A LADY'S REFELECTIONS ON GOOD NATURE.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 111, 21 January 1873, Page 3

A LADY'S REFELECTIONS ON GOOD NATURE.

True good nature is an aptitude of the mind on which objects act in an inexplicable way, and winch di->co\crs iK'lf in universal benevolence to the whole 'creation Tn it lies Iho foundntbn of all generous feeling to our neighbours, and of sympathy with e\ery member of the human family. It is a portion of that love w Inch is the attraction of the mental universe. It possesses a power, the progression of which will gradually banish Mnxcn , tyranny, war, disease, and vice from the world, and unite mankind in one great brotherhood. Little, therefore, need be said in i(s commendation, Yet this quality of the human soul, excellent as it is, is ofien cried down by being sneered at, by men who do not themselves possess it, but who are crabbed in disposition, or rigidty severe in) temper. You will hear them apph mg it to a state of mind a little removed from idiocy. lU'om their mouth how often do you hear the phrase of " Oh ! he is as good-natured as a fool ! " "What on absurd expression is this ' Good nature is confined neither to a weak nor a strong mind. It is born witn us Education, health, prosperity, kiud treatment from the world, the friendship of strangers, or the love of kindred cannot create it. Nothing can produce it. It grows of itsolf. Jt is the accompaniment of a happy constitution ; and being so, it must oftener be found in a found mind than in one that is weak and iraperfeot. Indeed, some of the most brilliant intellects that ever adorned the world have been gifted with good nature to an excessive degreo and of an imperturable kind. Witness Sir Thomas Moore, in modern history, and in ancient times Julius Cresar. The pleasing exterior of botli these men rendered them wonderfully popular with the world, and greatly beloved by those allied to them by friendship or blood. They were uniformly kind to their servants, dependants, and the native goodness of their dispositions showed itself strongly in all their actions towards their enemies, as well as their friends. It should be our greatest care to avoid everything which may lead us from good nature. When once it begins to lose ground in the mind, almost everything assists in dm ing it away. And ill-nature is a iaundicc of the soul, which, when once admitted, grows with the most astonishing rapidity. Nay, the ingenuity of man is too limited to mark its progression. A thousand little habits lead us astray from good nature, and cany us beyond it* bounds before no have thought ourselves in motion. It, therefore, naturallj behoves us to watch with diligent attention all our actions, that none may tear us from good.