Page:Original stories from real life 1796.pdf/47

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
(27)

conteſting about them. The ſoul reſerves its firmneſs for great occaſions, and then it acts a decided part. It is juſt the contrary mode of thinking, and the conduct produced by it, which occaſions all thoſe trivial diſputes that ſlowly corrode domeſtic peace, and inſenſibly deſtroy what great misfortunes could not ſweep away.

I will tell you a ſtory, that will take ſtronger hold on your memory than mere remarks.

Jane Fretful was an only child. Her fond, weak mother would not allow her to be contradicted on any occaſion. The child had ſome tenderneſs of heart; but ſo accuſtomed was ſhe to ſee every thing give way to her humour, that ſhe imagined the world was only made for her. If any of her playfellows had toys, that ſtruck her capricious, ſickly fancy, ſhe would cry for them; and ſubſtitutes were in vain offered to quiet her, ſhe muſt have the identical ones, or fly into the moſt violent paſſion. When ſhe was an infant, if ſhe fell down, her nurſe made her beat the floor. She

C 2
con-