He meant to insult me when he came to the office."
"No, James," replied his mother; "Benjamin meant no such thing. He
told us that he was ready to forgive and forget."
"He has a poor way of showing it, then," retorted James, who was too
revengeful to be reasonable.
"Well, you are brothers," interrupted his father, "and you should act
as brothers toward each other. It has a bad look for one brother to be
resentful toward another."
"And it not only has the _look_" added his mother, "but it is a most
wicked state of heart to cherish. You will never prosper, James, so
long as you treat your brother so; and you never ought to prosper."
Mrs. Franklin spoke with great plainness. She had never justified
James at all in his treatment of Benjamin; and now that the former was
adding injury to injury by falsely accusing the latter, she could not
suppress her feelings. She magnified the severity of her words, by
quoting:
"Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in
danger of the judgment."
"My advice to you, James, is to let the dead past bury the dead. It
will do no good to revive old memories. Make the future as bright as
you can--that is the only wise course. I am quite sure that Benjamin
will meet you more than half way, in erasing old scores."
Mr. Franklin spoke this with much feeling as he turned away to his
work.
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