The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-06-09

before this offensive form of emotion
(surely the most unfair of mental atti-
tudes) raillery dropped its arms. She
talked little. but with deplorable pro-
priety: she listened to dull CONVERSE
tions without a single healthy inter-
ruption: she was docile. considerable.
helpful / heard a lady describe her as
sweet girl" and did not feel able To
deny it with any real confidence. Il do
hope l am forming her." said her aunt
oomplacently.
The Product.
The last stage came. She was
formed, but | have not the heart to
descroibe her. Yet the quite-formed
girl differs from the half-formed girl
no less widely and vitality than the half
formed from the wholly formed. How
is this? Is half-forming a purely mega
tive process, consisting entirely in the
suppres sion and obliteration of the
natural girl-a training in prohibitions,
resulting i'm that uneasy, self-distrust-
full demeanor? Then, with the compile
ton of the process, confidence returns.
The pupil is again at ease; correct be-
havior has become automatic. That
which is perfect cannot act imperfect
ly. The quite-formed girl knows this.
She is therefore irradiated with ra-
tional self-satisfaction; she is quite
| comfortable about herself. Conse-
| quently her original nature. habits and
| ways ItNlNe. Dul lICN hO lOl ItNlNc
| in their original form; they are not
what they were, any more than is the
| foot of Chinese lady when the band
| ages are taken off. The finished pro-
| duct is indeed conditioned by the quail
| ity of the raw material, but how i'm
| mese is the gap between them 1t is
wonderful process this forming. II
| any mother were to be moved to eX-
plain it, the description would be ex-
! tire mely interesting. Anyhow, every
debutante has been through it, and
| therefore. as / have observed. all
| thoughtful men regard her with an in
| terest not unmiXed with awe.
The Equality of Pleasure.
An ingenious friend once maintained
| i'm conversation with me that all men
were equally happy. The paradox was
| supported thus: At each moment each
person wants something, suffers from
some conscious void" supply it, and
he is happy. A has the toothache; it's
| cure would be happiness to him; Il has
not the toothache. but he is hungry;
dinner is his sole preoccupation. But
how if c have both toothache and hun
ger? There is no difference, runs the
argument. His unhappiness is not
made greater. it is merely distributed
and dispersed. In q word, the rela-
tivity of pleasure is complete. and the
baffled millionaire, who has learnt that
the Koh-i-noor is not for sae. is just as
disconsolate as the beggar boy who abs
but a halfpenny, and whose favorite
tart is priced at twice the sum. The
argument need not be accepted in its
full measure but il holds a truth worth
remembering, and especially valuable
to people who deal with conditions of
life remote from those under which
they live themselves. The philanthro-
pist is ready to tell us that riches do
not secure happiness. 1t is rot his part
to remind us that poverty need not
mean misery. but for a just view of the
world we need TO remember 1t. We are
pretty well agreed that a novelist who
depicted perfectly happy man would
entertain us with a sketch of a CHI
mera; so when he betakes himself to
the other end of the scale and raises
our horror by painting unredeemed
misery, bare of all comfort or alleVia-
tions, we are in most cases right in ac-
cusing him of using an artificial light
for his picture. 1t is, in fact, far easier
both for speaker and listener, for
author and reader, to understand the
unhappiness of a state of life far diff
ferent from their own than to give due
prominence and weight to compensate
ing pleasures which their training and
habits unfit them to sympathize with
or appreciate. The absence of what we
value is at once counted great loss the
presence of what would bring us no
joy is reckoned no gain. These are
commonplace reflections, but have their
place when we try to influence, say,
the life of the Masses still more
when we try to describe it.
If pleasure were not so largely rela-
tive there would be revolutions every
day. AS it is, my shoeblack is not I'M
happy because he does belong to my
club, and l am not unhappy because 1
do not live in Windsor castle.
The Millennium.
No doubt the millennium will come
some day, but il is certain that sew
eral general elections will be necessary
in order to determine what form IL is
to take. Shall we all of us do as we
like then? This is the natural mans
ideal, though Matthew Arnold was very
contemptuous about it. Or shall we
none of us do as we like? This is the
ascetic ideal. or shall we all do as
everybody else likes? Which seems to
be the socialist ideal. What is the new
state of things to be like? The poet
has painted it:
There love had never a fear or doubt;
December breathed like June;
The prima dona ne'er was out
OF temper. or of tune.
The streets were paved with mutton
pies,
Potatoes ate like pine,
Nothing looked black but woman's eyes,
Nothing grew old but wine
1t sounds very pleasant. But where
would the poets novelists are beneath
consideration be without loves doubts,
and what say skaters to perpetual
summer? Some people don't care for
singing even when they are told that
il is i'm tune Uhey don't know them
selves. The Vegetarians would agitate
To have up the mutton pies and petit
ton the vestry df there were vestry
them 10 lay down cabbages. We
should fan in with pines. the wine
would be locked up. and-well, a good
deal Of trouble might arise over the
other mater. Ii has. before now.
Beware of Ointments for Catarrh That
Contain Mercury.