Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1890-03-20
VANITY, vANITY.!

VANITY! VANITY!
y Broad Didefence Between that Trait
and Self-C0ncsit.
What Is vanity? II we are to pin our
fatth upon Noah Webster, It Is ''empty
pride inspired by an overweening conceit
OF ones personal attachments or decora-
tions," but 1t was long ago agreed that
the photographers do not know every.
thing, says the San Francisco Chronicle;
thae their craze for definition has FIRE.
quenuy led them into gross e1aggerations,
and that their explanations must frequent.
~ be received with great deal Of caution.
The usual analogue for vanity Il the
peacock. He has been held up to scorn
Tor centuries as the embodiment Of vanity.
But why! Has he an Overweening con-
ceit OF his personal decorations? By no
means. He is an object of beauty and
spiendor, and he simply purposes to allow
an admiring world to feast its eyes on his
Perfections. He knows he is beautiful, II
ne knows anything, and feels that 1t il his
MISSION in life to pose In such attitudes Is
TO display his PROJECTIONS tothe best advant-
age. He simply puts his best foot fore
most, and for this he has been vilifled and
abused time out Of mind. Should he hide
himself beneath hedge or trail his glori.
Gus plumagc under the barn he would not
iulhll the object Of his being, but would
degrade himself to the rank of the ordi.
nary useful but not aesthetic fowl. We
might as well ascribe vanity to water
fall, or q rainbow, or glowing sunset,
a to the peacock.
And 1t rs so to great extent with the
genus which Plato Is said to have desert
bed as 1.-THE two-legged animal without
Ieathers-the genus homo. 1t is, In
spite Of Noah Webster, arrant nonsense
to call that ''Overweening conceit'' which
Is nothing more than = just consciousness
OF ones qualities, whether of body or
mind. The desire to please, to attract, to
charm, Is as natural to the human family
Is to any other branch of the animal king.
dom. 1t is innate and inherent, as 10 de-
monstrated every day by tiny children,
TOO young to have been taught to assume
airs and graces and to preen themselves
for the admiration of their fellows. These
aspirations, born in us. grow with our
growth and strengthen with our strength,
and we suspect no harm in them, until
there comes along some cold-blooded die
ttOnary maker who informs US that that
which we had believed to be Natural and
proper was an Ovcrweening conceit In our
personal attainments and decorations, and
at once We feel q sensation Of shame, a.
though we had committed some grave
ofense. All our innocent devices to
make ourselves agreeable and to attract
the esteem and admiration of those around
us become distorted, as though reflected
BY curved mirror. We blush, even
when alone, at the thought that diction.
ary-reading world has been accusing Us Of
overweening conceit, when in reality we
were but following out our natural traits
and tendencies.
1t may be shrewdly suspected that those
who arc 30 severe upon vanity have little
OF nothing Of their own about which to
be vain. There are no such severe OF
cruel censors as those who can have had
no personal experience upon tho subject
AGAINST which their censure is directed.
There are no s!ich keen critics Of the bring.
ing up OF children as the childless; no
such harsh judges of the poor as those
VINO were born with silver spoons In
their mouths no such censors Of the sue
cessful In any line as those who have not
succeeded. The same rule unquestionably |
obtains IN regard to the matter of vanity. |
The wrinkled old cOdger who says that in |
his time there were no dudes and dandies,
really means that as young man he was
not possessed OF those personal attainments |
and decorations which could make him |
attractive; and the vinegary spinster, who |
anects to be Mortified at the innocent Co
queries OF the young girls around her
and their evident desire to please, was
probably no better looking in her youth
than she Is now, when in the sere and |
yellow leaf.
The truth Is that vanity, within due and
proper bounds, is one Of the most valuable