If we would be at peace with others, and ensure their respect, we must
have regard for their personality. Every man has his peculiarities of
manner and character, as he has peculiarities of form and feature; and
we must have forbearance in dealing with them, as we expect them to
have forbearance in dealing with us. We may not be conscious of our own
peculiarities, yet they exist nevertheless. There is a village in South
America where gotos or goitres are so common that to be without one is
regarded as a deformity. One day a party of Englishmen passed through
the place, when quite a crowd collected to jeer them, shouting: "See,
see these people--they have got NO GOTOS!"

Many persons give themselves a great deal of fidget concerning what
other people think of them and their peculiarities. Some are too much
disposed to take the illnatured side, and, judging by themselves, infer
the worst. But it is very often the case that the uncharitableness of
others, where it really exists, is but the reflection of our own want of
charity and want of temper. It still oftener happens, that the worry we
subject ourselves to, has its source in our own imagination. And even
though those about us may think of us uncharitably, we shall not mend
matters by exasperating ourselves against them. We may thereby only
expose ourselves unnecessarily to their illnature or caprice. "The ill
that comes out of our mouth," says Herbert, "ofttimes falls into our
bosom."

The great and good philosopher Faraday communicated the following piece
of admirable advice, full of practical wisdom, the result of a rich
experience of life, in a letter to his friend Professor Tyndall:-
"Let me, as an old man, who ought by this time to have profited by
experience, say that when I was younger I found I often misrepresented
the intentions of people, and that they did not mean what at the time I
supposed they meant; and further, that, as a general rule, it was better
to be a little dull of apprehension where phrases seemed to imply pique,
and quick in perception when, on the contrary, they seemed to imply
kindly feeling. The real truth never fails ultimately to appear;
and opposing parties, if wrong, are sooner convinced when replied to
forbearingly, than when overwhelmed. All I mean to say is, that it is
better to be blind to the results of partisanship, and quick to see
goodwill. One has more happiness in one's self in endeavouring to follow
the things that make for