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Page 42
This little circumstance Mr Harris had also observed.
A day or two afterward, Edgar came to his father with a complaint against
his brother.
"I never saw such a boy," he said. "He won't do the least thing to oblige
me. If I ask him to lend me his knife, or ball, or any thing he has, he
snaps me up short with a refusal."
"Perhaps you don't ask him right," suggested the father. "Perhaps you don't
speak kindly to him. I hardly think that William is ill-disposed and
disobliging naturally. There must be some fault on your part, I am sure."
"I don't know how I can be in fault, father," said Edgar.
"William refused to let you have his knife, the other day, although he was
not using it himself, did he not?"
"Yes, sir."
"Do you remember how you asked him for it?"
"No, sir, not now, particularly."
"Well, as I happened to overhear you, I can repeat your words, though I
hardly think I can get your very tone and manner. Your words were, 'Here,
lend me your knife, Bill!' and your voice and manner were exceedingly
offensive. I did not at all wonder that William refused your request. If
you had spoken to him in a kind manner, I am sure he would have handed you
his knife, instantly. But no one likes to be ordered, in a domineering way,
to do any thing at all. I know you would resent it in William, as quickly
as he resents it in you. Correct your own fault, my son, and in a little
while you will have no complaint to make of William."
Edgar felt rebuked. What his father said he saw to be true.
"Whenever you want William to do any thing for you," continued the father,
"use kind words instead of harsh ones, and you will find him as obliging as
you could wish. I have observed you both a good deal, and I notice that you
rarely ever speak to William in a proper manner, but are rude and
overbearing. Correct this evil in yourself, and all will be right with him.
Kind words are far more powerful than harsh words, and their effect a
hundred-fold greater."
On the next day, as Edgar was at work in the garden, and William standing
at the gate, looking on, Edgar wanted a rake that was in the summer-house.
He was just going to say, "Go and get me that rake, Bill!" but he checked
himself, and made his request in a different form, and in a better tone
than those words would have been uttered in.
"Won't you get me the small rake that lies in the summer-house, William?"
he said. The words and tone involved a request, not a command, and William
instantly replied--
"Certainly;" and bounded away to get the rake for his brother.
"Thank you," said Edgar, as he received the rake.
"Don't you want the watering-pot?" asked William.
"Yes, I do; and you may bring it full of water, if you please," was the
reply.
Off William went for the watering-pot, and soon returned with it full of
water. As he stood near one of Edgar's flower-beds, he forgot himself, and
stepped back with his foot upon a bed of pansies.
"There! just look at you!" exclaimed Edgar, thrown off his guard.
William, who had felt drawn toward his brother on account of his kind
manner, was hurt at this sudden change in his words and tone. He was
tempted to retort harshly, and even to set his foot more roughly upon the
pansies. But he checked himself, and, turning away, walked slowly from the
garden.
Edgar, who had repented of his rude words and unkind manner the moment he
had time to think, was very sorry that he had been thrown off his guard,
and resolved to be more careful in the future. And he was more careful. The
next time he spoke to his brother, it was in a kind and gentle manner, and
he saw its effect. Since then, he has been watchful over himself, and now
he finds that William is one of the most obliging boys any where to be
found.
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