Few positions in life are so full of importunities as that of the mother
of a family, or mistress of a house. She may have a dozen interruptions
while writing _one_ letter, or settling an account. What holiness, what
self-control, is needed to be always calm and unruffled amid these little
vexations, and never to manifest the slightest impatience!
Leaving the work without apparent annoyance, replying with a smile upon
the lips, awaiting patiently the end of a long conversation, and finally
returning calmly to the yet unfinished work--all this is the sign of a
recollected soul, and one that waits upon GOD.
Oh! what blessings are shed around them by such patient souls ... but,
alas! how rarely they are to be met with!