"Please do, papa."
"She whispered, 'You must try to bear it, all of you, as well as you can.
I don't mind it very much, only for you.' So, you see, if you want to make
her comfortable, you must not look gloomy and troubled. Sick people like to
see cheerful faces about them; and I am sure Connie will not suffer nearly
so much if she finds that she does not make the household gloomy."
This I had learned from being ill myself once or twice since my marriage.
My wife never came near me with a gloomy face, and I had found that it
was quite possible to be sympathetic with those of my flock who were ill
without putting on a long face when I went to see them. Of course, I do not
mean that I could, or that it was desirable that I should, look cheerful
when any were in great pain or mental distress. But in ordinary conditions
of illness a cheerful countenance is as a message of _all's well_, which
may surely be carried into a sick chamber by the man who believes that the
heart of a loving Father is at the centre of things, that he is light all
about the darkness, and that he will not only bring good out of evil
at last, but will be with the sufferer all the time, making endurance
possible, and pain tolerable.
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