Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1890-04-17
VANITY. vASITY::
4 Broad Difference Between that Trait
and Se,f-Conceit.

what is vanity: If we are 10 pin our
faith upon Noah Webster. it is ..empty
pride inspired by an oyerweening conceit
OF one. $ personal attainmeuts or decora-
Mons. but It was long ago agreed that
the photographers do not know every
tnlng, says the San Francisco Chronicle:
that their craze Tor definition has FIRE.
qnentiy led them !nt0 gross cXaggerat!ons,
anu that their explanations must frequent
~ De received with 4 gre., dca! Of caution.
Inc usual analogue for vanity is the
peacock. He has been held up to scorn
lor centuries Is the embodiment Of vanity.
but why: Has he an oyerWcening con.
ceit OF his personal decorGtiouss BY no
means. Heis an object Of beauty and
splendor. and lie simply purposes TO allow
TN admiring world 10 least is eyes on his
periecuons. He knows ne is beautiful. Il
lie KNOWS anything, and feels that it is his
mission in life to pose Ill such attitudes as
10 display his PROJECTIONS tothe best advant-
age. lie simply puts his best foot fore
most, and for this he has been vilified and
abused time out of mind. Should he hide
himself beneath hedge or trail his glori-
Gus piUmage under the barn he would not
iniflll 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 4 water
fail, or rainbow, or 4 glowing sunset,
as to the peacock.
And it is so to a great extent with the
genus which Plato is said to have desert
bed as ''the two-leneed animal without
feather" genus homo. 1t is, in
spite Of Noah Webster, arrant nonsense
to call that ''oyerweening conceit" which
is nothing more than 4 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
as to any other branch of the animal king
dom. 1t is innate and inherent. as is 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-bIooded die
tionary maker who informs lis that tha:
which we had believed TO be natural and
proper was an oyerweening cOnceit in our
personal attainments and decorations. and
at once we feel sensation of shame, as
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
We're but following out our natural traits
and tendencies.
1t may be shrewdly suspected that those
who are so severe upon vanity have little
OF nothing OF their own about which to
be vain. There are 10 such severe or
cruel censors as those who can have had
no personal experience upon the subject
against which their censure is directed.
There are no such keen critics of the bring
ing up OF children as the childless; no
such harsh Judges OF the poor as those
who were born with silver spoons in
their mouths; 10 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 We're no dudes and dandies,
really means that as a young man he was
not possessed of those personal attachments
and decorations which could make him
ard the vinegary spinster, who
affects to be Mortified at the innocent CO.
quetries 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 |
attributes or qualities that the human fam |
lily possesses. 1t is incentive 70 innumera. |
BILE acts of kindness, of goodness and of |
justifiable ambition. 1t is fruitful /
source OF self-respect. without which re. |
spect from Others will be sought in vain. !
1t makes us regartlful of the claims of |
others, for the great law OF compensation, !
the universal principle of give and take, |
is as operative here as elsewhere. Ii |
makes us avoid that pride which apes
humility" and puts Us on the proper /
plane OF estimation and valuation by the
world, for it is assuredly true that if we
value ourselves cheap, the world will be
only too ready to take lis at our own
valuation. 1t is not self-cOEccit, which il
always offensive. bat it is 4 just and prop
n appreciation OF who and what we are
md what we can do; and there is little
hanger that we shall ever overvalue our
selves, for there is always an abundance
IF people at hand to pull MS up short if
our vanity tries to run away with us, and
% restore lis to our proper level. A man
Or woman without vanity, especially if
roung, is certain to be failure in this
world; for if we make doormasters of our.
selves we may be sure that the world will
wipe its feet on us.