Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-05
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I/S>EyETryrJ L l L
//%EXTNI/// enough to make reso-
N/I|NI lItiCns, make them.
The first of the year
is & good place to make a start, and little
Sins" the best working ground When we
tackle big things, We are apt to get faint
hearted before the task looming up in our
horizon, and the first thing we know we
have lapsed into the normal condition of
inaction. But when we say that we will
correct the little errors. we stick to it, be-
cause it is not difficult to overcome a little
fault. and the fiist thing we know we have
worked way through a very grave
fault, and with it under feet, realize
that little by little we have reached a
point that would have seemed unattain-
able if we had set to climb to it directly.
AS for the creature who shouts bad form"
a you, just cut him. When any one sufti-
GENTLY intimate with you dares to Say to
You that a desire for self improvement is
bad form, there is but one thing to do, and
that is 20 rid yourself of SO undesirable
acquaintance.
1t is not necessary to get up set of
elaborate resolutions and have them en-
crossed on parchment, nor is it even wise
to put your resolutions in black and white,
for you get so tired of seeing them day
after day, knowing that you infringe on
the letter of them half a dozen times dur
ing the waking hours, that you get dis
Couraged at last and throw them away in
despair. The very best resolve is to say
each morning, This day shall be an I'M
provemeut on yesterday so far as | am
concerned An old, old authority says,
Sufficient Unto the day is the evil thereof"
and You can't improve on that. You can
live but one day at time, but if YOU
make each day polished gem in it's own
a foot
days in the year. 1t fairly appals one to
think of living whole year of days, strug-
Cling with the old Adam in oneself through
every hour of the time, but when one di-
videS the year into twelve-hour shifts it
puts a different face ON the matter.
Keep Thou my feet; do not ask to see
The distant scene ;one step enough for me-"
That was Bishop Newman's petition and
its lesson of gentle trust might be learned
ty us with profit.
Hard to Live Up To.
This "preachfying.' as Rose calls it, is
the result of talk had with her today.
The new year was scarcely forty-e1gut
hours old when she came flying into my
room and flung handful of torn paper in
to my scrap basket.
I'm mighty glad Washir gton wasn't a
twin she remarked, with savage empka-
sis, giving the basket kick that sent the
bits of paper scurrying over the rug
What in the world has Washington
been doing 70 you?" 1 asked in surprise
'Oh, rothing, only it would take two
saints and a seraphim to live up to his
horrid old maxims. I've smashed about
forty of them already, and if he had been
twins I'd go off and be a girl bandit or
something else awful, rather than have two
such models throwing precepts at my head
as long as l lived. Fifty-four maxins are
quite enough to madden one, but twice
htty-four.ugh! 1t makes me sick"
POOR child! She meant we'll. but her puny
efforts at living up to maxims that WASH
ington seems to have been skillful in evad-
ing when occasion suited, were not unlike
the popgun fusillade on the tariff bil-the
range was too long for effective marks
manShip. If Washington were living now
he would edit those maxms severely and
1t stands to reason that a thoughtless
young girl could never live up to the stiited
things which were not original with the
father OF his country anyhow. AS Rose
sobbed out the trials of a peculiarly hard
day, her face buried in my lap and her
voice expressing utter hopelessness of her
power to keep any kind of resolution, since
she had failed SO signally in a two days
trial, tried to cheer her by telling her
some of my own experiences which were
quite as disastrous as hers. 1t had the de-
sired effect for misery does love COMPANY
you know.
1 wonder, now, what kind Of resolutions
the girls who read this have made? Wheth-
er they have built an Eiffel tower of lofty
top and a bad founda ton. bound to bring
the thing tunlbling around their ears in
less than a month, or whether they have
quietly decided to begin with the tiny little
faults of hourly occurrence and smooth out
the twists and tanSlcS as they go?
To Guard the Tongue.
Women are natural reformers. They are
not always logical and, L fear, not always
perfectly indifferent to the probable praise
= ai, off nd h,1t Z
a fact that all great reforms have had their
seed sown by women.
You see, girls, the reforms have got to
begin at home and within your own hearts
ard lives regardless of outside influences.
Now l think if l were young girl, just at
the beginning of life, one of the first things
/ would consider would be.a bride for my
tongue, and this was one of the sugges-
lions / made to Rose. a
Truly the tongue is an unruly membe$!
1t can do infinite harm in the way of
spreading unsavory reports, and a girlish
scandal monger is creature to shun. A
good resolution for you to commit to men,
DRY and carry with you every moment of
your life was sung by king a thousand
years before the Christ-child was BORN
Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips
from speaking guile" If you can't say nice
things about people, don't say anything at
ALL You have right to choose your
friends. and it is your duty to know that
they are worthy of your consideration; but
should you elect to drop any of them, it is
not necessary to bruit it abroad from the
housetops, or tell 1t sub rosa in your room
under low burning lights from whence it
will spread like a pestilence. That the
passports to your favor have been returned
will become known soon enough. but the
why should remain state secret. 1t is
seldom or never conducive to the public
welfare to make such things known.
1 know a good many well fntentioned
girls who have a reputation for being wit
ty and quick at repartee that carries
sting People laugh at them, but they do
not love them. 1t is not human nature to
love a thing that we fear, and one never
knows at what moment the darts of a wit
may be turned upon oneself. Men rather
enjoy the risque things that some brilliant
women say, but they do not care to marry
such women. Sauce piquant is charming
in it's proper place." man said to me
once, but as an article Of steady diet it
soon pals"
Everybody Likes Her.
I think the next thing 1 would try to do
would be to make myself as fair and sweet
as possible, and that means great deal.
There is nothing on earth sweeter than
bright, wholesome girl She need not be at