For want of strong will kingdoms and souls have been lost.  Without it there is no kingdom for any man,—­no, not even in his own soul.  It is the one attribute of all we possess which is most God-like.  By it, we say, under his laws, as he says, enacting those laws, “So far and no further.”  It is not enough that we do not “break” this grand power.  It should be strengthened, developed, trained.  And, as the good teacher of gymnastics gives his beginners light weights to lift and swing, so should we bring to the children small points to decide; to the very little children, very little points.  “Will you have the apple, or the orange?  You cannot have both.  Choose; but after you have chosen you cannot change.”  “Will you have the horseback ride to-day, or the opera to-morrow night?  You can have but one.”

Every day, many times a day, a child should decide for himself points involving pros and cons,—­substantial ones too.  Let him even decide unwisely, and take the consequences; that too is good for him.  No amount of Blackstone can give such an idea of law as a month of prison.  Tell him as much as you please of what you know on both sides; but compel him to decide, and also compel him not to be too long about it.  “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve” is a text good for every morning.

If men and women had in their childhood such training of their wills as this, we should not see so many putting their hands to the plough and looking back, and “not fit for the kingdom of heaven.”  Nor for any kingdom of earth, either, unless it be for the wicked little kingdom of the Prince of Monaco, where there are but two things to be done,—­gamble, or drown yourself.

The Descendants of Nabal.

The line has never been broken, and they have married into respectable families, right and left, until to-day there can hardly be found a household which has not at least one to worry it.

They are not men and women of great passionate natures, who flame out now and then in an outbreak like a volcano, from which everybody runs.  This, though terrible while it lasts, is soon over, and there are great compensations in such souls.  Their love is worth having.  Their tenderness is great.  One can forgive them “seventy times seven,” for the hasty words and actions of which they repent immediately with tears.

But the Nabals are sullen; they are grumblers; they are never done.  Such sons of Belial are they to this day that no man can speak peaceably unto them.  They are as much worse than passionate people as a slow drizzle of rain is than a thunder-storm.  For the thunder-storm, you stay in-doors, and you cannot help having pleasure in its sharp lights and darks and echoes; and when it is over, what clear air, what a rainbow!  But in the drizzle, you go out; you think that with a waterproof, an umbrella, and overshoes, you can manage to get about in spite of it, and attend to your business.  What a state