Evening star., 1905-11-05
The School Girl
Who is Unpopular
BY MARGARET f. sANGSTER.
Copyright. 1905. oy Joseph B. Bowies.l

sS.ss-sSt 1870
When you tell me. Doro,hy. that you
cannot win your way in school because
the teacher is hateful and the girls are
horrid and nobody likes you, I cannot help
thinking that the fault must somehow lie
with you. You tell me with very mourn
full look that you are unpopular. Mary is
popular, and so is Jane. But you, Dor
othy, with every reason that they have
for being liked by the class and the teacher.
are left out In the cold and have begun
to feel that you will always have to stay
on the edge of things while other girls
are In the middle.
Naturally, some girls get on faster than
others In new environment There is
Margaret who Is magnetic. sweetiy
attractive that every one falls in love with
her gentleness and grace. There Is Stella,
whose scholarship is so accurate that teach
ers feel delighted to have her at her desk
when they are explaining lessons, or con-
Quoting recitations- There is Eva, who is
never at a loss for the right word and
who never is bothered with her hands and
feet as some girls are with theirs.
Il is not really worth while to look too
long at those fortunate girls, the trouble
being, in your case, that you do not be-
long to that group.
May it not De that you are overcritical?
Occasionally school girl falls into habit
Oh saying UlSaSreeaDte lnlnSS ABOUT Otnef
girls, and putting wrong constructions on
their motives. We have all seen the girl
who is ready to say something mean about
her neighbor. and who stoops to the greater
meanness of saying uncharitable things
about those who are absent. If you do
this, you cannot expect that people in gen.
eral will be very fond of you.
l have seen girls who have prided them
selves much upon being candid and
telling the truth that people were actually
afraid of them. They use athe truth as a
boy throws stones. One never knew when
some hard little pellet would hit one in
the face.
For example, girl may have entirely
too good a memory. The girl whose habit
is the instant she hears something told
to make face of surprise and say in a
shocked tone, why, last week you
pressed an entirely different opinion"
who makes a point of telling her friends
on all occasions precisely what she thinks
OF them, may be a very good girl, but she
will never be popular.
Please observe, Dorothy, that we are al
ways to tell the truth if we are obliged to
speak, but there are many times when it is
much more a duty to be silent than 1t is
TO speak. All truth is not always to be
told. You need not go out of your way to
inform Sally Brown that green dress does
not suit her complexion and makes her look
yellow, If she has just bought one, nor
is it your place to make Louise Jones un-
comfortable by commenting the unbe-
coming style of her new hat, which she
must wear all winter.
A good rule all through life is to say
agreeable things whenever one can and dis
agreeable things only when one must. No
girl will ever be popular who has no tact
The tactful girl is more Likely to be a
favorite than the beautiful the generous
or the clever girl who lacks this quality.
The self-centered girl. too is likely to be
unpopular. She sees things exclusively as
they affect herself. She is so occupied with
what she wishes to do. with her own plans
ambitions and ends, that there is no room
beside her fire for anybody else to sit down
This girl always makes herself comfort
able and does not care a fig whether or
not others suffer. In a street car, she
pounces upon the best vacant seat and
never thinks of Offering 1t to an elderly
lady or a woman burdened with child
anybody else who looks tired and worn
She sends her brothers and sisters all over
the house her errands, but it does not
occur to her to run upstairs for the book
her mother is reading, the shawl her
grandmother needs, or the box of toys that
may a visiting youngster She
does not mean 10 be selfish. and she very
willingly divides treat with or spends
money for her friends but she thinks pri-
marify of No. /. Take care OF No. l Is her
maxim Nobody who makes this her life
motto will ever have many friends
Another thing that makes a girl unpopu-
lar is affectaton- This Is especially a girl S !
defect. One hardly ever sees it in a boy !
Your brother may be tease, a torment; !
he may be rough and clumsy; he may pro-
woke you by forgetting his manners, but he |
is not apt to put on the airs of other peo-
pie He will be just himself
But girls sometimes purposeiy and some
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