"'I'm not fit to be seen in the street,' she would in all
probability have replied.

"And then I, losing all patience, would have soundly scolded her,
and gained nothing but a sick-headache, perhaps, for my pains. Tea,
in all probability, would have been served at about eight o'clock.
You see the difference."

"And a very material one it is."

"Isn't it? As you well said, there is a power in patience undreamed
of by those who seek not its exercise. Next morning, when I had any
occasion to speak to Hannah, I did so with much mildness, and if I
had occasion to find fault, requested a change rather than
enunciated a reproof. The girl changed as if by magic. She became
respectful in her manner toward me, and evinced a constant anxiety
to do every thing as I wished to have it done. Not once since have
we had a meal as much as ten minutes later than the appointed time."

I could not but express the happiness I felt at the change, and urge
my excellent friend to persevere. This she has done, and the whole
aspect of things in her family has changed.

There are times, however, when, from ill-health, or a return of old
states, she recedes again into fretfulness; but the reaction upon
her is so immediate and perceptible, that she is driven in
self-defence to patience and forbearance, the result of which is
order and quiet in her family just in the degree that patience and
forbearance are exercised.