The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1899-02-23

One of the women delegates at the
state convention Of women's clubs,
which met in New York last week,
talked about the need of tact in any
woman who was permanently to hold
an office in the federation, says the
New York Commercial Advertiser.
Mrs. Helmuth," she said, is very re-
markable in that respect, and she will
be reelected indefinitely to the presi-
dency. Of course she Is a good person
for the Office in all respects, but the
great thing that keeps her. there is her
tact. She never steps on anybody's
corns and has no private enemies, and
a woman has public enemies
never has opposition. merely on ac-
count Of her principles or methods of
doing her work. If in general society
she knows how to meet each particular
woman and shows her that she thinks
it worth while to be ~tactfu1, her posi-
ton as officeholder is assured. But if
she frequently makes social breaks,
says the wrong word at the wrong
time, smiles when she should be seri-
Gus, or vice versa, there will be plots
and counterplots against her as an Of
ficeholder. Two or three women will
get together and talk about how tact
less she is, and this will extend until
it is the opinion of enough women to
dislodge the disagreeable person. Each
woman trembles at the thought that
her feelings may be injured at any
moment by a thick-skinned and tact
less person, so they want to put these
persons in obscurity. OF course you
may laugh, being a man, at the i'm
portance which women attach to mere
tact as a requisite to- of~iceholding. 1t
may be rather absurd, to be sure, in
some instances, but it is not so bad
as what men dc with their dreadful
politics. The men don't care whether
their oflceholders have tact or. not;
they don't much care about their man
ners. What they do insist upon is that
they shall get something, substantial.
The mayor, the PRESIDENT the COVER
o may treat Cervera, or even the
men who have elected him, with sar-
casm and ill-bred witticism, or even
ignore their advice and opinions, and
yet they will vote for him if he will
give them what they want in the way
of the substantial. We women are not
so mercenary. The gifts we demand
from our officeholdefs are of a more
ethereal and delicate kind. We want
tact merely in a persons treatment Of
us, and the oma who can give
that in an eminent degree can cod
mand any office at our disposal. And
this demand on our part is not : so
trivial a matter as you may suppose,
for to have eminent tact implies the
possession of many remarkable quail
tiles. 1t indicates kindness to begin
with, for it is impossible to be tactful
without the desire to please. Many a
woman who knows what to do in or
| der to make other women feel com
Portable won't do. it. They don't de-
sire to be considerate; they are not
kind. So when a woman is constantly
tactful she is constantly kind. OF
course, there are many women who are
kind without being t%actful, and Their
it is the fault of their intelligence
They want to be considerate but dom
know how. So that intelligence is an.
other quality implied in tact. And why
shouldn't: woman who is Intelligent
and kind occ' y an office? And tao
implies still another quality which is
of great use to IN officeholder, n tina
is moderation. A woman of tact can.
be too kind to anybody for fear of neg
Letting somebody else. She must dis
tribute her affections and: her favors
She must be broadly and coolly rather
than warmly kind. And in the sam,
way she must also distribute her in
telligence. She. must understand al
the divergent whims, crotchets AM
ideas of?many.different women. and un
derstand them all. alphabetically. sh,
must have p ~antipathies. She mus
be gentle, cool, p%ercipient and kind
moderate, in a word. So, we come bacl
to the great Creek virtue, measure ant
moderation. 1t is this virtue which
fits a woman To he an -