The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-05-19

Reading a magazine story recently of
young man who was concerned in the
bringing up Of q little girl who lived
next door to him, 1 was impressed with
these words: He taught her to be
square Ga quality that does not come
natural to young girls), to believe in
people, etc" In thinking over these far
from complimentary words l came to
the conclusion that the writer of them
was correct. Strange to say, women
are not as square" as men, and in
way it is not their fault. There are
several senses in which this being
square can be taken; in one way wOm-
en- are not supposed to be frank they
must be reserved and suppress their
emotions and ambitions while men, be
cause they are men, are not expected to
conceal what they think or what they
want But in another way, women
should be just as square as men, and
in this sense the remark of the writer
was a reprOach which, alas is too Well
deserved. To be square or honest in
little ways, Which-is, after all, not half
what it really means, is d quality in
which there should be no sex. 1t is
hard to define what being square really
is. but every man and every woman
knows what it is and a person who is
square will be recognized and appre-
ciated.
Women who are square always keep
their word; when they say they won't
tell a thing they don't tell it, They
never make trouble between friends:
they don't gossip in a-vulgar way; they
don't say they will do things and not
do them. In a word, square people are
reliable. Men insist that women are
not square. Surely there are happy
exceptions. We all know them, but l
am inclined to think that too many OF
them give ground for the accusation.
Sinking work when the one in au-
thOrity is not looking is a way Of being
not square, which surely cannot be
laid at the door of women. Some one
who watched the clerks at a certain
place of business when the manager
was away, remarked that he noticed d
general Indifference about time and
CareleSSneSS as to their work among
the masculine clerks. but he could not
see that single woman took advan
tage of the managers absence. This
speaks well for women, and | believe
the tribute is deserved.
But it is among themselves, and not
when dealing with men, that women
are not square. They break engage
mentS uncOnSclOnably with each other,
keep each other waiting unfortunately,
make use of each other and sometimes
almost live on accommodating friends.
This making use of each other is a
great fault of women. The square
woman will not ask her friend to run
all over town to get samples for her,
and when she brings them inform her
she has decided to send East for what
she wants. The square woman will not
borrow her friends carriage and keep
it all day, nor will she borrow at all,
except in a tremendous emergency.
Alas, we have talked about borrowers
before on this page, and know what
pest is the woman who is always send
ing across the street for what she
wants. The square woman doesn't do
that. What she can't buy and pay for
she goes without.
The square woman will offer to pay
her fare in the car even if the con-
ductor OverlOOks her. Being square
means absolute honesty, not taking adj
vantage of anybody. 1t means all sorts
Of agreeable things that we find in peo-
pie and like in them. 1t means an alb
Sence of pettinesS of soul; it means q
broad view of people and things and
kindly tolerance of those who do things
and think things different from our
selves. With squareness there should
go a certain modesty of opinion and
belief that someone else may be right
are included in that elusive term
square" and much more that is diff
cult to put into words.
And if one feels ones self lacking in
these qualities. it is well TO cultivate
them. To believe that one must al
ways be what one is born-that it is too
late to improve or cultivate better
things-is nothing but fatahsm. and
fatalism is a bar to progress. Don't
spend much time thinking about your
self, but if you do recognize failings in
your character. try to correct them and
make ones self over in a way. This is
not foolish; it is sign of unusual in
telligence. For we can conquer fate
and make ourselves and our lives 'al-
mOst-nO, entirely-what we would. So
let US be square in our dealings, not
only for the sake of the speech OF peo-
PIE, but because it is right and adds
strength to our characters.