The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1905-11-11
by MARGARET E. sANGsTER

BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER.
Copyright, 1905, by Joseph B. Bowles.) |
Once in a while we fail, do we not.
girls? There is something on which
we have set our hearts, some perfectly
right and desirable thing. but we can
not get it. We have tried faithfully to
the best of our ability. But we are dis
appointed We feel very much as we
would If we saw somebody else climb
ing, without the least trouble. to the
top of a mountain, while we kept slid
ing back to the bottom.
Everybody cannot be equally sue
cessful, and friend or q classmate
often seems to gain without much Ell
fort whatever she wants, while we
lose. 1t is SO in many departments OF
life outside OF the schoolroom. 1t Is
not only that another girl wins the
gold medal for proficiency, while we
have not even a mention on the Lonor
list; that another always has reports
enriched with a double A, while we
have only a B or C. but there are
other failures that try our hearts quite
as much.
Another girl makes q friendship
where we have only slight acquaint-
ance, or goes off on splendid trip to
Europe, while we stay at home with
out change of scene. The fact Is, II we
choose to disturb ourselves about them,
the small disappointments OF life are
endless. The great ones, too, occur
now and then. 1t is test OF charac-
ter to meet discouragements bravery,
and to refuse to be downcast and blue,
when we fail in an attempt through no
fault of our own.
| AS | write | am thinking OF girl
friend who has had an experience
which will show her mettle and dis
close in it's later effect the sort OF girl
she is. Elizabeth is quick and clever
girl, who learns without taking mucn
trouble, and who has a reputation IN
her family circle for extraordinary
genius. She has always been expected
to carry of all the prizes in sight. Her
father amuses his friends by the I'M
conscious vanity which prompts him tc
boast of Elizabeth's sprightliress, and
he is continually repeating her witty
speeches and telling any listener whom
he can buttonhole the story OF her lat
est triumphs. Her mother has less to
saw. and is more tactful. but In bel
quiet, unobtrusive fashion, she is just
as proud of her daughter and just as
convinced of her superior talents as
her good husband Is. Both these peo-
ple. without meaning it, have puffed
up Elizabeth from her cradle. with the
result that she has come to depend
entirely too much on her Quickness
and has omitted the hard study which
at certain points is indispensable. You
may imagine the family CONSERVATION
and chagrin when Elizabeth failed t.
pass her senior examinations and wal
told that she would have to take he
last year over II she IL finally to b.
graduated
A year does not look very long Il
your father and mother, because a
people grow older the years seem fair
" to rush along like waves In mil
, race, but it seems a. tremendous thin
to a girl of II. II looks to her like
, long level stretch of eternity II W
fail in anything when we are young W
are tempted to fancy that we never ca
, make up our loss. That Is one reaso
| why young people are blue when the
ought to see everything in rose-colol
Once we allow ourselves to be discoul
, aged, we are Handicapped. We are yer
apt in such moods to discourage 9th
ers. II a girl in Elizabeth's positio
, happens to be preparing to teach. @
!. has in mind q determination to be a
, artist, or a journalist, she says to hel
self, 81 may as well give 1t up. Ther
. is no use in keeping on. shall neve
: attain what wish.
: Never is a word one hears on tn
/ lips of schoolgirls much oftener tina
one ought.
Looking over q closet one day
which a middle-aged woman hs
packed away many treasures of b.
= girlhood, l came upon a lot Of o.
school books. In one of them four
: written in very black letters. unde
: scored, too, on the margin Of sever
pages the word Despair" Have "
any idea," / said to the owner Of Il
books. why or when you wrote th
Q word on these pages?"
"Oh," she said, with laugh, "Wh'
was IA l had moods. often used
think that l had almost reached Il
+ jumping-off place of the world, and
Z l failed in a lesson felt as II the d.
L grace were inscribed upon me in Il
, tiers SO large that everybody could s
9 them. suppose / scrubbed that o
T day when was blue"
a A woman who has been wide
o known as q successful writer told I
!. that her first work during the fl
:, year OF her struggle to enter the pr
: fession was invariably returned. "Stt
o les. poems. essays" she said, "all ca,
n hurrying back declined with thanl
and she added, 81 used literally ma
time to wet my pillow with tears.
the oftener l failed the more Diet,
y mined became not to fail. | VOL
?. inst mill rnvself fo0ofher and wn