Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-02


young s-s girl who nas gifted lift n, with
gence good looks and capabilty.
but who persisted continually In
undertaking her own attachments.
'.Mary is go modest" her mother Wouio
say with a sigh when Mary had tearfuiiy
refused to join some merry assembly SIM
ply because she was sure the others dion
want her. or had declined to undertake
some ordinary task. because she knew she
couldn't do it well enough; but am sure
she would be happier If she had a better
opinion of herself"
In the course of a few years Mary mar
RED and her husband found himself con-
fronted with n problem that defied the COM
prehensiOn of his good. healthy masculine
conceit If he went downtown and lett
Mary she was sure he had ceased TO love
her though of course she could hardly
blame him-women of her stamp were not
the sort to hold a mans love. If he insist
ed upon her accompanying hln. she was
positive that he only did it from sense OF
duty: he couldn't possibly want her with
him.
When her children were born it brought
little change. A two-year-o.d baby, wto
surgled with glee over the dainty fan and
glistening necklace of a visitor, was tear
fully told that mother was not pretty ana
sweet like Cousin Fan. of course. but she
had hoped that her little baby would Keep
on loving her.
Domestic difficulties were always too
much for Mary. She was not clever enough
to cope with the guile of the ordinary COOK
nor judicous enough to settle nursery re- e,
beIIion So she saved all these worries untli
her husband came home in the evening. ana
asked him to smooth them out for poor,
stupid little Mary.
The husband was a good one. better. even,
than the aVcrage-and American husbands
are n rather desirable sort. And he bore up
for a good while, and developed patience
which, not being masculine ATTRIBUTE was
too much for him-so he died
In the illness that preceded TINS event
Mary remarked weepingly to the trained
nurse whose presence had been insisted
upon by a clcar-sighted physician: 81 know
I am worth very little in this world. but 1t
does seem hard that | should not have been
allowed to nurse my own dear husband:
have never been competent and helpful like
other women"
Don't you do things wrong because you
think of the way you do them. not of the
things themselves" bluntly inquired the
ciear-cyed young woman, who was stralgnl-
ening the confusion Mary had made on the
medicine tray I'VE used to say at the hos
pital that it was the probationer who was
always thinking of herself. and the effect
her way of doing things would have. who
never got accepted. There's tremendous
amount OF egotism and selfshness about
always telling people how small your opin-
ion is of yourself, don't you think?
The thrust was straight from the Shout
der and Mary WINGED, but it didn't do any
good. She had lived too long in the old rut
TO be shaken out of it; so she merely told
people afterward that the nurse she had
during dear AS illness seemed very capa-
BILE young person. but utterly devoid of TACT
and since then she has lived on in what she
firmly believes is pious resignation to Di-
vine will albeit she is gently resentful under
her crepe at having died and left per-
son of her temperament to struggle with
an unsympathetiC world.
Now Mary's case may be an extreme one,
but it is by no means Isolated. There is an
appalling number of women who have thor
oughly convinced themselves, and partially
convinced their families. that they are In
competent when they merely egotis-
teal.
''Shy people are always Conceited," said
blunt old woman once, and though the as
sertion sounds sweeping, there is a grain of
truth i'm it. The overweeniugly conceited
person is vastly disagreeable, but touch
of healthy self-appreciaton is boon.
Its pOsScSsors are the comfortable people,
the reliable people. the popular people. and
what ought To be of vital Importance to all
of us-the happy people in the world.