Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1878-08-14
Bashful People.
-Jdmes Montgomery,

OF those wastes and burdens oi HE
which we call minor miserics, bath
lulness is n conspicuous evil. The
hashiul man forever runs q gauntlet
Of Ingenious public torture. lie is
endowed with sixth sense Of suffer-
ing. Arrows Of sarcasm never aimed
at him find every Joint in his harness
Blows of criticism meant Tor some
antipodcan iall on his delencecss
head. Fires Of condemnation lighted
for araway offenders, scorch him TO
the quick.
FOR it is true, as the witty "auto'
Cat" declares, that bashiulncss is
vanity turned wrong side out. 1t is
not lack of sufficient sell conceil,
but Of due self esteem. II is not an
under.valuation Of ones quality, but
an uneasy fear Of others under'valua'
ton. The bashtul man who, in the
horse car, slumbles over his neigh
boris feet, upsets the adjacent chill
dren, knocks down all the umbrellas
within his radius, and hides his con-
fusion behind his morning paper, is
10 lorso figure in his own horizon
that he is persuaded the world is
looking at him with dIsarprovlng
eyes whereas his existence is for
gotten by preoccuped public the in-
slant order is restored.
The woman whose uneasy color
decpens if u stray glance rests a per.
ceptiblc instant on her ruffs, or her
toilette, or her packages, falls instant
ly to an anxious reviewing other pos
sible ecccntricitics Of dress, or manner,
or style. Her vanity is alarmed, not
hattcred, but none the less is the keen
sentinel on her watchtowers vanity
and not modesty. She so fills her
consciousness thar she cannot con-
ce,ye of herself as absent from the
consciousness OF her fellows. And
so weary companionship is this con-
stant presence of self that the victim
becomes morbid, sees neglect where
none is shown, detests sights where
only consideration exists, or even falls
into moods of self:distrust that are
apt to Kill all effort
Often, indeed, shyness does not
thus deform the whole character, and
very worthy persons are to be found
in the list of the bashtul. But these
untortunates are usually those whose
special sensitiveness to the observation
of their kind is due to the knowledge
of Il special defect, or to doubt OF
some one gift for whose exercise the
world calls. Thus Socrates, pronounc-
ed by the oracle the wisest of mortals,
walked among his pupils and taught
them in the calm of conscious power,
unmindtul OF his plain face, his grace
less figure, his awkward presence
But when he attempted some public
performance before the people, he
faltered in the first onset, and was SO
dlsmayed at the conscious presence OF
Socrates ithat he could not recover
himself, but was hissed and hooted
home. Plato, the broad master of all
knowledge, became so aware of Plato
when outside of bis immediate groves,
that he was dashed out of countenance
by an illiterate rabble, hawked, de-
INJURED, and hesitated, before he could
get to the end of one short sentence.
The golden tongued Cicero began
those orations which swayed Rome,
in weak, hesitating voice, like a
schoolboy fearful of being whipped for
not being perfect in his lesson. 1t
was only when he had forgotten
Cicero i'm Cicero's cause that his
speech Numbered and lightened, and
the orator seemed to bring messages
from the gods.
The great Hooker, most majestic OF