"I must send a telegram home if I stay."
"Certainly," said Mr. Thayer. "I will take it myself."
"Dear Mrs. Grey," said Mrs. Thayer, "I am so thankful to see you alone. You have opened a new world to me in regard to prayer. Beyond praying for my children night and morning, I have never consulted the Lord about them. I have always acted on the impulse of the moment."
"We come to grief, sooner or later, if we do that."
"But I am naturally impulsive, and look before I leap. I cannot always stop to think where I shall alight."
"If your watch is in good order, do you have to do more than wind it up every night to insure its keeping good time? Now if your soul is in a normal condition through the skill and goodness of God, and you do your part towards keeping it so by prayer, be as impulsive as you like. You'll keep good time."
"There is another trouble I have with Esther. She is too fond of dress."
"Most girls are. Their mothers teach them this by talking as if it were a matter of great moment, and by giving them articles of dress as holiday and birthday gifts, thus implying that this is the greatest favor they can do them."
"I have done this, but thoughtlessly. It never occurred to me that I was educating my girls into this folly."
She spoke in a weary voice, and at length added: "I am all out of patience with myself. I don't see but that I lie at the bottom of most of my children's faults."