Page:Side talks with girls (1895).djvu/211

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The Mantle of Charity
199

all think of the worst about ourselves and how an account of it would sound if it were told." In the presence of scandal-mongers take under your mantle of charity all those people whom you can defend, and show your contempt for evil-speakers by defending the right if you can; or by keeping perfectly quiet.

FOR EVERY-DAY USE

Not just for festive occasions. For your cloak must be worn all the time, and your charity must be not only of words and deeds, but of looks. A pleasant smile will sometimes make a great many people feel happy when before they were all, as the children say, "as cross as sticks." Charity really means consideration. When you go into the breakfast-room you may wonder that your mother is quiet and seems a little troubled and not very much interested in the idle talk of the children. Be sure that to mother's brain come many worries and frets; she has to think out the arrangement of the household; she has to consider how best the limited sum of money can be disposed of, and so you must bring to her presence all the consideration you can, and try and lift at least some of the burdens from her shoulders.

You are employed in an office; you may find your superior a little irritable, inclined to be fault-