Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-05-15
me, Too: A
COMMON ECHO.
(From The Interior.)

we reproVe our chlldren when they
say it. We cannot reprove all the older
people who voice the equivalent of the
exclamation that stands at the head of
this article. We may wish that we
could-but it would be too large a con-
tract for any individual to attempt.
The obnoxious sentence is one that
baby lips soon learn to lisp. One little
girl would always drop her playthings
when she saw her mother kiss the
younger brother, and, running across
the room, would climb upon the side of
the chair in which the loved one sat and
put up her lips with the piteous, ''Me,
too, mammal What could the mother
do but caress the tiny suppliant and
assure her that she was quite as dear
as the little brother? And, as is always
the case, the desire for attention grew
with the qualification of it, until, when
the small maiden was six years of age,
scratch or wound on the baby's finger,
calling for care or dressing, would be an
incentive for her to search her chubby
hands for some abrasion which she could
show to pitying nurse or mother.
AS We grow up, we do not use the
baby lingo, but we say that which, in
the last analysis, expresses the feeling
and motive of the childish phrase. If
one doubts it, let that one listen to a
conversation between woman-or a
man-telling of an illness, and the So
called listener. When the recent pa
tient recounts how he suffered with the
grippe, and how his temperature ran
up to l02, his hearer is an exceptional
person if, having had the same disease,
he does not tell how he suffered when
his temperature was 103l
We can laugh when our children hold
similar conversations. Said one little
girl to playmate:
81 have just had the measlesr'
''Pooh!'' was the reply, 81 had them
last winter!''
eyes, but was very ill!''
$50 was lawful illv'
"Well, my mother says my lungs have
been left weakp'
This was poser, and the enemy fell
back for moment to collect forces,
then fired bomb:
"Well, anyway, our doctor said had
a liver and trouble in my elementary
canal-and you didn't have thatt'
At which the discomfited measles-con-
valescent burst into tears and retired,
abashed at the insignifcanee of the all
ment which had been her too brief glory.
Laugh at it as we may, it is not a
jesting matter for anyone, even child,
to look at everything from the stand
point of ones egotism. That is what it
is-pure and simple. And with us child
rem OF larger growth it proves con-
dition of affairs of which we should be
ashamed. Inwardly, we must be
ashamed of it, or we would not attempt
to hide our weakness under such comely
appellations as ''love of sympathy, I"
Longing for appreciation, etc.
Not long ago heard woman telling
another of how much she missed her
sister who died last winter. eve we're
always together, she added, ''and /
miss her at every turn"
$50 were my sister and l." was the
prompt rejoinder. "And when she died
three years ago, it was even harder for
me than your loss was for you, for you
have brother, and was an only child
Yes, my dear, can indeed sympathize
with you, because am left more alone
than you are"
To daughter pitifully bereaved by
the recent death of mother, a well
meaning friend said:.
'.Now, dear, know it is fearful fol-
you, but others are so much worse of
than you-many having had deeper sor
rows than you, although yours seems Sc
cruel. Why, lost my baby last year
and my dear father the year before tha
yet you see had to bear iti'
All, that ego!-in the face of death
can we not forget it, or. at least, seen
to forget it?
Why do we want others to know tha
we have borne more than they have t.
. bear? Why do we want people to know
just how much we are suffering?
The uncandid egoist may reply tha
we think it may encourage our friends