The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-08-05

Several girls at porch party the
other afternoon We're discussing the
way ito reach mans heart" Not
that any of them cared a rap-dear no,
but just for something to talk about
on an uncomfortably warm afternoon.
OF course, there was little harmony OF
opinion concerning this decidedly YER
satiIe undertaking-an undertaking
that-in spite of the fact that she
doesn't care a rap-every woman and
girl more or less assumes.
AT last a pretty girl appealed to a
woman who is a real belle in ST. Paul
social circles, though she is married
and over thirty years old, to make
some disclosures deducted from her
own experience. This woman said:
mot bright eyes, golden hair, rosy
cheeks, trim waist, good temper,
though all these help; but the one
thing which is enough without any Of
these charms-and without which they
are usually of no avail-is sympathy.
IT used to wonder once upon a time
how it was that one of the plainest
girls l knew had on an average four
proposals a year, while others who
were dashing, stylish and accomplished
never got one.
"Then one day saw her with a man,
and 1 knew at once how it was She
had brown eyes, gentle, spaniel-like
eyes, and all the while he was talking
she kept them fixed on his face, with
an expression of GREATNESS interest.
He was talking about the trouble he
had had in business, owing to his part
ner being a man of violent temper, and
the worry lady typist had been; it
wasn't at all interesting, and he was
obviously talking because he wanted
to get it off his chest, not with any
idea of amusing or interesting his COM
panion.
Most girls would have been horribly
bored, and would have yawned dis
creetly or made an irrelevant remark
about another girls hat, but she list
ened with what the novelists call her
heart in her eyes and I'm sure if he
had talked to her about chilled steel
and Kaffirs she would have listened
with just the same air of absorption,
regarded him with just the same elo-
Quent eyes.
1T was the keynote of her individ-
uality to be interested in what inter-
ested others. to try and understand
their thoughts and their feelings, to en-
ter into their trivial woes, and to re-
joice over their triumphs.
.She could no more help it than she
/ could help breathing, she had no
/ thought of coquetry, and wnen one and
all they begged her to give them that
exquisite sympathy for life, as they al
ways did, she was cut to the heart
HtrG,a
and felt angry with herself for not
having seen the memorable conse-
QuenceS in time to avert declaration
''This is a straight road to mans
heart, be he dark or fair, tail or short,
fat or thin, young or old; he is like a
sunf1ower turning to the sun when he
encounters the warm influence of hu-
man sympathy.
You can't realize what sympathy
does for man. 1t nerves him to bear
a brave front, to conquer dependency,
perhaps to throw off despair: it makes
him do the work of three men with a
light heart, it convinces him of the u1-
innate goodness of things, and makes
an optimiSt of anything but a dyspep-
tic hypochondriac
You can't sympathiZe too often or
too much. From the breaking of a
collar stud while dressing for dance
tc run of bad luck which renders
even tobacco an impossible luxury,
there is a constant call for lit.
"A man wants it when he's we'll, to
keep him fit and cheerful; he wants it
when he's worn out to help to Danish
the black fears which torment him. he
wants it when he's trying to be good,
to keep him on the right track, and if
he ever wants it more than any other
time, it's when he's inclined to go off
the rails"