, 1891-09-05

ly. he was buent and howery or speech,
and he had seen almost everything under
the sun in every corner of the world,
but for that very reason he was fatiguing.
One could speak Of nothing without
eliciting such a flood of information
that one was nearly drowned in it, and
seized upon any straw to reach land
again, only to be submerged afresh be-
fore one had done gasping after the first
deluge. And this was what / said to
my friend and hostess when she unwise-
ly insisted upon an opinion. OF course
she didn't like it; we never do like to
have our friends refuse to look out Of
our eyes, although we are constantly de
Ginning to look out of theirs.
Well. what kind of a man do you
call an agreeable man il he is not2" de-
manded she, rather pettishly.
What kind of mann repeated l, mus.
ing over the question. "Why, a man
who pleases me is to me an agreeable
man"
That is t say" retorted she, laugh
ing, "if you like that kind of a man that
is just the kind of ma that would
please your
The entrance of a visitor broke off the
conversation; but, as is my habit when
a social question has been raised in So
ciety, / ~unconsciously carry it home, and
sometimes ponder it in the weary hours
Of sleepless nights.
What is an agreeable man, and where
have l most frequently found himT de-
manded of myself hat afternoon as |
drove around the park and exchanged
s~alutations with a hundred or so of my
rnuafntanra la u This horcarnan2 Ia
1t this pedestrian Is it either of these
two with the tandem team, or Is it that
lear old man in the barouche7 But still
the voice within said Nor The horse
man is silly and ~fatuous; the pedestrian
is buried In abstruse studies, and is ut
this moment walking off a surfeit of
Semitic roots before undertaking a light
collation. of Dead sea fruits. The two
boys with the tandem team will
bring it with them to whatever re-
ception they attend tonight, and
tell everybody just what time Xerxes
and Artaxerxes made las week on the
trotting course. and how they are capa-
BILE of beating Cyrus and Darius Unto
FITS at any moment.
As for the old gentleman, he is very
dear and very sweet, and | make a point
OF talking to him for three minutes
whenever we meet, hut after three min
utes he mas told me all about his health,
and where his wife is, and how warm
and crowded the room is, and that is the
end of our subjects of mutual interest,
for he is too deaf to hear any remarks l
might offer, and too self engrossed to
care to listen IL he could hear.
So collating the egotistical traveller,
and the vain exquisite, and the book
worm, and the horsey pair, and the self
absorbed old gentleman, n sees that
they have one faultin common, and that
is selhshness, and it becomes evident
that the agreeable man must not be sell
fish, or at least that he must, by educa-
ton and good breeding. have learned so
to disguise that "original sin" common
to every child Of Adam, that it shall not
offend other people. AS for eliminating
1t, do not suppose that is ever done,
and perhaps it would not be well if it
could be, for IL self preservation is the
first law of nature a certain amount Of
selfshness is as necessary to the protec-
ton of every man as claws are to a cat;
the thing is to keep those same claws
sheathed in q velvet paw.