“It is said, _Better wear out than rust out_,” observed Alicia.
“That proverb is perfectly true, but it does not quite bear on the subject before us,” was the quiet reply. “The choice is not between wearing and rusting, but between careless, wilful neglect of common precautions (perhaps in the pursuit of amusement), and a conscientious reserving of one’s strength for daily duties. I have known a missionary bring on sunstroke, because she could not resist the pleasure of gathering flowers in the heat of the day, and could not hold up an umbrella whilst wielding the garden-scissors. Another felt that society did her good by refreshing her spirits after hard work. ‘Sitting up late does not mean rising late,’ she observed. So my friend sat up night after night till past eleven, then bravely went to her work at six. Nature could not bear the double strain, and the result was that a valuable missionary had to rest for six months in the Hills, leaving her important station without a single worker.”
“Yes, I see that one should attend to the care of health for the sake of others,” said Alicia, remembering the anxiety which her own little attack of fever had cost her husband.
“And if you are not weary of an old man’s talk,” continued her father, “might I ask whether, when pursuing your work so eagerly, you had no idea that you were doing what Harold, had he known of it, would have forbidden?”
Alicia coloured, and assented by silence. After a while, however, she observed, “My husband had never spoken on the subject.”
“Affection needs not the spoken command; it divines the will, and obeys it.”
“You are rather hard on me, father,” said Alicia. “I fear that you will often blame me, if you notice such little things.”
“These little things seem to me symbolized by the dimak,” observed Mr. Hartley. “Small errors do not startle conscience as do more evident sins, that, like the jackals, give loud warning of their approach. We may be in little danger of defrauding, or lying, or hating; but the small faults creep noiselessly on us, working, as it were, under ground, yet gradually marring beauty of character and injuring peace of mind.”
“To what special faults do you allude?” asked Alicia.
“Want of consideration for others, foolish talking, exaggeration, and discontent; to which I must add another, to which, I grieve to say, I too often give place. This is irritability of temper,—most unbecoming in a Christian.”