O.M. Very well, it is as I have said: the thing which will give you the _most _pleasure, the most satisfaction, in any moment or _fraction _of a moment, is the thing you will always do. You must content the Master’s _latest _whim, whatever it may be. Y.M. But when the tears came into the old servant’s eyes I could have cut my hand off for what I had done. O.M. Right. You had humiliated _yourself_, you see, you had given yourself _pain_. Nothing is of _first _importance to a man except results which damage _him _or profit him—all the rest is _secondary_. Your Master was displeased with you, although you had obeyed him. He required a prompt _repentance_; you obeyed again; you_ had _to—there is never any escape from his commands. He is a hard master and fickle; he changes his mind in the fraction of a second, but you must be ready to obey, and you will obey, _always_. If he requires repentance, you content him, you will always furnish it. He must be nursed, petted, coddled, and kept contented, let the terms be what they may. Y.M. Training! Oh, what’s the use of it? Didn’t I, and didn’t my mother try to train me up to where I would no longer fly out at that girl? O.M. Have you never managed to keep back a scolding? Y.M. Oh, certainly—many times. O.M. More times this year than last? Y.M. Yes, a good many more. O.M. More times last year than the year before? Y.M. Yes. O.M. There is a large improvement, then, in the two years? Y.M. Yes, undoubtedly. O.M. Then your question is answered. You see there _is _use in training. Keep on. Keeping faithfully on. You are doing well. Y.M. Will my reform reach perfection? O.M. It will. Up to _your _limit. Y.M. My limit? What do you mean by that? O.M. You remember that you said that I said training was _everything_. I corrected you, and said “training and _another _thing.” That other thing is _temperament _—that is, the disposition you were born with. _You can’t eradicate your disposition nor any rag of it _—you can only put a pressure on it and keep it down and quiet. You have a warm temper? Y.M. Yes. O.M. You will never get rid of it; but by watching it you can keep it down nearly all the time. _Its presence is your limit. _Your reform will never quite reach perfection, for your temper will beat you now and then, but you come near enough. You have made valuable progress and can make more. There _is _use in training. Immense use. Presently you will reach a new stage of development, then your progress will be easier; will proceed on a simpler basis, anyway. Y.M. Explain.