GIVE AND TAKE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 29, 16 July 1892, Page 715

GIVE AND TAKE.

People of great strength of character are often very difficult to live with. They are to be depended upon in storms, but they are disagreeable in calm weather. No one will underrate the value of those fundamental qualities of character upon which alone a genuine life, or a sound and noble relationship of any sort is built ; but there is a great deal more of life than the foundations ; there is a whole superstructure of intercourse, relationship, emotions, recreations, and fellowship ; and these varied and, in a sense, lighter things are really not less important in their way than the graver things. Many a man who would go to the stake rather than be guilty of any act of dishonour, does not hesitate to crucify those who are nearest him by unrestrained bad temper ; many a woman capable of the highest acts of self denial, feels herself under no obligation to control a tendency to irritability. But irritability may destroy the entire charm of association with the most gifted person : and ungoverned temper has probably involved as much evil to the world in the long run as the direst temptations to sin. A great many men and women live as if there were no such things as differences of temperament. They never take into consideration the moods of those with whom they deal, nor do they ever remember that they have moods of their own ; and yet moods have quite as much to do with making the aspect of life from day to day as the atmosphere has to do with the changing effects of the landscape. There are many people to whom the world is one day brilliant with sunshine, and the next sombre with shadows ; and it is as absurd to ignore this difference in people as to ignore the changes of the weather. The ability to communicate happiness, and to aid others, lies largely in the power of adaptation, in the keen perception of the temperament and peculiarities of another, and in delicate consideration for temperament and quality. There is nothing more intangible than the sensitiveness of a child, and yet there are very few things more important. The future happiness and success of the child depends largely on the manner in which that sensitiveness is tieated by those who stand nearest to it. Many a fine nature is spoiled by the clumsy or brutal hands of those who wreck it as ruthlessly as the hoof of a horse tramples on a rose; and yet nothing would tempt them to commit any moral wrong against the child. We al', demand much for ourselves from others ; let us be careful that we honour the demaud of others upon ourselves.