The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-10-15
GETTING ALONG" WITH PEOPLE.
BY KATE UPsoN CLARK.


BY KATE UPsoN CLARK.
"What fine fellow Percy x. is !"
remarked business man one day to
lawyer friend.
YES" rejoined the lawyer, "he
is. But he has been with the ks
naming a great corporation-"for
ten years now and he is getting only
$50 per month. He has wife and
three children, and with their tastes,
1 fancy they have all they can do to
live comfortably. He ought to be
earning more, with his education and
capacity"
"Why doesn't he rise faster?"
"I'll tell you. He doesn't rise
and he can't rise until he learns how
to get along with people. He can't
manage men at all. If he tries he
gets himself disliked, and he keeps
them in constant state Of irritation. +"
A similar conversation was recent
ly overheard between two business
men. Said one: "I hear tha
young Paul c., only four years out
of college, has been placed at the
head of the T. branch of the Y.
Company. I didn't know he was so
smart. What is his strong point"
"He is great fellow to get along
with people," answered the other
man. mo man would, of course,
be given a place of such responsible
ty without integrity, fair quickness
and ability, and a good education.
But there are scores of men who
have all of these qualities and yet
they do not go forward. because they
connot exercise authority. 1t they
men under them cross and restive by
petty tyrannies, or else they are too
good natured and lose the respect of
the men-are imposed on by them.
1t seems to be the rarest thing in the
world to find young men who have
dignity and keenness enough to main
tain discipline, and yet can make
their subordinates bear the yoke
cheerfully and render good service. :"
A third young man was character
lied by the president of great rail-
road thus: II haven't had chance
to talk with him and find out how
much he knows, but have watched
him several times as he manipulated
a gang of men, and he has for weeks
managed them wonderfully. We
have rarely had man in Our employ
who could get so much work out of
lot of men and at the same time
could keep them so decently good
tempered"
In another department of life, the
home, the same sort of qualities tell
quite as much; for in business and in
daily living self-control, reasonable
ness and a readiness to give up ones
own way in little things are, after all,
the determining elements of success.
A well-to-do elderly widow was COM
planning of her lonliness. She was
asked. "Why do you not ask one of
those charming sisters of yours to
live with you?'
ooh, they are, as you say, charn-
ing," she replied, hesitatingly; "but
we don't get on together-and never
did,"
One even hears sometimesof grown
up sons and daughters who cannot
"get along" with their own fathers
and mothers, when all parties are
moral and law-abiding individuals.
It is notorious that friends who try
to live together are often, even tho
they may have known each other for
many years, compelled to part through
incompatibility. In boarding schools
a favorite way of breaking up too
great intimacy is to make the "smit-
ten" ones Cor, as they are sometimes
known in the glossary of the modern
college maiden, the mashed ones
room together. Also, after the ardor
of courtship, it is proverbial that,
unless the persons concerned possess
strong characters and considerable
sweetness of disposition, marital af.
lection cools rapidly.
In short, it is updeniably difficult
thing for human beings to "get
along" comfortably with each other.
Those who are naturally qualified for
the task are rare, and very little at
tention seems to be given to the mat
ter in the training of the young, tho
there is no doubt that explicit teach.
ing and discipline would do great
! deal toward increasing the general
capacity of the people in this direc-
tion. 1t is important to impress
young people with the truth that
very many people have different tastes
from their own-and properly-and
that, in order to live harmoniously
with those of alien tastes, something
must be yielded on both sides. Un
selfshness and reasonableness are
the main traits to be developed in the
very important work of making peo
pie capable of "getting along" with
each other. The main happiness o.
life comes not from the very occa
sional great joys, but from the pleas
ant passing of the routine of daily
life; and it is undoubtedly true tina