The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1891-09-25

h1mSef immense
". He was fluent and fiowery of 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
ehciting such a food 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-
Iy 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 If he is notf" de-
manded she, rather pettishly.
What kind of man?" repeated l, mus
ing over the question 'Why, a man
who pleases me is to me an agreeable
man"
THAT is to say" retorted she, laugh
ing, "if you like that kind Of man that
Is Just the kind of man that would
please your"
The entrance Of visitor broke of 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 most frequently found him2 de-
mRnded of myself that afternoon as
drove around the park and exchanged
salutations with q hundred or so of my
acquaintanoes. Is it this horseman? Is
IL this PEDESTRIAN? Is it either Of these
two with the tandem team, or Is it that
dear old man in the barouche? But still
the voice within said "Nol" The horse
man Is silly and fatuous; the pedestrian
is buried in abstruse studies, and is at
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 every body just what time Xerxes
and Artaxerxes made last week on the
trotttng course, and how they are capa-
BILE Of beating Cyrus and Darius ''into
fits" at any moment.
Az for the old gentleman, he Is very
dear ald very sweet, and make point
Of talking to him for three minutes
whenever we meet, but after three min
utes he has 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
might offer. and too self engrossed to
care to listen If he could hear.
80 eollating the egotistical traveller,
and the vain exquisite, and the book
worm. and the horsey pair. and the self
absorbed old gentleman, one sees that
they have one fault in common, and that
is sel6shness, 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
70 every child of Adam, that it shall not
offend other people. AS for eliminating
it, | 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 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,