Angry Letter Almost Got Sent... With Regret

I remember a young fellow who one time in a fit of temper wrote a mean letter to his father.  As he and I worked in the same office, I advised him not to send it, because he had written it when he was in an angry mood.  However, he sealed it and asked me to mail it for him.  Instead, I simply dropped it into my pocket until the next day.

The following morning he arrived looking very worried.  "George," he said, "I wish that I had never written that letter to the old gentleman.  It will break his heart.  My, I'd give fifty dollars to get it back!"  

Removing it from my pocket and handing it to him, I told him what I had done.  The young fellow was so overjoyed he actually wanted to pay me the fifty dollars for not mailing his spiteful letter.

- George W. Martin, quoted by Roy B. Zuck in The Speaker's Quote Book (Christian Literature Crusade, 1997)