rney--and no way of telling. In
the end, they send a telegram to the mother of George's friend, and
resign themselves to wait, in an agony of suspense for the answer.

Individuals who are phlegmatic, matter-of-fact, and not very intense in
their feelings might be inclined to ridicule this anxiety and suffering
on the part of the parents, for so slight a cause; they would fail to
understand it. But any mother with children of her own would understand
perfectly and be moved to genuine and heart-felt sympathy.

The condition of George's mother would naturally evoke the same sort of
compassion as the spectacle of Harry on the tree stump, sobbing for his
apple.

But what of the Jake, in this case--the prime factor of the problem? The
Jake in this case, of course, is no other than our only son, George. No
trouble of any sort was experienced by him in the various stages of his
journey. Upon his arrival, there were a number of new people to meet and
various elements of interest in the new surroundings to occupy his
attention. For the time being, he forgot to think of the mother he had
left behind.

Hours later, as they are starting a game of tennis, it suddenly occurs
to him that he has not yet sent his telegram home, but as it would be a
bother to go back to the house now and he feels like going ahead with
the tennis game, he makes a mental note and puts it off. It is not until
dinner time that he thinks of it again and when he finds that the
telephone is out of order and he would have to motor in to the telegraph
office, its doesn't seem worth the trouble. He has allowed so much time
to go by already that he decides the most satisfactory way out of it is
to wait until he finds time to write a letter and explain, as an excuse
for not keeping his promise, that the telephone wasn't working.

Before he has an opportunity to write his letter, the telegram arrives
from home disclosing his mother's anxiety--whereupon he feels ashamed
and sorry, and hurries to the telegraph office to send a reply.

This is a more or less typical example of a great many cases where lack
of consideration for others is not necessarily due to a lack of
affection or sympathy, but comes from a lack of thoughtfulness and
understanding. George may love his mother very much and he would not
voluntarily hurt her feelings, or be the cause of her suffering. The
sight of his mother in tears would cause him unhappiness and he would
gladly make a real sacrifi