The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-01-13
.OMAN'S
WORLD.

ho has no tact. says Dorothy
"i- .be New Orleans Picayune, is
DIN laundering donkey, but a woman
.sort tact is a mistit in creation She
WIN ..rson referred to in the good book
Is ui' - saws. when l would do good,
En''s resent with me-" She does harm
s'' She means to do good. She hurts
WI" sbe wants to soothe. She makes
Wne'1 where she desires friends, and
sn ns tbe best intentions in the world she
VIII more harm in minute than mall
%" an invent in a week.
ice 20 us know and dread her. We in
.r n come to see us, and she in
,,,, hicks out time to arrive, I'm
WOOD when the cook has left, and
,suaren are down with the measles.
N' - ,ba kind of friend who tells you
90. vou carry your age well, and that
q .sodv would know you were 45' unless
mere told, and remarks how clever
of YOU to put that table over the
- srot on the carpet. Let her meet
s.,s made man and she recalls herself
O., his me mOry Dy telliH5 MN Sii0 NIT"
~ .,otber when she took In washing. If
- &c a sore place in your heart she
4 ..tos If with unerring aim, and in any
4 '.od company you may bet dollars to
n ,...h,,ts that she will haul every for
,,s5on topic, by the head or the heels,
4 :, T. doesn't come any other way, into the
II -,oroa-ion. She is always and every
4 ,,ro social boomerang that is liable
10 90 off at any minute. and just as like
=, n hurt her friends as her foes.
Moo, you can't suppress the woman
Il uitSort tact. though when she has
n 'annisd MS with her Numbering we some
ines feel ike she ought to be in jail
uitb other criminals. The only thing
Won can do for her is to educate her, and
tbere is really no more reason why a
a sarson who doesn't know what to say
should be admitted into polite society
+bsn there is why one who doesn't know
Now Now n read shouldn't be. In general
nav talking is the most important, be-
canse we do the most of 1t.
Think what the possession of tact
.,aars for the woman herself. 1t is the
nbflosophers stone that enables her to
make friends manage her household,
Leen her servants and run her little
world without friction or trouble. No
woman ever yet ruled by force. Every
woman may rule by the use of a little
5inlomacy. and to me there is nothing in
tbe world more pitiful that to see the
havoc so many are making of their homes.
A and lives. and happiness, just because
n tbev refuse to recognize this palpable fact.
Perhaps there is not one of us who has
N not at some time lost a friend A little
II coldness crept between us, trifling mis-
n understanding occurred, a little estrange-
n mept from some cause or other, but the
r friend was gone, and we were the poorer
N for the loss Looking back, how easy it
4 is to see that it was all caused by the
Il lack Of a little tact. We might have
a pbrased reproof more delicately; they
might have refused a request less
n brusquely. 1t was a little thing, but
q over the grave of nearly every dead
friendship might be craven the inscrip-
ton KILLED by Lack of Tact"
a Naturally the greatest field for diplo-
n macy is in the home, and it is simply
tragioal to see how great is the demand
n for it, and how inadequate the domestic
Il supply Of course, when you come right
f down to facts there is no more reason
why a woman should exercise tact in
II trying to get along with her husband and
N make things pleasant for him, than there
is why he should be a diplomat in dealing
with her peculiarities, but, as Mr. George
AIDE might say, facts cut no ice in do
nestle affairs. 1t is the condition and
not the theory that we continually con-
front in the home, and Nevery woman
knows that if there is any adjusting, and
smoothing, and adapting of one person
to another she is the one who has got
y 10 do it.
Many women are either so selfish or so
stupid they refuse to do this. Then we
are treated to the spectacle of families
where there is continual friction, and
where the daily spat is as certainly mat
4 ter Of course as the daily dinner. Unless
man is an actual brute, and few Amer
4 lean husbands are that, there can be no
possible excuse for such a state of al
lars. Any woman, not a fool, must learn
Fl 10 time what subjects will precipitate an
argument or a row, and she should avoid
them as she would the pestilence. If she
has grain of woman's intuition she must
also know her husbands little weak
nesses, and pet vanities, and if she fails
10 stroke the fur the right way she is
nesecting her opportunities. In sober
truth, any wife who has an ordinarily
4
On peaceably and tremendously, is either
loo big chump to live, or else she quar-
ies for mere love of the shindy.
Many women look on these domestic dis
llfbance as an inevitable concomitant of
udlly life "Oh, my husband and i have
our little ups and downs, but we kiss and
make up they say, land it doesn't make
any diterence." Never was greater
mistake. Not long ago in this city a great
UlAolhg had to be taken down, because
VI me larring of a single piece of ma
winery that had gotten out of line. 1t
"as such little thing no one noticed it
~ hTst, but by and by it shook the
euohs walls until they became unsafe,
a a We're trembling to their fall. Love is
e greatest thing and the most beautiful
.lns IN the world, but the constant fric-
avn VIII wear even it away. Tact is the
" win which we must lubricate the ma
.lhery of daily life if we would have it
~, III smoothly, and do perfect work.
i.eh there is a way of doing things
"'Uout giving offense. 1t isn't necessary
Always agree with every one or else
VII them that they are idiots. 1t isn't nee
eF 10 slug a person with a refusal
W. Time you can't grant request.
es ayn Jonn asks, in a tone that is like
sa'Nelse to fight why don't you, have
uNl so Tor dinner why not answer
Iy mat you will be glad to, if he likes
"''edd Of lying off into a tantrum, and
btou-ihs why he doesn't keep house
m111' II he doesn't like the way you
n. ose things? And that reminds me of
way one feminine diplomat cured her
h,o '. .,d OF bad habit. He had fallen
Am, "e way of criticising things at the
,nn., ana would take a mouthful of
Suing and say, You call this
or "What Is this cnnnndrl1rn