Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1912-09-05
The Home Circle
Thoughts from the Editorial Pen


Some of us have laughed, some of
us have sneered, and, mayhap, some
of us have wept, at ridiculous Happy
Hooligan and his most unhappy fac
ulty of getting into hot water by try
ing to be of service to humanity.
1t is considered by some people
very uncultured and vulgar to read
the comic supplements to newspa-
pers. Granted that some of them are
stupid and meaningless, there are
others that bring a bright smile to
the lips of highbrow
The Happy Hooligan pictures en-
phasize so strongly the tendency of
the human race to be unappreciative
of intended courtesies, that they are
well worth a moments time to con-
slider.
l heard man talking on this sub
ject the other day He was idly
watching feminine Happy Hooligan
endeavoring to brush what she
thought was a bottle fly from a
strange woman's shoulder. The bot
tie fly was in reality an ornament
IOii bhC NOlldu . anu IhC lCllll-
nine H. H. was awarded freezing
stare in return for her motive of
| kindness.
For it is not what we do, or say,
but the motive back of it, which
should be recognized
When this man | write of saw the
conclusion of the bottle fly incident,
he said: Whats the use of being
a Happy Hooligan? No one likes
you any better for it. | used to give
up the lower berth to women, and
my seat in the street car. And my
reward usually was a cold stare.
! have helped men chase their hats
when the wind carried them down
the streets, and they have acted like
| got up the wind on purpose. So
I've quit"
There was considerable truth in
what the man said.
Not long ago | saw man standing
near the front of densely packed
street car. Men and women were
both showing and elbowing for seats
Everybody was thinking of self.
saw this man beckon to five separate
women in the aisle to seats he might
have taken for himself as they were
vacated. There may have been other
unselfish people in that surging, rest
less, fretful crowd, but they did not
I'appear to casual observer. OF all
that mob, there was but one person
who gave an indication of a unself-
ish thought.
And what of the women he beck.
tA he, al a
not have obtained? Not by the
slightest recognition, not by the lift.
in of an eyelash, not by nod oi
the head, nor the smile of an eye
was he thanked, Each one of the
five, as she took the seat to which he
had beckoned her, looked like she
was thinking, It's high time!
don't see why you could not have
found this seat sooner!"
1t is easy to imagine that this kind
chivalric Happy Hooligan of a mar
is still on the lookout for chances tC
serve. The public will accept his
services as a matter of course. Yet
will he be happy in rendering it, even
though the public walks along with
its head in the air, and notices him
not.
The man who expects thanks, and
appreciation, and popularity in re-
turn for kindness and thoughtful.
ness, is going to be disappointed and
have his feelings trampled upon
And then he is going to quit.
But the man who, like the gentle
Happy Hooligan of the street car
gives thought to the welfare of 9th.
ers first, because it makes him happy
to do so, does not need the applause
of the multitude, nor the apprecia.
tion of thankless public. His re.
ward is within himself-is something
entirely separate and apart from the
people he unselfishly serves. They
can neither add to nor take away
from his recompense, for it is above
and beyond their comprehension.