Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1878-07-11
Bashful People.



. which we call minor miseries, bashfulness
Is conspicuous evil. The bashful man
forever runs gauntlet Of ingenious public
torture. He is endued with sixth sense
of suffering. Arrows of sarcasm never
aimed at him find every joint in his har-
ness. Blows of criticism meant for some
: antipodean fall on his defenseless head.
Fires of condemnation lighted for PARKWAY
offenders scorch him to the quick.
For it is true, as the witty "Autocrat'
declares. that bashfuness is vanity turned
wrong side out 1t is not lack Of suffici-
ent selfconceit. but of due selfcsteem. 1t
is not an differentiation OF ones quality.
but an uneasy fear Of others under valua-
ton. The bashful man. who in the horse
car, stumblcs over his neighbours feet. up
sets the adjacent children, knocks down all
the umbrellas within its radius, and hides
his confusion behind his morning paper, is
SO large figure in his own horizon that
he is persuaded the world is looking on at
him with disappearing eyes; whereas his
existence is forgotten by preoccupied
public the instant order is restored.
The woman whose uneasy color deepens
if stray glance rests perceptiblc:: instant
on her puffs. or her toilette, or her pack
age falls instantly to an anxious reviewing
of her possible ecccntricities Of dress, or
manner, or style. Her vanity is alarmed,
not flattcrcd, but none the less is tile keen
sentinel on her watcll-towers vanity and not
modesty. She so fills her own consciousness
that she cannot conceive Of herself as alb
sent from the consciousness of her fellows.
And co weary ounI'uIrivnsirfpfs this cUr-
slant presence of self that the victim be-
comes morbid. sees neglect where none is
shown, detects Sights where only consid-
Grafton exists. or even falls into moods OF
that are apt to kill all effort.
Often, indeed, shyness does not thus de- l
form the whole character. and very wortl v
persons are to be found in the list of the
bashful. But these unfortunates are usl-
ally those whose special sensitivcness to
the observation of their Kind is due to the r
of a special defect, or to doubt
Of some one gift for whose exercise the
world calls. Thus. Socrates. pronounced
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 graceless figure, his awk-
ward presence. But when he attempted
ome public performance before the people
lie faltered in the first onset, and was so
ismaycd ut the conscious presence of
Ocrates that he could not recover himself
ut was Missed and hOoted home. Plato
he Broad, master Of all knowledge. be-
anne so aware of Plato when outside Ct
is medtative groves, that he was dashed
ut OF countcnance by an illiter:,te rabble,
awked, lemurred, and hesitatctl. before
. could get to the end of one short SEN
nee. The golden-tongued Cicero began VI
lose orations which swayed Rome in Il
eak. hesitating voice, like schoolboy ab
arful of being whipped for not being per- ns
ct in his lesson. 1t was only when he -
I'd forgotten Cicero in Cicero's cause that
S speech Numbered and lightencd. and
e orator seemed to bring messages from the
e gods. ant
The great Hooker. most majestic of Eng ,
h writer's. was so bashful that ne never he
llingly looked any man in the face, and coli
lere he fixed his eyes at the beginning of tax
sermon, there they continued till it tax
s ended. But then, like the great elder G Gan
mt, he felt his bodily presence to be p
ak, and his speech contemplate. Pope, {! Io,i
n, as all little men are, and always pug Il
:ious. admitted that he could never hold MOI
or make a clear statement of cat;
9Th. in the presence OF half a dozen peo- =.
So Dasn1ul did his perception OF his de- I'D
nifty make him. Poor Gray so dreaded X|
observation of his kind that he Stunned W
companionship, and hid away with his Tor
ks and his pen, being duly punished for : M u.
isolation by the roisterers Of the uni
'ity, who hunted the owl-like scholar ..
n his dim launts in college andafter col
ct even these great names ought not to
'ncile the bashful man and woman to
community of suffering, since their
. depends upon themselves. a child
use lite is made wholly objective, whose
rests are all external, who is taught not r.
mink of himself. does not grow up to be
by clothes, or frightened at Tn
ltterance Of his opinions. r r. ,i
ct the bashfill person, then, seek like door
ice OF liberty First, let the garb be
nipple and SO fitting that it cannot en- PI
, curious attention. Then all further
'ght of garb may be dismissed. Sec Tn,
let the manner be SO quiet, the voice cacy
'w-toned, the speech so moderate, that d.
cism is forestalled. Then all doubt OF h'e
8 style maybe at rest. And, first, last,
always, let the bashful person refuse
Xix Of self. This abstinence will pres
Y invite such an interest in external az
and people rs shall crowd out the Dr
,ght OF self, and then the bashftll per- over
is redeemed. boare
a word, manners rest upon morals.
perhaps the most exact prescription
he cure of bashfl!ness is found in the And
e motto of the Henry Wadsworth can G"'i i
q; ''Lool1 up and not down; look for =
and not back; look out and not in, 4;
lend a hand.'