I don’t want to hear naughty words,” said a little boy.
“It’s no matter,” said another boy, “what Joe Smith says; it goes in at one ear and out at the other.”
“No,” answered the other little boy, “the worst of it is, when naughty words get in, they stick. So I shall do my best to keep them out.”
It is much easier to keep naughty words out before they get in, than it is to turn them out after they are once admitted. It is easier to soil a piece of paper than it is to clean it; and the Scripture says the man whom God approves and blesses is one who stoppeth, his ears” from the hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.” Evil outside is bad enough, but evil within poisons the very fountain of life.
ML 08/20/1944