... "We met him at the Smiths'—a gentlemanlike agreeable man, about forty," said Mrs. Skratdj, in reference to some matter interesting to both ladies.
"Not a day over thirty-five," said Mr. Skratdj, from behind his newspaper.
"Why, my dear William, his hair's grey," said Mrs. Skratdj.
"Plenty of men are grey at thirty," said Mr. Skratdj. "I knew a man who was grey at twenty-five."
"Well, forty or thirty-five, it doesn't much matter," said Mrs. Skratdj, about to resume her narration.
"Five years matters a good deal to most people at thirty-five," said Mr. Skratdj, as he walked towards the door. "They would make a remarkable difference to me, I know;" and with a jocular air Mr. Skratdj departed, and Mrs. Skratdj had the rest of the anecdote her own way.
The Little Skratdjs.
The Spirit of Contradiction finds a place in most nurseries, though to a very varying degree in different ones. Children snap and snarl by nature, like young puppies; and most of us can remember taking part in some such spirited dialogues as the following:—
{"I will."
{"You can't."
{"You shall."
{"I won't."
{"You daren't."
{"I dare."
{"I'll tell Mamma."
{"I don't care if you do."
It is the part of wise parents to repress these squibs and crackers of juvenile contention, and to enforce that slowly-learned lesson, that in this world one must often "pass over" and "put up with" things in other people, being oneself by no means perfect. Also that it is a kindness, and almost a duty, to let people think and say and do things in their own way occasionally.