Only experience teaches the
supreme force of gentleness. Light but certain punishment, when
necessary, is most effective. Severe punishments are not needed and a
judicious pardon, for the first offense at least, is often best of
all.
As the half-dozen young men who constituted our inner circle grew in
knowledge, it was inevitable that the mysteries of life and death, the
here and the hereafter, should cross our path and have to be grappled
with. We had all been reared by good, honest, self-respecting parents,
members of one or another of the religious sects. Through the
influence of Mrs. McMillan, wife of one of the leading Presbyterian
ministers of Pittsburgh, we were drawn into the social circle of her
husband's church. [As I read this on the moors, July 16, 1912, I have
before me a note from Mrs. McMillan from London in her eightieth year.
Two of her daughters were married in London last week to university
professors, one remains in Britain, the other has accepted an
appointment in Boston. Eminent men both. So draws our English-speaking
race together.] Mr. McMillan was a good strict Calvinist of the old
school, his charming wife a born leader of the young. We were all more
at home with her and enjoyed ourselves more at her home gatherings
than elsewhere.
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