"That is right. Try, and keep on trying. There's one thing more: If you
are thankful, say so. If you are sorry for anyone, say so, and if you
feel kindly, speak kindly. These things ought to come out. But as you
try to be patient and sweet, don't go about telling it. Let other people
find it out. They will, easily enough."
"How will they?" asked one.
"The other day," said Miss Lee, "someone gave me a rose. It was an
American Beauty. I put it in a vase in the parlor. There it stood, tall
and straight, with its green leaves like lovely garments around it, and
the crimson flower, like a beautiful crown above. Yes, there it stood,
and never said a word. It never said, 'I am sweet.' or 'How fragrant my
breath is!' not once. But everyone who came into the room, even when it
happened to be dark, knew that the rose was there. Why?"
"It was so sweet. They smelled it," cried the class in chorus.
"Yes, that was it. By being sweet--not by saying, 'I am sweet'--it made
itself known in the room. Now, see how sweet and loving and thankful and
patient and thoughtful you can be this week. Think about being, instead
of doing."
The next Sunday they talked over the week.
"I tried to be thankful and to say 'thank you,' when I ought," said
Margie, "'cause mamma says so much to me about that. It was hard to
remember always, but I tried."
"I tried not to be cross with Rex," said Ruth. "He gets my things and I
don't want him to. Sometimes I kept from being cross and sometimes I
didn't.
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