The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-10-07
EVENING CHAT
BY RUTH CAMERON.

III BY RUTH CAMERON.
Eyes" said the ady-who-a1ways-
knows-som chow, Il know that isn't
fair. He shouldn't do that and it must
be very irritating. But now you've
| them off your mind, see if you can't
cheer yourself up by thinking of some
of your rights
One of the lady's young girl prote-
gees had been telling the lady-who-
always knoWs-sOmehow how unreason-
able and unfair her employer had been
to her.
She had Illuminated against his in
justice in refusing to admit it when
he made a grammatical mistake in
She had bitterly scored his habit of
coming to her at half-past four with
half dozen letters, when he had been
sitting idle most of the afternoon.
She had raved about his rudeness
in attending to his finger nails in his
office. instead cf the privacy of his
home.
And when the lady-who- always
kn ows- somehow brought out her sug-
gestion, the protegee looked extremely
Il don't think have any rights. !"
she protested
"Oh. yes, you do" reminded the
lady. doesn't he often give you an
extra afternoon off? And doesn't he
urge you to bring in a book or some
fancy work to amuse yourself with
when he is away? And you said your
self that lots of men wouldn't let you
do that because it looks unbusiness-
like
Yes" admitted the lady's prote-
gee, "he is awfully good. about that.
And except for the finger nails he is
always very courteous to me. He never
scolds and he never uses bad language
in the Office, as SO many of the men
do And when / was sick he was
simply dandy to me-
Don't the rights pretty near bal
ance the wrongs" queried the lady.
"Overbalance, more likely" adj
mitted the lady's protegee, thought
fully
In every relation of life-the mar
riage relation. the relation of servant
to mistress, of pupil to teacher, of en-
ployer to employee, of sister to sister,
of father to son, and all the rest
there are wrongs, or at least what
seem wrongs to us, to be suffered.
But in every relation of life there
are also rights" to be rejOiced over.
And, just as We rem EN- Der our trou-
bIes and forget our blessings. so we
seem to remember our wrongs, but
forget our rights
Now, let's be original. The next
time a sense of injustice possesses US,
and we think we are unfairly treated
wrongs he has done US, let's try the
antidote of thinking of the rights we
have received at his hands.
He has been unjust in some things.
but has he not been kind and merciful
far beyond the exactions of the law
in many others?
In nine cases out of ten, think we
will find that he has.
Wrongs are plentiful. but so are
rights if you only look for them.
Let's.
There were already six i'll assorted
people-two distinct groups which had
never met before-wh~n three more
people who We're acquainted with but
two of the original six came upon the |
verandah the other evening.
After the introducticns had been |
made, someone spoke about the wealth |
er and we talked about that for the |
next five or six minutes. each generous |
~ contributing information regarding |
just how hot it had been on his par /
ticular thermometer and a few details |
on just how surprisingly well or /
wretchedly ill he had slept or eaten !;
during the hot weather.
And then a silence fell
One of those uncomfortable. sduirmy |
noisy silences during which each mem
Der of the company wonders why on |
earth someone else doesn't speak up
and wildly searches his mind for some
thing appropriate TO say
1t lasted about twenty seconds by
the clock Measured by our discom-
fort, it seemed much nearer twenty
minutes. Finally, it was broken by
two people starting to speak at once.
Finding themselves in collision, each
precipitately apologized. assured the /
other that what he was about to say
was of no importance and tried to
withdraw from the arena of public at
tention.
After much urging one was finally !,
prevailed upon to speak and contribut-
ed a remark which was of interest only
to her particular group, comprising
three people.
Now. what am I driving at with all
this?
1 don't wonder you ask.
Well, I'll tell you. I'vs used up SO
much space in describing this very
little sceIe merely be-
cause it is so commonplace.
I don't believe there's a single per-
son in my audience who hasn't taken
part in such awkward sil'nces.
And every time you are a partici-
pant. aren't you just cross at yourself?
I am.