The sun., 1901-01-08
yRUELINDIFFERENCE
KEEN EDGED WEAPON THAT SOME
TIMES PIERCES LOVING HEARTS
Many Time It Is the Thing Left
Undone That Imbitters Loves Cup.
Story of a Great Man Who Craved
Love and sympathy.

III all the sages Of all the ages were
, met together, my dear sir, do not be-
lieve you would be able to gather from
their opinions a satisfactory answer to
the question you have asked me, and SO
will humbly and honestly confess at the
outset that l do not know the reason
why there are "men and women in the
world who have capacity for loving
and longing to be beloved who must go
all the days Of their lives rewarded
with nothing more than mere indiffer-
ence, must be satisfied with this and pre-
tend, too, to care for nothing more"
What do l think Of 'the girl who
knows that her sweetheart is devoted to
her and yet acts indifferently toward him,
or the man who knows that the whole
of some woman's thought is for him and
yet seemingly is Indifferent to it all 2"
Oh, do not think anything about it.
just know that indifference kills. Hearts
may not break over it, but something
, iies-some of the sunshine goes out Of
life
What problems there are in life, to be
sure! Sometimes the mornings mail
brings me hint of them-the two ques-
tions | have referred to came in this
way-and sometimes l, like you, meet
them in days journey. Maybe you and
l must live through few of them our
selves between the hours that the sun
rises and sets and the great, tired world
settles down to forget for a little while
the bitter drop that is in even the hap.
piest cup.
1t is the thing that is left undone many
time that wounds more deeply than the
thing that is done, and the merest out
ward expression of tender thought will
often make the whole day go happily.
But here is reason why one must not
be too hasty in concluding that the object
Of ones devotion is Indifferent: There
are some of us, you know, who are too
proud and even too timid to let the real
depth of our feelings be guessed, and
what others might easily suppose indif-
ference is but mask, the wearing Of
which really costs us much pain. And
then it may be that the one who wounds
us does so all unknowingly.
Let me tell you Of this little happening
in the life of great man. 1t is gather
ed from one of number of his letters
that are being given to the world. The
zine:
''Victor Hugo's capacity for affection,
to which he sometimes makes allusion in
his letters, had need OF family ties, and
the alteration he bestowed upon his moth
er had given this to him, with the sweet
consciousness that he, too, was infinitely
beloved by her. He had twice owed her
his life, and at her death he felt twice
orphaned. He was estranged from his
father, who was Indifferent to him, to
say the least of it. He was coldly treat
ed by his brothers, who were jealous of
his superiority, and separated from
Adele, whose hand was refused him.
He felt himself all alone in the wide
world.
Ills wretchedness was increased by an
unhappy incident. In one Of his letters
he tells of it.
"On June 20, the evening of the day
when his mother was buried, he left the
house, unable to bear its emptiness and
solitude, and instinctively, as he often
did, found his way into the neighbor.
hood of the Hotel de Toulouse. Its win
dows were q blaze of light. 1t was NJ.
Foucher's fete day. There was a ball
going on there. Victor knew all about
the place. He went up to the second
story, went into an empty room, from
which little window looked into the
ballroom, and from thence he saw Adele
dancing and gay. Subsequently she prov.
ed to him that the news of his mothers
death had been carefully concealed from
her and assured him that had she known
of his presence she would have risked
everything to leave the ballroom and
come TO him to share his sorrow. But
at the time he was absolutely overwhelm
ed by this fresh blow"
Poor Victor Hugo! This we say and
sigh as we say it. Even with all his
brilliancy that was not enough. He
wanted just what the most ordinary of
mortals want - love and sympathy.
There was cry in his heart that would
not be stilled. He could never bring him
self to be Indifferent to Indifference.
Now, of course, there is a common
sense bit of advice that the practical are
always ready to give | shall merely re-
peat it, for l agree with the practical
that it is good. TO be quite honest,
have never seen it put to the test, but
that is no reason why | still may not
hope to, and | am sending the recipe,
or whatever may call it, to the sufferer
from indifference: When you are sure
that you have made some one understand
that you care a great deal for him or
her, as the case may be, and you are
ready and willing to do all the tender
and thoughtful little things that count
for so much in the everyday affairs of
folks, and all this thoughtfulness on your
part is only met by Indifference, then,
after certain amount of waiting, to
find out that you are not misjudging,
make up your mind that you are vast
ing your affections on worse than the
"desert air." One sided devotion will
not do when two people are planning to
journey through life together.
1t is usually the selfish woman who is
Indifferent to the small evidences of
mans devotion, or it is selfish man
who will allow woman to be always
tender and thoughtful of him and think
it only worth his while to permit her, as
favor, to be thus kind to him. But, as
l have suggested, do not be too hasty in
locked up within them. The pity of it
all often is that they are not told, but
the sages Of all the ages will not be able
to tell you the why Of it, and certainly
may not hope to be able to.
Do not endure indifference because you
are too faint hearted to put love to the
test and win or lose it all. The girl who
is Indifferent to her sweetheart probably
loves him less than he deserves, and it
would be a manly thing to tell her that
he will not bind her to her promises if
she has grown tired of him. But, what
ever you do, be sure you are right before
you go ahead. You might be misjudging