Precept & Practice – MARCH 22 – Irritability

Cross.   I put it to myself in that simple, old-fashioned word, instead of saying that I was out of spirits, of nervous, or using any of the other smooth phrases with which we good Christians cover up our little sins of temper….   When the nervous-fluid source of cheerfulness, giver of pleasant sensations and pleasant views, is all spent, you can’t feel cheerful;  things cannot look as they did when you were full of life and vigour.   When the tide is out, there is nothing but unsightly, ill-smelling tide-mud, and you can’t help it;  but you can keep your senses – you can know what is the matter with you.

H. Beecher Stowe (Little Foxes)

If only cross people would have the courage of faith.

Prebendary Webb-Peploe

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From the Introduction to Precept and Practice

The kindly welcome given to my other little books, ‘Being and Doing’ and ‘Character and Conduct,’ must be my excuse for adding another collection of extracts to the number now in circulation.

The quotations are gathered from the books of many earnest thinkers, and deal with Life in all its length and breadth, with ourselves, our characters, our plain unvarnished faults and weaknesses, our often untoward circumstances, and with all that drags us down;-  with our purposes, our religion, our love and friendships, and with all that uplifts us;-  with our relation to others, our influence and responsibilities, and finally with those stages of our journey which bring us to the Road’s Last Turn and to the Silent Land.

CONSTANCE  M. WHISHAW