mother! how I should like to ride him!"
"The horse is of no use for riding yet, Edgar," said his mother.
"Why?" asked Edgar.
"Because he has not yet learnt to obey a rider," replied she; "the horse has to wear bit and bridle before he can be of use, and to learn by them to be controlled. A horse that could not be managed would run away with you, just as poor Henry's temper ran away with him ([Story Lesson 72])."
Bad tempers and bad habits are like wild horses: they take us where they will, and get us into sad trouble if we do not bridle them, so we must take care not to let the temper be master, but bridle it just as the horse-trainer bridles the horse.
"I should think the horse does not like the bit and bridle at first," said Edgar.
"Very likely not," replied his mother; "but he would not be the useful, patient animal that he is if he did not submit."
(Blackboard.)
Horse has to be Held in by Bit and Bridle.
We Must Bridle Temper and Bad Habit.