Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1906-02-21
BY MARGARET E. sANGsTER.


Not to Be Tolerated.
BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER
Copyright. 1905, by Joseph B. Eow.es)
When you tell me, Dorothy, that you
cannot win your way in school because
the teacher is hateful and the girls are
horrid and nobody likes you, l cannot
hep thinking that the fault must
somehow lie with you. \ on tell me
with very mournful look that you are
unpopular Mary is popular, and so is
Jane. But you, Dorothy, with every
reason that they have lor Deing liked
by the class and the teacher, are left
cut in the cold and have begun to feel
that you will always have to say on
the edge of things while other girls are
III the middle
Naturally, some girls get on faster
than others in new environment
There is Margaret who is so magnetic,
so Sweetly attractive that everyone
falls in love with her gentleness and
elace. There is Stella. whose scholar
ship is SO accurate that teach 5rS feel
delighted to have her at her desk when
they are explaining lessons, or con-
Quoting Rotations. 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 ----- -.-.
1t is not really worth while to look
toe long at those fortunate girls, the
trouble being, in your case, that you
dc not belong to that group.
May it not be that you are over eriti-
cal? Occasionally a schoolgirl falls
into habit of saying disagreeable
things about other 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 great
Ell, meanness of saying uncharitable
things about those who are absent. If
you do this, you cannot expect that
people in general will be very fond Of
you.
l have seen girls who prided them
selves SO much up n being candid and
telling the truth that people were &C.
tuafly afraid of them They use the
truth as boy. throws stones One
never knew when some hard little pei
let would hit one in the face.
For example. a girl may have en-
tlrely too good a memory. The girl
whose habit is the instant she hears
something told, to make a face of sur
prise land say in shocked tone. why.
last week you expressed an entirely
different opinion" or, who makes a
point of telling her friends on all oc-
casions precisely what she thinks of
them, may be very good girl, but
she will never be popular
Please observe, Dorothy, that we are
always 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 it is to speak All truth
IS not always to be told. You need
not go out of your way to inform Sally
Brown that d green dress does not suit
her complexion and makes her look
yellow, if she has just bought one. nor
is; 1t your place to make Louise Jones
uncomfortable by commenting on the
unbecoming style of her new hat.
which she must wear all winter
good rule all through life is to say
agreeable things whenever one can
and disagreeable things only when one
must No girl will ever be popular
who has no tact. The tactful girl is
more likely to be fayorite than the
beautiful. the generous or the clever
girl. who lacks this quality.
---t
The -selfcentred girl, too, is likely
10 be unpopular. She sees things ex-
clusively 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 comfortable
and does not care fig whether or NOT
Cthers suffer. In a street car, she
pounceS upon the best vacant seat. and
never thinks of offering it to an elder
~ lady or a woman burdened with
child, or anybody else who looks tired
and worn. She sends her brothers ami
sisters all over the house on her err
rands, but it does not occur to- her tn
run upstairs for the book her mother
is reading. the shawl her grandmother
needs. or the box of toys that may
amuse visiting youngster She does
not mean to be selfish, and she very
willingly divides treat with or spends
money for her friends. but she thinks
primarily of No. l.. Take care of No.
Is her maxim. Nobody who makes
this her life motto will ever have many
friends
Another thing that makes a girl I'M
popular is affectation. This is espe
clally girls defect One hardly ever
sees IL in boy. Your brother may be
tease. or torment; he may be rough
and clumsy; he may provoke you by