The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-16
HOW TO BE SOLID WITH GIRLS,

HOW TO BE SOLID WITH GIRLS
Ny DEAR BoYs:-If You want to become
solid with the girls, you must learn to thinl
before you speak, writes Zone Who Ia" ir
the Salt Lake Tribune.
It's q hard thing to do, and any fellow
who has to 70 through that sort of school
ing will be sorry for you. but facts are facts
always, and particularly when you are
dealing with girla E5M.
Perhaps you'll say that girls themselves
never think before they speak. and quite
likely you're right about it. but there is a
great difference between you and them in
one important particular which YOU can't
afford to forget. They're already solid
with you, SO they can say and do what they
please, while you still have your way to
make. =~M~ Er@ =w. m+w~ "#.. IT,"
YOU'RE so accustomed to firing of your
tongue at home. whenever there is any
thing behind it. thxt you are likely to drop
into the Same habitsSwhen You are IN COM
pany, but the circumstances are entirely
different. Your mother and sisters are
Obliged to endur you, which is rough on
them. but other women don't have to stand
any more Of you than they like, 80 you will
learn very quickly that they can't put up
with either a fool or a .boor, unless for the
purpose of making fun OF him.
Maybe you'll think these are pretty hard
names, but if You'll closet, notice the other
young fellows, when they are in the society
of girls that they like. you'll agree with me
that the names suit the cases with wonder
full accuracy. By u strange coincidence,
the other fellows are probably thinking
Just the same about you, whenever they
have to listen to you while you are doing
all the talking in the ladies' society.
Probably you think that you can't by any
possibility talk as much nonsense ~ the
girls, but that is because You are SO con
ceited hat you imagine everything 10 silly
which does not interest YOU You make an
awful mistake. my dear boys; whatever n
terests any particular class OF persons 10 not
silly-to them, and if you don't take it In.
YOU will find good reason to be sorry If
YOU want to make a good impression on the
said persons.
If It is really necessary, in the interest of
kindness to animals, that you should let
your tongue wag as 1t will, why, give the
unruly member full swing i'll the solitude Of
your own room before you venture 1orth TO
call upon q girl.
Second thoughts are best" is an old say
ing that older and wiser mon than you have
found ia as true as gospel. Even second
thoughts are not always good enough TO
impose upon any one whose good opinion
you may want.
Did you ever see any of the printed
s'Thinpa Which One Would Rather Have
Said Difforently?" Well. every young man
who doesn't watch his tongue very closely
says lots of such things when he is in COM
pany, and the girls are as quick as lightning
- oooir~ than and IaOOhinp over them
afterward. and-oh, demonstrating them
to other girls to be laughed over. It may
be awful. but it's true. Girls are always on
the lookout for something to laugh about,
and it will take you q long time to catch up
with your bluAders in that direction.
It'll take a terrible amount of thinking.
sometimes, to say the proper thing, and
often you will fail, in spite Of all your try
ing, because it is a kind of work which you
AREN'T used to. You had better fail a hun
dred times, though. than say the wrong
thing once, as you are almost sure to do,
when you give your tongue full swing. e..
You may be, by nature, as good-natured
as a young monkey with a basket Of apples,
and no other monkey within a hundred
miles, but uRliRess isn't what you have to
guard against. What you most want to
avoid is the reputation of being a young
man who thinks a great deal of himself.
There's nothing like conceit to set young
women against a man, even if he hasn't an
other fault.
One good reason for thinking before you
speak is that you may, perhaps, say things
in the way the girls like best to hear them.
Often it isn't what is said. but the way one
says it, that pleases the hearsr; if
this weren't 80, there would be no
reason why lawyers and preachers
should take so much pains in
shouldn't tell a story as we'll as the scrib-
bier who makes a fortune by printing it.
To be a man who says just what he means
may be all right, but some of such mon make
enemies Of everybody by the way they say
things. Besides, you don't mean half what
you say, unless you are smarter than any
other fellow OF your age.
Think hard before you say anything to
the girls about any other fellow, for the
speech is sure to reach him in the course of
time, unless it is entirely complimentary.
Girls mayn't be tell-tales-that is the girls
whom you like may be above that sort of
thing, but if You don't want a remark to be
repeated. don't make it except to a statue.
People will talk and repeat what they hear;
the younger and more innocent they are,
the less likely they are to think of the con-
sequences, and by the time a remark has
passed through half a dozen lips it will
have been twisted 80 that its author
wouldn't Know it at sight, especially If he
himself gave it a little twist in the first
place.
Besides, it makes a great deal Of differ
ence, to the other fellow, as to whom you
may tell your story. A man who may
laugh at ugly yarns told about him to other
men, will lage like demon over some little
criticism that reaches the ears of women.
If YOU wait for aecond thoughts before
saying anything uncomplimentary about
one of the boys, think about six times be-
fore venturing on the mildest criticism of a
girl. Perhaps sixty would be a safer num-
Der, because then you wouldn't say it at all,
and with such opinions your only safety
lies in absolute silence. Don't free your
mind about any woman until you are safely
married, unless you want to get into
trouble; even then it won't be safe to tell it
to any woman but your wife. All such
opinions will keep. if they are good for any
thing; should they chance to SPOIL, you
won't be loser of anything except some of
your good opinion of Yourself, and most
young fellows have 80 large a surplus of
that sort of thing that they can lose a great
deal without being worse of.
The girl you must be most careful not to
express any doubling estimate of, though,
is the one to whom you are talking, Fam.
jliarity breads coutemDt.' tho ha4iar ~