The Washington herald., 1912-06-05
THE LITTLE THINGS
THAT COUNT MOST
TriAes Have Power to Hurt Might
lily Some Times.
Ry FRANCEs sHAFFER.

They tell us-and we know II without
the telllng-that Il is the little things
that make or mar our days, but We
realize It the better when 1t chances
that a whole day is put out OF joint by
a little happening that is not worthy
mention. or better still when We re-
call foolish little something, long ago,
that brought a happy smile then and
| has lasted in memory right down the
years-maybe just a flower when flower
was not expected, or word, small In
practical import, but big in meaning,
because II struck a tender spot some
| how.
Looking backward. and remembering
the little things that have hurt, the
others that have healed. 1t makes us
wonder what have been the small mes
sengers we have sent abroad. Because,
| you know, II We have remembered some
| thing nice these many years II is rather
| pleasant to be quite sure that we have
helped someone else TO carry along one
OF those little things sent adrift without
much thought OF the consequences.
Whnt Are the Small ThinEs'
And as the mind goes wandering back
for the trlfes that did hurt nightly
when they hurt at all and pleased won
derfully when they pleased, one is
prompted to ask
What are the small things. what the
great? Because the one thing on earth
most sought by philosophers and sages,
by men and women, by the rich and the
poor. by the tiny child and the great
statesman, is just happiness. And II a
word or a look can change the complex
ion Of the day, can make II bright or
overcast with gloom. then il cannot fair
" be called a little thing. ForIth are
not so very many days in year, nor
so many years in the span Of single
life. And one wonders how many days
she has changed for the good. How
gone forth on a mission OF cheer. to-
last mayhap, not the day long. but the
life long?
The other Kind.
And the other kind-it is not so pleas
ant to think that somebody for years
and years may have carried along mis-
erable little word or an ugly happening
in which We figured very inEloriously.
The strange part OF it is that what YOU
and l remember the longest, because
there was a smile or maybe a tear at
the heart Of it. doubtless has quite
slipped from the memory OF the very
person who stood back OF il. Don't you
remember the time. longer ago maybe
than you care to reckon. when some
body said or did something that took
all the song out OF you. for a day: and
don't YOU remember just how she looked?
But perhaps YOU are too big and SUI
perior for that. for II IS only the very
big and the very superior who let these
little things slip by without registering
a single hurt or a single moment OF
gTiev ne.
But the point just now s not so
much what you and / remember, whether
we have been sent up into the clouds
Of contentment or driven down to the
depths Of resentment. but what we have
helped someone else to remember l
would nightly dislike to be carried along
the years in someone's memory just be-
cause OF an unEracious something that
did me no good and eXacted immeasura-
bic toll in its disagreeably lasting enect.
Sensitiveness of Children.
And there is one thing tha; perhaps
most OF US fail to fully realize. and that
is the sensltivencss Of the average child
Doubtless there $ forgetfulness OF many
Of the little jars and bruises ruthlessly
dealt to a Child's feelings but there
are others that are unfOrgettahle. And,
OF course not soul remembers them
but the little victim.
We may smile about them now and
think we should have been too big even
then to heed trifes, but We did sadly
mind them then-and We mind them
now.
Figure Largely in Life's Game.
Maybe it is self-Iove that makes the
pleasantries that have come our way
llnger fOndly in mind long after every
body else has forgotten them, but since
they figure so largely in the game Of
life it surely is a small enough service .
to scatter them a bit as We go, and be
remembered by reason OF happily chang /
ing the color OF a day fO- someone else. !
Because. II We really guessed the I'M !
port OF some OF the ungrac!ous little |
happenings in which we have fGured, We
might not want TO stand sponsor for
them when the toll was all in. But that
is the side OF which we remain in is-l
norance, the side which someone else I