Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

The Iron Rule by T. S. (Timothy Shay) Arthur
page 30 of 146 (20%)
would have beaten him severely if he had not protected himself in
the way he did. Before throwing the stone, I learn that Andrew made
every effort to get away; failing in this, he warned the other not
to come near him. This warning being disregarded, he used the only
means of self-protection left to him. I say this in justice to your
son, and to save him from your displeasure. As for Wilkins, I do not
intend to receive him back into my school."

For a long time Mr. Howland remained seated in the chair he had
taken on receiving the teacher's note. His reflections were far from
being agreeable. He had been both unjust and cruel to his child. But
for him to make an acknowledgment of the fact was out of the
question. This would be too humiliating. This would be a triumph for
the perverse boy, and a weakening of his authority over him. He had
done wrong in not listening to his child's explanation; in not
waiting until he had heard both sides. But, now that the wrong was
done, the fact that he was conscious of having done wrong must not
appear. In various ways he sought to justify his conduct. At length
he said, half aloud--

"No matter. He deserved it for something else, and has received only
his deserts. Let him behave himself properly, and he'll never be the
subject of unjust censure."

It was thus that the cold-hearted father settled, with his own
conscience, this question of wrong toward his child. And yet he was
a man who prayed in his family, and regularly, with pious
observance, attended upon the ordinances of the church. In society
he was esteemed as a just and righteous man; in the church as one
who lived near to heaven. As for himself, he believed that severity
DigitalOcean Referral Badge