And children learn it when
they venture too near vicious animal and are kicked or bitten; when
they tear their clothes, or get their hands and faces scratched with
thorns and briers; when they fall from trees, or into the water, and
in many other ways that I need not mention. And men and women learn,
it very, very, often in pains and sorrows too deep for you to
comprehend."
Mattie drew a long sigh, as she stood before her mother, looking,
soberly into her face.
"I wish there wasn't anything bad in the world," she said. "Nothing
that could hurt us."
"Ah, dear child!" answered the mother, her voice echoing Mattie's
sigh, "from millions and millions of hearts that wish comes up
daily. But we have this to cheer us: if we stand on guard--if we are
watchful as well as innocent--we shall rarely get hurt. It is the
careless and the thoughtless that harm reaches."
"And so we must always be on guard," said Mattie, still looking very
sober.
"There is no other way, my child. 'On guard' is the watchword of
safety for us all, young and old. But the harm that comes from the
outside is of small account compared with the, harm that comes from
within."
"From within, mother! How can harm could from within?"
"You read about the 'hawk among the birds'?"
"Yes, yes--O, now I understand what you mean! Bad thoughts and
feelings can do us harm.
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