POWER OF A SWEET VOICE.



THERE is no power of love so hard to get and keep as a kind voice. A kind hand is deaf and dumb. It may be rough in flesh and blood, yet do the work of a soft heart, and do it with a soft touch. But there is no one thing that love so much needs as a sweet voice to tell what it means and feels; and it is hard to get it and keep it in the right tone. One must start in youth, and be on the watch night and day, at work and at play, to get and keep a voice that shall speak at all times the thoughts of a kind heart. But this is the time when a sharp voice is most apt to be acquired. 

You often hear boys and girls say words at play with a quick, sharp tone, as if it were the snap of a whip. 

When one of them gets vexed, you will hear a voice that sounds as if it were made up of a snarl, a whine, and a bark. Such a voice often speaks worse than the heart feels. It shows more ill will in the tone than in the words. It is often in mirth that one gets a voice or a tone that is sharp, and it sticks to him through life, and stirs up ill-will and grief, and falls like a drop of gall on the sweet joys at home. Such as these get a sharp home-voice, for use, and keep their best voice for those they meet elsewhere, just as they would save their best cakes and pie for guests and all their sour food for their own board.

I would say to all boys and girls, "Use your best voice at home." 

Watch it as a pearl of great price, for it will be worth more to you in the days to come than the best pearl in the sea. A kind voice is a lark's song to a hearth and home. It is to the heart what light is to the eye. It is a light that sings as well as shines. Train it to sweet tones now, and it will keep in tune through life. 



Youth's Companion.



IF you have respect for yourself, 

you will respect others, and others 

will respect you.