The Washington herald., 1911-12-11
BY DOROTHY DIX.

Would you like to be popular? Would
you like to be one of those fortunate
people at whose coming every eye
brightcns, every lip curls into a smile,
and every hand goes spontaneously out
in friendship?
OF course, you would. The real secret,
universal desire of the human heart is
for popularity. and if some good fairy
should offer us our greatest wish we
should ask for the power to win the
admiration of our fellow w-creatures.
But, you say, you are not one of the
lucky few who are born with a Certif-
cate to the lodge of gOod-fellowShip in
their mouths. so to speak. Further, you
opine that the art of being a heart
EmaSher is one that comes by nature and
not by grace and that popularity's mid
die name is really personal magnetism,
which the gods give or withhold, and for
whose possession or lack the individual is
in no wise responsible.
To a degree this is true. Why some
people draw to them every one with
whom they come in contact can no more
he explained than why the magnet at
tracts the needle. Undoubtedly there are
people possessed af an almost hypnotic
power over us, whom We like in spite OF
ourselves, and often against our better
judgment. They have way with them
Nlttl w ma IL llllD'lSSlDlt 10 ltSlHl' tNFii
though We may disapprove of them to
the highest degree.
Gifted MOrtaIS Few.
Thes- strangely gifted mortals are.
however, in very small minority They
are almost as scarce as hens teeth, and
for the most of our acquaintances we
could assign very clear reason as to
WIZ We like them or dislike them.
n this iS the ti1iORS
or great joy for it shows that the secret
# popularity is not in the middle of the
Sphinx, as many suppose, but is simply
an everyday art at which even the most
0ungling of US NAV become reasonably
expert il we devote a little intelligent
time and work to it.
But how shall we go about learning
this charming accomplishment of being
liked. YOU ask? suppose you take your
self as a standard OF the individual to be
pleased. because all human nature is cut
off the same bolt Of cloth. and the things
that please YOU are pretty sure to please
other people, and the things that get on
your nerves are likewise the things that
rack other peoples nerves.
To begin with. what is the one par
ticular quality in another person that
makes YOU want to take to the tall tim
Der when YOU sec him or her coming?
EgOtsm,
that is SO afriCtinE. so uncomfortable, moth !
ing that hOres with the bore OF a forty |
inch auger. as the man woman VINO
does a mCnologue about his or her in
dividuaI affairs.
Reflect. beloved on the murderous
feelings with which YOU sIt up and listen
to the man who discourses. hour after
hour. about his business, his automobile.
his gun, his dogs, his game OF golf, and
how he could have saved the President
from making some mortifying mistakes
in only He had been consulted.
Recall the way your heart goes down
into the Very heels OF your slippers when
ernoon with You in order to relate to |
you all of her private affairs.
BoreS One to Distraction.
Reflect upon your agony as she di- |
lated upon what She said to her hus-
band. her husband said to her. and her !
husbands mother said to both of them, |
and her own mother said to all three
Of them. Remember the WEAKNESS with
which you listened to the account of
all her tribulatiOn with servant girls
of every nationality Of earth.
Forget not the endless string of an
eCdOtes concerning the infant phenomena
that inhabit her nursery. nor cease to
remember the lurid description that she
gave OF her encounters with butcher,
and baker and drcsSmaker.
Or. perChanCc, the woman that you
dread most and whose visits are equal to
a spell Of sickness is he woman who
comes to see YOU to pour out her tale of
Woe and who simply SIOps uD your par
lor floor with her tears. She has divorced
her husband or had trouble with her chill
dren or lost her money. or quarreled with
her sweetheart, or gained forty pounds
in flesh. All are affiictiOnS which YOU
have nothing tO do, and which you
cam help, but you've got to listen to
them not once, but hundred times. for
sorrow is sweet morseI that such a
woman rolls under her tongue and never
swallows and gets done with
And to get the full flavor of it she has
to hold up some long-suffering sister and
share its bitterness with her.
Must Pay Price.
Now in this world it is written that
for every good thing We get we must pay |
a corresponding price IF you want 10 !
he popular. If you want to he liked. il
you want to have people glad to see YOU. !
are you willing to deny yourself the joy |
II talking about yourself? That's the !
ile-de-dee ~ automobile
Do you suppose, If you are a man, that !