Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-10-03
The Ah~~zi Mindea MAJ

AN@@-@4C& A@<EAN ~ -
1azy Per>Sas guilty a DOrAl osessrs
coz o&r~a with skSek shsect-E-in<sed-
ne&s will seem Ike . very vcsl4i 4sfsct,
bat vet there - no oae capable q IN
escsxnS more A1ROya2cs and I1coE-
vezle&ce THAI AZ sbs-nt-Eisaea E&a-
such Q oce nos rIRes 10 Esy rccoi1ect7o1-
. nan Of good natural gifts and fne
educaii0n, bot ~ no, through his stse1s-
nindedness, failed 10 make himself
agreeable or acceptable il society. The
following instance Will serve to give
readers an idea Of the harness of his
proceedings:
Going to friends house one evening,
Just as tea vas being banded, he walked
up TO to the lady Of the house and shook
her hand hard, without noticing that
she held . cup OF hot tea in 1t, thereby
causing the scalding beverage to stream
over her hand, wrist and arm, and
forcing Q cry Of pain from her. Indeed,
in the matter of shaking hands, he
seemed particularly dangerous, for on
another occasion he inflicted quite q
serious hurt on male friend. in the
shake OF the hand. He was Just pre-.
pairing to smoke O cigar when his friend
came in, and forgetting that he held o
lighted cigar in his hand, he bestowed
on his visitor q warm grasp, in more
senses than one. At length. his friends
came to the conclusion that as q matter
of self.defense they must restrict them
selves to q bowling acquaintance with
him, as he had such ingeniously pain
full modes of shaking hands.
Another turn that his absent-minded-
ness took was to forget that such and
such acquaintance of his had died, and
he would consequently inquire about
them of their relatives in the most ILL.,
timed and embarrassing manner. A
young man of his acquaintance having
gone to the West Indies and died there,
he shocked the relatives of the deceased
by remarking in his absent.minded way
that che supposed the young man was
in very hot quarters. As the poor
young fellow had been somewhat wild,
his incensed relatives took this as an
sllusion to his probable condition in
the other world, whilst, in reality, the
absent-minded man merely referred to
the tropical climate of the West Indies.
1t is impossible to describe how fiat he
made widower friend feel-the decease
of whose wife he like the widower him
self had forgotten. Meeting his friend
at a picnic amid bevy of young girls
whom he was plying with lemonade
and ice-cream along with fattery and
pleasantly, the absent-minded man in
quired in tone of fatal distinctness,
during brief lull in the conversation,
My dear Smith, where is your good
lady to day? Ishould like to pay my
respects to her. really think she had
better be looking after you" Dead
pause, sudden pail on the company. but
the absent minded man not noticing
this repeats his inquiries till smith is
forced to explicitly state why his wife
is not present. Not only did he mingle
the living and the dead in this hazy
way, but he was apt to forget the rela-
tions existing between the living, and
consequently to make the most mai
apropos remarks to unsuitable hearers.
Another turn his absent mindedness
took was never to deliver either q note
or message intrusted to him, whereby
he not unfrequently occasiOned much
inconvenience and annoyance, as we'll as
misunderstanding of quite a serious
nature. Persons would sometimes send
a message or note to his wife by him,
telling her that they were coming to
visit her at q certain time, and he would
remember the note or message only as he
saw them drive up to the door, finding
his wife quite unprepared for their re.
ception. Occasionally this haziness
would rebound to his own vexation and
modification, as for instance, when he
had invited some of his own particular
cronies to dine, and forgetting to notify
his wife of the fact, had been forced to
treat them (albeit fastidious epicures)
to scrap dinner, probably on washing
or house.cleaning day. need not say
that his wife took grim satisfaction in
the scanty and Indifferent fare on such
occasions. What rightly constituted
woman would not do so? Fmay OBJ
serve, en- PEASANT, that some modern
writer advances the theory that the
martial difficulties between Socrates
and Xanthippe were produced by his
bringing home his friends to dine with
him without giving her otice.-MARY
w. EARLY in Detroit Free Press.