Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1873-03-28
The Duty of Praise.

YES, the duty, not the grace or the gra-
tuity, as we are too apt to consider 1t.
We owe it to ourselves fully to realize all
that is admirable and excellent in others.
We owe it to them to tell them that we
do so. There are more virtues than
mercy that are "twice blest," and this of
awarding others their due stands high
among them. Let us think first, a. we
ought, of what our praise can do for our
fellow creatures; last, of what it can do
for ourselves. g
1t would be interesting and probably
very touching to know how many of the
people about us at any given time are
secretly suffering from dependency and
self depreciation. The reigning belle may
not so suffer, nor the popular clergyman,
and possibly not the triumphant artist,
although the latter is pretty sure to have
the praise thirsty temperament; but these
| favored individuals make but small mi
nority of GAe human race. All around
and below them throng the mass of the
undistinguished, the plain, the tired, the
timid, the doubtful, the ailing, the disap-
pointed. A few of these people are salts
fed with earthly affection, fewer still re-
alize a divine affection, and only one in
very many is endowed with that most
happy temperament which is by nature
self-oblivious and objective. Now it would
undoubtedly be better for them, one and
all, if they could be made content with
themselves. Self-content is the first and
Indispensable condition of general con-
tent, and genuine self-content is exceed
ingly rare. Much of that which most
annoys us in our fellow-sinners, and
which we resist in society and deride out
of it as vanity and egotism, is only the
more or less uneasy, or, may be, frantic
attempt to win from others an assurance
of what one sorely doubts ones self. Yet
everybody has some ground Of honest
self f-gratulation, and we hold it to be one
of the first of merely social duties to dis
cover what that ground is in each of our
associates, and, directly or indirectly, to
make them clearly conscious of it. Say
some time to your sister, who is plain and
clever, that wit gives her face passing
illumination that eclipses beauty. Re-
mind her, if she be fair and dull, how rare
and refreshing to the aesthetic exile in
this prosperous land is the sight of a
sweet face in repose. And, if she have
neither talent nor beauty to speak of,
suggest that grace is a great deal rarer
than either, and ready courtesy may be
compassed by all. Make that gGtche and
shy genius, your brother, comprehend
that it does not in the least matter how
he looks; but that his meditations on men
and things are sometimes fit to electrify
the world. Nor need you always dissemble
to his hare. Drained junior the fact that his
foolish fun is most persuasive passport
to favor in some quarters, by means OF
its very folly, and that there is nothing
which some rather weighty people ad-
mire so much as abundant animal spirits.
Ianr nd xUioa nd
foolish, gentle and simple, read and re-
read, extolled, refuted and presented
"Tom Brown at Rugby" Remember,
too, what Thackeray says to account for
Give Newcome's popularity: 81 do not
know that he was very witty; but he
was pleasant" One need but consider
the average college boy to perceive
how lavish Nature has been of the
temperament thus indicated; for these
considerations are all true, and the fact
that you have to look on many sides to
see them all does not make them mutual
ly inconsistent Quietly urged home,
where they are severally most reassuring,
they will have wonderful effect in dis
sipating the mist of uneasy and often
sorrowful self-consciousness( (Which makes
many gatherings oppressive) Frightening
the social atmosphere, and so indirectly
raising the tone of manners Having done
this particularly If you are by chance a
host or hostess, and every full grown
man and woman ought sometimes to oc-
cupy this pesition-you will unwittingly
have done the utmost for yourself, and
all social gratitude and consideration will
be added unto you. Do you say that
direct, specific praise is difficult and not
to your taste? Ali well, look will
sometimes suffice to convey your appro-
baton, provided your friend be your pa
tient, is quick of apprehension, and not
short-sighted; but speech is, after all, the
most natural and convenient mode Of
communication. Harriet w. Preston, IN
NJ Y. Independent.