The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-04-21
Pleasant People.
Atlantic Monthly for April.

l ASAnhSAO 3AOutuAy AOE april
 What boon to all his friends and acquaintances pleasant person is It may be hard to define pleasantness, but we find no difficulty in recogniz- ing it when we meet with it. Pleas ant people are not always by any means the most admirable of mankind, nor the most interesting for it often happens that the qualities in 8 man which are worthiest of esteem are, for lack of other modifying elements, the very ones which make against his agreeableness as companion, and a person who does not impress us as particularly pleasant may neverthe- less interest us very much by the dis play of unusual mental or moral char acteristics, or from a complexity of nature which seems to offer itself az an enigma we are curious to solve. Pleasant people may not even be the most truly lovable, but they are likea- ble. We perhaps have no desire to make friends of them in the deeper sense of friendship, but we are glad when we meet them, and enjoy our selves while in their society. The tie thus formed, though slight, is real one, and l believe that we should all do well to remember, in the interest of our closer friendships, the attract i've and cohesive force of mere pleas antness. The highest virtues and offices of friendship we are not called on to exercise every day, and in famil- jar intercourse we havs not less, but rather the more need of making our selves pleasant, because of the times when our friends will have to answer our drafts on their patience and sym pathy.
 If we question what it is that goes to constitute man or woman pleas ant, it appears to be result of both temperament and character. It is hardly necessary to say that these are not the same thing, and yet they are not distinguished in common thought and speech as clearly as they might be. Without attempting any close analysis, we may perhaps say that temperament is certain combination of elements given us at birth, while character is another set ofpowers and dispositions, slowly acquired and grown in us for the first, nature is responsible, our parents and ourselves for the second.
 It seems easiest to describes pleasant person by negatives, although assur- edly his pleasantness affects us as most positive quality. To begin with, such person must not be too much sshut up in his own Individuality" to use the phrase of an English writer. That IS, he must not be very reserved and concentrated in his emotions and affections, but have a certain expan- siveness of nature and opennees of manner. He must not be too fastidi- ous, but able to take people for what they are, and what they are worth to him for the passing moment and the needs of the social hour. He must not be of too intense a nature, nor SO preoccupied with the serious aspects and duties of life that he is unable to put them aside temporarily, and lend himself to lighter thoughts and lighter people. One of the pleasantest men I ever met was one of the most hard working, devoted to dozen good causes and public interests beside his personal and professional ones. None of these were made bore to others, and his equable and kindly disposition, his readiness to enter into other per sons ideas, his interest in literature and art as well as weightier matters of politics and science, made him able to please and be pleased by men and wo- men of the most diverse sorts. It has sometimes struck me forcibly with respect to such man: How pleasant he must be to himself-how comfort able to live with every day!