The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-01-07
THE TOO MEEK WOMAN.
Awkward Adventure of One Who
Was Not Assertive.
TWO SHOPPING EXPERIENCES.
Unconsciously She Placed Herself In
Bad Light, and Later, When she Ran
Up Against Another strong-minded
Person, she Came Ont Second Best.

"That text, '4,.r- sed are the meek is
great comfort TO me-" said lit le woman
ihe other day. "The meek surely ought to
have some reward hereafter, for they have
a hard time Of it here often regret that
| have that kind of disposition. and feel
willing to forego the reward promised in
the rest of the text, for they shall inherit
the earth for fine, overbearing. bullying
spirit.
IL was shopping In big Sixth avenue
store the other day with my daughter, and
we were looking at some furs heaped OH n
bargain counter. On the counter WAS
pretty muif with IA purse pocket on one
side Of it, and as | admired IL picked 1t
up. showed il TO my daughter and told her
that IL her father and the children wanted
to give me a present TO be sure and let
them know that would prefer muf just
like that.
"T4ook at this dear little purse pocket
on the side ! said, as ! unbuttoned the
cover of the pocket and looked in. There,
to my surprise, saw tiny lace handker'
chief and some money. Instantly the
thought struck me that / had picked up
some customers muff by mistake, and at
the same time sharp voice sounded in
my ears, saying, What are you doing with
my muffY
"I turned around and saw tall. well
dressed woman looking at me angrily, and
regret to say / blushed deeply mt my
awkward mistake. She evidently took the
blush for a guilty one and proceeded to
scold me loudly and insinuate that want
cd to steal her muff and money.
ALTOGETHER TOO MEEK.
az ought TO have answered her with
equal vehemence, suppose, but just here
my unfortunate meekness came into play
and reflected that my own stupidity was
responsible for putting me in position
where looked like sneak thief and that
the woman was justified in thinking so.
All did therefore was to apologize for
my action. but this seemed only to confirm
the suspicious of the woman, the shop
girls and the floor walker.
FINALLY the woman took her muff, shut
of her stream Of words and walked away.
Seeing that had not convinced her Of my
innocence, turned to the floor walker to
explain It to him, but he said he had not
time to listen, and intimated that the store
would prefer TO get along without visits
from me in the future. Now wasn't that
a nice inheritance for my meeknessp
After had recovered from my morti-
fication somewhat we went into another
big store to look at some hats. There were
more customers than shopgirls In the mil
hnery department, and so l did rs many
Others were doing-tried on number Of
hats before the glass without waiting
for shopgiri to help me. Not find
ing any hat to suit me, ! decided to
90 out, and looked around for my own
hat, which / had laid down on table
rs was trying others on. It was gone. l
looked everywhere, but could not find IL,
when suddenly my daughter spied 1t or the
head Of another woman, who was trying it
on before glass.
OVERCOME By MEEKNEss
Going up to her. said politely, That Is
my hat you have on
"'Indeed, it's not your hat, she answered
hotly. don't care IL you did pick 1t out.
have chosen IL, too, before you paid for it.
and intend to keep it,
Here my meekness overcame me again.
saw that by laying my hat down among
the ones for sale had led this woman to
bhink It was for sale also. Was she to
blamei Was not at faultt Surely. SO
apologized again and was about to assert
pnoe more that Ii was my own hat when
the woman appealed noisely to a shopgirl,
saying that / was trying to bully her, and
producing her purse she asked the price of
the hat and declared her intention of pay
ing for ii and carrying it away in spite Of
any creature
'The shopgirl looked at the hat for a
moment and then said that it was not a
store hat at all, and was not made there.
"'Then why is 1t on the table for saler
asked the woman shrilly.
81 put it there by mistake while was
trying on some hats, / said. 1T is my own
hat; trimmed it myself
Anybody could see it was a cheap.
second hand, hideous thing, said the wom-
an, now in towering rage Take your
old rag and she threw it down on the
table and hurried out, leaving me over
whelmed with confusion and feeling like a
guilty wretch. ! suppose should have
charged her with stealing, like the other
woman did me. But, then, you know the
meek shall inherit the earth. Pm not one
of those people who want the earth, but l
am bold TO say that never yet saw meek
person who seemed to inherit as much of it
as the other kind do. New York Tribune.