MYSELF AND MY NEIGHBORS 



Disfretioii sliiill )ircs(i'\r tlici', iiiKtfrsIaiiilinjr 

 shall kfi'p llu'c— I'uov. ;j: 11. 



XrTOr will remember. liUle Jiiemls. I did 

 pP) not gel tiiroiifjcli with my talk about 

 \tj discretion last month. \Ve often 

 -*- speak about cliildren arrivin.u; at the 

 age of discretion: but I showed yon 

 by some plain examph s that even an old 

 lien lias some degree of discretion. She de- 

 cides what is best to do under certain cir- 

 cumstances, and decides with (piite a little 

 Avisdom. Well, if I am rigiit about it. chil- 

 dren also show discretion and wisdom, and 

 a sort of judgment, at a very tender age. 

 though often it requires some special circum- 

 stance to bring out their wisdom and judg- 

 ment ; for as a rule, parents and friends take 

 the respousil)ilities from their children. 



A few days ago llul)er slipped while going 

 out of doors, wliile somebody was holding 

 his hand, in such a way as to sprain his 

 wrist ; and it was a pretty bad sprain too. I 

 suppose, for he cried a long while, and al- 

 most screamed when anybody attempted to 

 examine the wrist. He linally almost 

 set up his authority, and decided it slu)uld 

 not be touched — not even by mamma. At 

 this crisis the matter was carried to pai)a. 

 and his superior i?i judgment was called 

 upon to decide. 1 decided with Iluber to 

 let the wrist alone, and I also decided we 

 did not want any doctor. This last decision 

 almost created a war in tlie camp. It 

 brought on a pretty hot discussion, any way, 

 and papa gave his' reasons as follows : His 



arm is not broken, because the bones 

 of a baby do not break: they are too 

 soft. The shoulder is not out of joint, be- 

 cause he does not say a word against having 

 liis shoulder handled. Neither is there any 

 thing the matter with his elbow, for the 

 same reason. The ditliculty is. therefore, 

 necessarily located in the wrist: luit it is 

 not a very serious one. for he can move his 

 lingers. The bones of the wrist are not out 

 of place, because Ernest felt of them wlien 

 the ac(ideiit tirst happened, and satislied 

 himself that the injured wrist was exactly 

 like the other wrist. If one of the eight 

 bones was out of place. Ernest would have 

 discovered it : for he is a boy of pretty good 

 judgment and discretion. 'He has been at 

 college. .M)U know. .Maud insisted that this 

 was too serious a matter to jest about ; and 

 if Iluber grew up crippled for life in one of 

 his hands, we should' all of us repent most 

 bitterly that a doctor was not called for at 

 once. .\ doctor would have j^iven him 

 great pain by going over exactly what Ernest 

 had done, and the wrist was "now swollen, 

 and so sensitive that he almost screamed if 

 it were touched even by mamma. He just 

 lay in his crib all day. and kept still : and 

 when he slei)t he slei»t without turning over 

 and " raising Ned ■■ as he usually does. He 

 had decided witli wliat baby sense he had. 

 that the proper thing was to keep still, and 

 let it get well. I loid him that (iod made 

 the little wrist and little hand, and that (Jod 

 would lix it in a few days, if he would be 

 real careful and keep still, (iod knew how, 

 for God made the thunder, and furthermore, 



