Y.M. You have said that training is everything; that training is the man
HIMSELF, for it makes him what he is.
O.M. I said training and ANOTHER thing. Let that other thing pass, for
the moment. What were you going to say?
Y.M. We have an old servant. She has been with us twenty-two years.
Her service used to be faultless, but now she has become very forgetful.
We are all fond of her; we all recognize that she cannot help the
infirmity which age has brought her; the rest of the family do not scold
her for her remissnesses, but at times I do--I can't seem to control
myself. Don't I try? I do try. Now, then, when I was ready to dress,
this morning, no clean clothes had been put out. I lost my temper; I
lose it easiest and quickest in the early morning. I rang; and
immediately began to warn myself not to show temper, and to be careful
and speak gently. I safe-guarded myself most carefully. I even chose the
very word I would use: "You've forgotten the clean clothes, Jane." When
she appeared in the door I opened my mouth to say that phrase--and out of
it, moved by an instant surge of passion which I was not expecting and
hadn't time to put under control, came the hot rebuke, "You've forgotten
them again!" You say a man always does the thing which will best please
his Interior Master. Whence came the impulse to make careful preparation
to save the girl the humiliation of a rebuke? Did that come from the
Master, who is always primarily concerned about HIMSELF?
O.
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