Don’t be too Positive.
There are many young persons who are very positive about things, when they are, after all, mistaken.
“There goes Jerry Smith,” says Philip.
“Where? I don’t see him,” says John.
“Why, there—yonder, at the top of the hill.”
“Oh—that ain’t Jerry Smith.”
“Why, yes it is.”
“No it isn’t—that’s Seth Mead.”
“I tell you it’s Jerry Smith; if it isn’t I’ll eat him!”
Such is the dialogue; but pretty soon the boy comes along, and, behold, it is Seth Mead, and not Jerry Smith. “There!” says John—“now you’ve got to eat him, Phil!”
“Where is the hammer, Peter?” says his father.
“I don’t know, sir,” is the reply.
“But you had it last.”
“No, I didn’t, sir.”
“Yes you did; you took it yesterday.”
“Oh, yes, I remember—I took it—but I put it in the drawer again, where I got it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I think you are mistaken—for if you had put it there, it would have been there still.”
“I’m certain sure I put it back there!”
“Well now, my son, I found it out on the grass, where you had been at work. Didn’t you leave it there?”
“Oh—yes—I believe I did. Yes, I remember—I did leave it there.”
“Well, now take a lesson from this; don’t be so positive, where you are not sure. In two instances you have been mistaken: you first said that you had not taken the hammer out, and you were quite positive; you then said you had put it where you got it, and you were again quite positive. But remember that in both cases you were mistaken. Let this teach you to be more modest and careful in future; and, instead of saying you are sure, say, I think so and so; or, I believe so and so. No person ought ever to say that he is positive of a thing, where there is the least chance of mistake.”
“Mother,” said Ellen, “may I go and see Jane Hanson? she asked me to come.”
“When did she ask you?” said the mother.
“Yesterday—yesterday afternoon.”
“Not yesterday, my dear.”
“Yes it was yesterday, mother: I saw her on the green by the church.”
“Don’t be positive, Ellen; it could not have been yesterday.”
“Yes it was yesterday—I’m certain it was yesterday; I met her on the green, and she asked me to come. Why, mother, how could I be mistaken? I know it was yesterday.”
“That cannot be, Ellen, for I have just been at Mrs. Hanson’s, and Jane went to Providence, in the seven o’clock train of cars, yesterday morning.”
“Oh!—well—it must have been day before yesterday—yes, now I recollect, it was day before yesterday!”
“Well, my child, I am sorry to see you so certain—so positive, when you are really not sure, and when, in point of fact, you are mistaken. Pray be more careful in future. You may go and see Jane, but as you go along, say it over in your mind, till you cannot forget it—Don’t be too positive!”
A boy was one day reading something to his mother about patriarchs; he stumbled at the hard word, and called it partridges. His mother set him right as to the pronunciation of the word, but did not at the same time tell him the meaning of it; he therefore associated the idea of a bird with the word patriarch. The next time he found the word patriarchal he again asked his mother’s assistance, exclaiming, “Here, mamma, here are those queer fowls again;” and to the latest day of his life, he said he could never get rid of the association.