Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1879-01-30

TAcT--Many people are so ignorant
Of all the e0areHiaaces and proprieties
of life that they have no other idea Of
tact than as q specIes of hypocrisy, and
never tail, on opportunity, to characters
ize il as such. But 10 the mind capa-
bic OF the least discrimination the two
are as wide apart as are the North and
South Poles. For hypocrisy Is the
dumb-show or lying, bat tact is rather
a method employed 60 avoid lying
Hypocrisy says: "There is no put
here" and skips gayly across; but tact,
saving nothing a. Ell about ihe pis,
cries: "Ah. how pleasant It Is in she
other direction; let US 60 thatAway y
Hypocrisy never hesitates at lie; tact
never allows occasion for one.
Tact Is, in fact, the great lubrieator
Of lite: il oils the machinery, smooths
away trouble, looks far ahead, perhaps,
TO see it, and turns things into another
channel. But however tact avoids the
necessity of falsehood. il does not sup
press the truth; IT simply prevents re-
ference to the facts; it has sort Of
selt-respect which does not blazon its
affairs abroad, il does not consider itself
as using deceit when merely keeping
| its own business in ITS own breast.
Tact has, moreover, a way of sur
mounting difficulties that no other pow
er has. Hypocrisy, so to say, burns its
ships behind it; il puts its back against
a lie and fights, but tact always keeps
its retreat open, and always has forces
in reserve. Tact seldom makes the as
sault, il never conquers; il wins with
out battle. when we would show
any one that he is mistaken" Pascal
declares, "our best course is to observe
| on what side he considers the subject
for his view of il Is generally right on
this side-and admit to him that he is
right so far. He viii be satisfied with
this acknowledgement that he was not
wrong in his judgment, only inadyer-
tent in not looking at the whole OF the
case" And tact never had higher
exposition. Yet tact is as different
from cunning as it is again from false
hood. Cunning goes about seeking
devious ways; it feeds on itself; it be-
comes a disease; it deceives itself and
debases itself all the time that tact is
moving on serenely in loftier atmos-
phere-loftier, at any rate, since tac:
is at least the child of intellect, while
cunning is often the offspring Of mere
idiocy.
There is nothing more useful in a
family, as a cushion TO every fall, a
t,,fFer b every blow, than this agreea-
4o4e tacs; il always knows the right thing
10 say, the exact thing to do; il knows
how TO lift the pleasant hand at the very
moment for smoothing ruffied plumagc;
IT knows on debatable questions how TO
put others into such good humor that II
can carry its point; il turns conversation
from dangerous approaches; 1t never
sees what is best unseen; it does not
answer TO that which requires a scathing
reply if heard at all; il remembers names
and faces, it has the apropOs anecdote;
if il does not 90 out OF the way to fat
ter neither does it go out OF the way to
blame; where it cannot praise 1t is ST.
lent, and il never consents to mortiiy
any.
Thus tact, it would appear, is a spe-
cIes of kindness, dislike to wound as
we'll as desire 10 give pleasure; per-
haps also a species of selfshness in its
automatic shrinking from crying, quar-
relIing and discomfort Of any kind.
Once IN a while, when some great
blunder is made that no tact ever quite
repairs, we are led to wonder what :he
| world would be without it. Somebody
once SAID that without hope the world
would be naught, for, destitute OF that,
we should not perform the simplest op-
erations of life; we should not go out Of
the door lest we should fall down; we
should not lift our hand to our head
lest II should remain there. Quite a.
badly of should we be without tact; all
the flavor of life would be crude as
some undisguised acid; there would be
a perpetual recoil among the atoms OF
| family and social life as Of oil and wa
ter; every roughaess would rasP, every
sharp thing would hit and hurt; peace,
harmony and enjoyment would be things
of no existence. Certainly 1t must be
conceded that tact is to our nerves what
benefcence is 10 our morals. II is,
moreover, a thing easily cultivated; its
presence is one Of the sure signs OF
gentle breeding. and its absence always
leads to believe people sprung irom
clowns: for. save for the awkward ex-
ceptlons always acknowledged to prove
the rule. where people Of culture and
of gentle behavior are to be found,
there is tact to be found with them
Harper's Ba=ar.