ay. Go and get a floor-cloth and wipe up the water as quickly as
you can, while I gather up the broken pieces."

The colour came back instantly to Jane's face. She gave me one
grateful look, and then ran quickly away, to do as I had directed
her. When she came back, she blamed herself for not having been more
careful, expressed sorrow for the accident, and promised over and
over again that she would be more guarded in future.

The contrast between both of our feelings now and what they were in
the morning, was very great. I felt happier for having acted justly
and with due self-control; and my little girl, though troubled on
account of the accident, had not the extra burden of my displeasure
to bear.

"Better, far better," said I to myself, as I sat and reflected upon
the incidents just related--"better, far better is it, in all our
relations in life, to maintain a calm exterior, and on no account
speak harshly to those who are below us. Angry words make double
wounds. They hurt those whom they are addressed, while they leave a
sting behind them. Above all, should we guard against a moody
temper. Whenever we permit any thing to fret our minds, we are not
in a state to exercise due self-control, and if temptation comes
then we are sure to fall."

TROUBLE WITH SERVANTS

"OH, dear Mrs. Graham!" said my neighbour Mrs. Jones to me one day,
"what shall I do for good help? I am almost worried out of my
senses. I wish somebody would invent a machine to cook, wash, scrub,
and do housework in general. What a blessing it would be! As for the
whole tribe of flesh and blood domestics, they are not worth their
salt."

"They are all poorly educated," I replied, "and we cannot expect
much of them. Most of them have nearly every thing to learn when
they come into our houses, and are bad scholars into the bargain.
But we must have patience. I find it my only resource."

"Patience!" ejaculated Mrs. Jones, warmly. "It would require more
patience than Job ever possessed to get along with some of them."

"And yet," said I, "we accomplish little or nothing by impatience.
At least such is my experience."

"I don't know, ma'am," replied Mrs. Jones. "If you go to being
gentle and easy with them, if you don't follow them up at every
point, you will soon have affairs in a pretty condition! They don't
care a fig for your comfort nor interest--not they! In fact, more
than half of them would, a thousand times, rather make things