XIV.
I gave a lecture in the village hall on Friday night, and many parents came out to hear what I had to say on the subject of Children and their Parents. After the lecture I invited questions.
"What wud ye hae a man do if his laddie wudna do what he was bidden?" asked Brown the joiner.
"I would have the man think very seriously whether he had any right to give the order that was disobeyed. For instance, if you ordered your Jim to stop singing while you were reading, you would be taking an unfair advantage of your years and size. From what I know of Jim he would certainly stop singing if you asked him to do so as a favour."
"Aw dinna believe in askin' favours o' ma laddies," he said.
I smiled.
"Yet you ask them of other laddies. You don't collar Fred Thomson and shout: 'Post that letter at once!' You say very nicely: 'You might post that letter like a good laddie,' and Fred enjoys posting your letter more than posting a ton of letters for his own father."
The audience laughed, and Fred's father cried: "Goad! Ye're quite richt, dominie!"