St. Tammany farmer., 1906-03-17
.UNP j I: P0|P| 0 | PU|.L|AR !. ] ! GIRLS
rHE FAULT, AS A RULE, rs WITH
THEMSELVES.

THEMSELVES.
People Don't Like Over-Critical, Self.
3 Centred or Affect I'd Young Womer
Tact Will Go Farther with You1
school-Mates Than Beauty or Gen.
erosity-Popularity Should Not Be
Ones Sole Ambition - Toadyine
Not to Be Tolerated.
BY MARGARET E. SANGsTER.'
Copyright. 1905. by Joseph B. Bowles.)
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, canno,
help thinking that the fault must
somehow lie with you. You tell me
w1thsa very mournful look that you are
unpopular. Mary is popular, and SO is
Jane. But you, Dorothy. with every
reason that they have Tor being liked
by the class and the teacher, are left
cut 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 q new environment.
There is Margaret who is SO magnetic,
so sweetly attractive that everyone
falls in love with her gentleness and
| grace. There is Stella, whose scholar
ship is SO accurate that teachers feel
delighted to have her at her desk whea
they are explaining lessons, or con-
Quoting rotations. There is Eva, who
is never at loss for the right word.
and who never is bothered with her
bands and feet as some girls are with
theirs ,a x .z5s s5
1t is not really worth while to look
toe long at those fortunate girls, the
trouble being, in your case, that you
do not belong to that group.
May 1t not be that you are over criti-
cal? Occasionally 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
er meanness of saying uncharitable
things about those who are absent. II
you do this, you cannot expect that
PEOPLE in general will be very fond of
you.
have seen girls who rrided them
selves SO much upon being candid and
telling the truth that people were ac-
tually 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, girl may have en-
tirely too good a memory. The girl
whose habit is the instant she hears
something told, to make face of sur
prise and 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 duty to
be silent than it is to speak. All truth
ID 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
S it your place to make Louise Jones
uncomfortable by commenting on the
lnbecoming 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,
ind disagreeable 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
the generous or the clever
;irl, who lacks this quality.
The self-centred girl, too is likely
0 be unpopular. She sees things ex-
lusively as they affect herself. she is
0 occupied with what she wishes to
o, with her own plans, ambitions and !
nds, that there is no room beside her
re for anybody else to sit down. This
lrl always makes herself comfortable
nd does not care fig whether Or not
theirs suffer. In street car. she
ounces upon the best vacant seat. and ..
ever thinks of offering it to an elder
lady or woman burdened with q
hild, or anybody else who looks tired
nd worn. She sends her brothers ana
sters all over the house on her err
ands, but it does not occur to her to (
IN upstairs for the book her mother
reading, the shawl her grandmother
eeds, or the box Of toys that may
muse visiting youngster. She does
ot mean to be selfish, and she very
illingly divides treat with or spends p
oney for her friends, but she thinks cs
.imartly of No. 1. Take careof No. 1 4
her maxim. Nobody who makes -
is her life motto will ever have MANY y
lends. ct
Another thing that makes girl un- az
'pular is affectation. This is espe-
ally girls defect. One hardly ever al
es It In a boy. Your brother may be "a
tease, or torment; he may be rough te
ID clumsy; he may provoke you by N N
rgetting his manners, but he is not II
It to put on the airs Of other people. r.
> will be just himself. W
But girls sometimes purposely ANA
unconsciously initiate those Gu
ound them, and In speech and be- GO
vior are not quite genuine. Nobody ris
n have very much patience with ar ai
ected girl; a girl on whom one cam po