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112 |
FIRESIDE EDUCATION. |
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long has Wally stayed up stairs ?' and Charles, each day, eagerly told how well Wallace behaved at school. His grandmother could not resist her desire to comfort him ; she would look into his room to see ' if he were well,' 'if lie were warm enough," or ' if he did not. want something.' The little fellow's moistening eye and tremulous voice evinced his sensibility to her kindness, but he resolutely abstained from asking any mitigation of his punishment. He overheard his aunt Betsey. Mrs. Barclay's maiden sister, say, ' It is a sin, and ridiculous besides, to keep Wallace mewed up so, just for a little flash of temper. I am sure he had enough to provoke a saint.'
" 'We do not keep him mewed up. Betsey,' replied Mrs. Barclay, ' nor does he continue mewed up, for one single flash of temper: but because, with all his good resolutions, his passionate temper is constantly getting the better of him. There is no easy cure for such a fault. If Wallace had the seeds of a consumption, you would think it the extreme of folly not to submit to a few weeks' confinement, if it afforded a means of ridding him of them: and how much worse than a consumption is a moral disease !'
"'Well,' answered the sister, 'you must do |
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