Page:Original stories from real life 1796.pdf/159

Rh though you know that you ought to take it. If a tooth is to be drawn, or any other diſagreeable operation to be performed, determine reſolutely that it ſhall be done immediately; and debate not, when you clearly ſee the ſtep that you ought to take. If I ſee a child act in this way, I am ready to embrace it, my ſoul yearns for it—I perceive the dawning of a character that will be uſeful to ſociety, as it prepares its ſoul for a nobler field of action.

Believe me, it is the patient endurance of pain, that will enable you to reſiſt your paſſions; after you have borne bodily pain, you will have firmneſs enough to ſuſtain the ſtill more excruciating agonies of the mind. You will not, to baniſh momentary cares, plunge into diſſipation, nor, to eſcape a preſent inconvenience, forget that you ſhould hold faſt virtue as the only ſubſtantial good.

I ſhould not value the affection of a perſon who would not bear pain and hunger to ſerve me; nor is that benevolence warm, which ſhrinks from encountering difficulties, Rh