Our Gift | Page 4

their confidence on all occasions, gratify
their curiosity, and allow them to talk upon every subject to us. If we
do not act thus, they will soon abstain from that frank manner with
which children ought always to lay open their whole hearts to their
parents."
"O yes," cried Mary; "there is Emma Woodbury,--I do not believe she
ever asks her mother's advice."
"No," said Clara, "and there is Jane Clifton's mother,--"
"Stop, my dears," interrupted Mrs. Spaulding, "these remarks of yours
remind me that there is another subject, about which I should like to
have a conversation with you; and if your mother, Mary, will give you
permission to come home with Clara, after school to-morrow afternoon,
I will tell you what it is."
"O yes, I know she will," replied Mary. "Indeed, yesterday, I should not
have thought of asking her; but now, after what I have heard from your
lips, I shall not do anything, or go anywhere, without asking her
consent."
"I am glad," responded Mrs. Spaulding, "that you remember this lesson
so well. Now, Mary, you had better go home; and may neither of you
ever think otherwise than seriously, of the divine command, to 'honor
thy father and thy mother;' and remember that few persons have ever
come to harm when they grew up, who in their youth obeyed it."
UNCHARITABLE JUDGMENT.
CONVERSATION II.
"Cast out the beam from thine own eye, then shalt thou see clearly to

cast the mote out of thy brother's eye."
Mary's mother cheerfully gave her leave to go home with Clara, the
next day. She knew and highly esteemed Mrs. Spaulding, and was very
glad that her daughter should be intimate with her family.
Mrs. Spaulding greeted the girls with a smile and a kind word; then
said, "Mary, you began last evening to make a remark about Emma
Woodbury. Will you tell me what you were going to say?"
"Certainly," replied Mary; "I was going to say that Emma scarcely ever
asked the advice of her mother, or her consent to do anything or go
anywhere; and I know a great many girls who act in the same way."
"And I," added Clara, "intended to say that Jane Clifton's mother was
one of those whom you spoke of, as never conversing with children in a
rational and reasoning manner."
"I guessed as much," said Mrs. Spaulding. "I told you," she continued,
"there was another point upon which I wished to say a few words to
you. Can you think what it is?"
"I cannot," said Mary. "Nor I either," said Clara; "certainly, I see no
harm in the words we uttered."
"True," responded Mrs. Spaulding, "there was no harm. It was not the
words you spoke, but the tone in which they were spoken, that attracted
my attention; as if you were glad to be able to point out somebody to
whom the reproof could be applied. This failing is a common one, and
our Savior may have had it in view, when he said to his followers, on
the mount, 'Cast out the beam from thine own eye; and then shalt thou
see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother's eye.' My object now, my
dear children, is to caution you against a failing, which is almost
universal, namely, of seeing distinctly and reproving faults in others,
while we appear to be quite unconscious that we ourselves are in the
practice of the same or worse defects.
"This blemish develops itself in a variety of ways. The pastor preaches

an excellent sermon, wherein is contained some allusion to faults which
ought to be corrected. If the people had treasured up in their hearts all
his exhortations, they would not have forgotten one which he has often
endeavored to impress upon their minds; I mean, the duty of
self-communion, self-examination; and when he should have occasion
to allude to faults, they would, one and all, ask themselves, 'Am I guilty
of this wrong? Let me see; and if I am, let me correct it in future.'
Instead of this, how frequently do we hear such expressions as these:
'The remarks in the sermon this morning applied to Mr. A or Mrs. B,
very well, and it is to be hoped they will see it, and profit by it.' Now if
such individuals, instead of trying to find others who are guilty of the
wrong indicated, would only carefully look within themselves, ten
chances to one they would find that they deserved the rebuke as much
as any one else.
"Children insensibly contract the same bad habit of looking very
sharply for the faults of others, never once thinking that they may have
some, which, if not precisely the same, may be even worse. Thus if the
pastor,