Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 December 1883 — Influence of Kind Words. [ARTICLE]

Influence of Kind Words.

“A soft answer turneth away wrath,” and, not unfrequently, changeth it into friendliness. An impressive illustration of the transmuting power there is in gentle words once occurred to De Quincey. When a lad of 17 he was traveling on the outside of a stagecoach. By his side was a rough fellow, whom, for the first four or five miles, De Quincey annoyed by occasionally falling asleep and lurching against him when the coach rolled to his side. The rough man ejaculated his complaint at the annoyance in sufly words. De Quincey gently apologized, explaining that he was ill and could not afford to take an inside seat, and promising to avoid, if he could, falling asleep again. Upon hearing this explanation the man’s manner instantly changed. De Quincey next awoke—for he had again fallen asleep—he found himself lying in the man’s arms protected from falling off the coach, and treated with the gentleness of a woman. The incident taught De Quincey that no human creature was beyond the mollifying influence of kind words, and that much harshness would be prevented if we better understood each other.