“Oh, yes, yes. I see it; and I saw it before,” said the old lady. “And in future I will be more careful of my words. It is pretty late in life to learn this lesson—but we are never too late to learn. Poor Mary! It grieves me to think that I should have hurt her so much.”
Yes, words often have in them a smarting force, and we cannot be too guarded how we use them. “Think twice before you speak once,” is a trite but wise saying. We teach it to our children very carefully, but are too apt to forget that it has not lost its application to ourselves.
THE THANKLESS OFFICE.
“AN object of real charity,” said Andrew Lyon to his wife, as a poor woman withdrew from the room in which they were seated.
“If ever there was a worthy object she is one,” returned Mrs. Lyon. “A widow, with health so feeble that even ordinary exertion is too much for her; yet obliged to support, with the labour of her own hands, not only herself, but three young children. I do not wonder that she is behind with her rent.”
“Nor I,” said Mr. Lyon, in a voice of sympathy. “How much, did she say, was due to her landlord?”
“Ten dollars.”
“She will not be able to pay it.”
“I fear not. How can she? I give her all my extra sewing, and have obtained work for her from several ladies; but with her best efforts she can barely obtain food and decent clothing for herself and babes.”