![]() ![]() The whole congregation would have understood when his father said that good manners were an excellent beginning, a kind of discipline that could lead to actual virtue, given time. This near-confession was probably meant to stir his father to the kind of gentle exasperation that meant he’d be brooding about Jack for a week and preaching to him on Sunday-it was another boyish prank, really, even though what he had told his father was true enough. He said this from the pulpit, but he was saying it to Jack, who, to distract him from the parsing of some recent mischief, had almost confided to his father that he had certain doubts about his soul. You do not have to believe you are good in order to act well in any specific case. So there is good you can do and can always do again. Keeping a promise or breaking it, telling the truth or lying-these things matter to those around you. You are good as a courtesy to everyone around you. His father would say, “You are not good for your own sake. ![]()
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