The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1905-04-18
SET A STANDARD
AND LIVE Up TO IT
Object in Life Necessary for
All, Especially Women
Not Very Busy

There. is nothing like an object in
life to make living worth while. To
live aimlessly and go to bed every
night bored almost to death is a spe-
cies of suicide. 1t is suicide because
every twenty-four hours that passes
makes the aimless person thankful that
he has killed and gotten through an
other day. Each one of us should have
an object in life. Each of us should
try to do some one thing well, and try
ing to do that thing better and in
creaslng the number of things one can
do. well will make life interesting.
1t is not always necessary that a
woman should have some great ambi-
ton which will make her famous, as
an object in life. She may have some
aim that, if talked about, would seem
trivial to her friends. She may try to
be each day better wife, or mother,
or houSekeeper or dreSSmaker. The
mother of blues is aimlessness. as a
writer recently said In a different way.
The reason why, said this writer, a
man does not seem to grow old as soon
as woman, is that his business, and
success in II, becomes an object in life
and keeps MIN young. Take two .wom-
en- of the same age; one leading a life
of luxury with nothing in particular to
do, the other perhaps a business wom-
an at all events busy woman with no
time left to sit down and beWail her
misfurtunes, and it is the latter who will
look the younger For the very good
reason that she has a definite object in
life, which preserves one from the raw
ages of time.
Blues sometimes come from sitting
down and thinking about ones self. 1t
would be too sweeping to say they al
ways come from that source, for alas,
many poor woman has a definite rea-
son for depression which is beyond her
a wifi a
good home, plenty of money and moth
ing 10 worry about, and In nine cases
out OF ten you will find she is victim
of the blues
If you have nothing real to work for.
lind something. Set yourself stand
ard and try to live up to 1T. Make up
your mind that you want to reach a
certain goal; 1T may be a material one,
or perhaps it is a spiritual one; at all
events 1t means that you must work
and keep it ever in mind. 1t may be
some defect in your character which
you would like to cure; make up your
mind to rise above it and get rid of it.
But set yourself standard of some
kind, and it will make all the differ
-ence between an aimless life and a
busy, interested one.
Hunt up some child, or some friend
whose way is hard, and try to make
1t easier. That will be an object
Sometimes a woman makes up her
mind TO be the best dressed of her
friends. Well, that may be a foolish
standard, but 1t is something.
women are so constituted that they
must have something to do. 1t is their
salvation, and it is only when their
natural energy is misdirected that it
becomes pernicious. Winding other peo-
pies business is sometimes the result
of misdirected energy. But minding the
business of others, when well and tact
fully done, with the intention of max
ing life smoother for them, is to be
commended
1t is a good plan to take account of
stock once a week, to review the past.
see where you have failed, and how in
really wiseSt, too, to keep these things
to yourself. The moment you tell even
your dearest friend what you are
struggling for and what you want to
make of yourself, you are giving her
the privilege of discussing it with you,
and the whole matter becomes trivial
and useless. Our mental processes
when they relate to ourselves are best
kept to ourselves. Who does not want
to laugh when some friend confides to
us what conclusions she has come to
about her own temperament, and Aow
sure she is this kind Of a person or
that kind. Let some one else discover
what your temperament is; concern
yourself with correcting what are OBJ
VIous faults. The woman who sets
herself a high standard and tries each
day to come little nearer to il will
be the happy and the busy woman.