5. The grumbling talker _is generally endowed with a most capacious appetite for personal favours_. If you can by any means administer to his necessities in this respect you will very much allay his craving, and, in a measure, stop his grumbling. It is the intensity of the appetite which often gives rise to the grumbling. Grumbling is the way in which he expresses his want. Every beast has a way of its own in making known its wants, and grumbling is the way some men have in expressing the deep hunger of their minds for special or ordinary favours. The grumbler is always on hand to receive the gift of a friend. The motto which he carries in the foreground of his grumblings is, "Small favours thankfully received, and larger ones in proportion." 6. The grumbling talker _is generally very jealous_. He does not approve of the promotion of his friend to any honour above himself. He is afraid lest it should exalt him beyond measure. Besides, he does not see that he is any more qualified or deserving than he. He is surprised at the judgment of the "powers that be" when they placed Mr. So-and-So in such a responsible office. They could not certainly have known that he was not the man for the office, nor the office for the man. He must have been a favourite. He had helped them into their position, and, "One good turn deserves another, you know." He knows how these sort of things are managed, "Kissing goes by favour, you know." He happened to be out of their "good books," and they were determined to punish him. Had his esteemed friend, Squire Impartial, been in authority, he didn't doubt for a moment but he would have been promoted to the place where So-and-So now stands. Well, he congratulates himself that his time _will_ come, and when it does he will make everybody wonder and regret that he wasn't advanced before. "Do you know," said he one day to Mr. Content, "how it is that people talk so much about the superior abilities of our town councillor, Mr. Workman? For my part, I see nothing in him which is above mediocrity." "Mr. Workman is, indeed, generally reputed as being a clever man, and I certainly think he is," said Mr. Content. "He may be clever, but I do not think that he is any cleverer than most ordinary men." "I have every opportunity of judging, and I do most candidly think that we could not have found his equal in the entire town," said Mr. Content again. "That may be your opinion, and the opinion of others; but still my opinion is the same, and I am amazed at his reputation," replied Mr. Grumbler.