The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-11-02
BY ESTHER GRIFFIN WHITE.

Then there are the people that know
all about you.
"You started in on that once before"
growled the misanthrope.
But got switched off the track"
said the other person.
And they are not entirely unnumer-
GUS, those persons who know all about
you
They write you letters.
And stop you on the street.
They wag portentous forefnger at
you.
And they whisper to their friends
people may think that he's-but,
on the contrary he's not"
"How do you know?"
How do l know! How! Ho!
no! Ha! Ha! Why I know him like a
book. That man can't conceal anything
from me. He may fool other people
but not ME-! Don't you think it,"
| This is finality.
! The victim may be all that he is or
| is not thought to be. But take it from
/ the Wise One that neither is right.
He, the Wise One, is the only infal-
lible source of information relative to
the peculiar psychology of this partic-
ular individual entity.
| Consult me, says the Wise One.
am on to his curves.
The Wise One may or may not come
back to town after prolonged alb
sence.
J In the meantime he has, wholly I'M
beknownst to you, been stationed on a
hillock training a long distance tele-
scope on you. You have, as it were,
been squirming under the microscope
of his analysis machine and have been
gradually dissected, bottled up, label
ed and sent to the cold storage tank.
All this time you may have been dis
porting yourself innocently. Unaware
of your tickoting, docketing and pig
controlling.
You look up and meet his calculat-
ing eye.
You arise. Shake hands. Say
you're glad to see him. An unexpected
pleasure. When did he get back Come
down and see us. Looking well-taking
on flesh aren't you-becoming, though.
Well, we'll, and so you're back, and
er-er-
You feel uncomfortable someway.
| A sort of cold, wet-blankety, clammy
chill steals DER you. You try to pre-
tend you don't notice anything. You
babble on and on and on and wonder
if you can get to the next turn without
swallowing.
| Your lips dry out.
| You have gagging sensation.
Finally you come to complete stop
You declare to yourself you will not
say another word-not you. You were
lying anyway when you said you were
glad to see him. Always thought him
an old bore. Why in thunder don't he
go or be decent. Why can't he say a
pleasant word or two-or anyway a
word, whether pleasant or not
Then the Wise One gets his inning
He says that he has been studying
you.
/ That all these years he has been
keeping tab on you and that he is now
prepared to give you an accurate and
detailed map of your lovely character
He deplores the fact that you are
insincere. That while your pretense
of sincerity makes you friends that
they are only surface friends. That, in
some occult manner, they discover
this crack in your enamel and it caus
es them in turn, to doubt you without
knowing they doubt. Now is it not 2
fact, says the Wise One, that you have
at times, been disconnected and cha
grined by the inexplicable manner If
which your seeming and alleged
friends have treated you. Is this no
the case? he acridly demands.
You admit it.
There! he says triumphantly. Didn
I tell you so?
It's your own fault.
They don't know what ails 'em ant
you don't. Neither of you do. You are
both bewildered and unhappy bu
neither know why.
But it is entirely due to that VIOLA
tive quality you possess, that unfortun
ate insincerity, which people recog
nize without being able to explain it.
The Wise One felt it himself.
He is quite certain that you are
really not glad to see him. That 70,
were only saying so because you were
a slave of convention. That he would
have respected you far more if yo,
hadn't pretended to a feeling 70,
didn't have. That he is perfectly vel
aware of the fact that you never liked
him. So why
You break into a wringing sweat
You are helpless.
You are afraid to agree with hin
for fear that isn't what he wants 70,
to do and you fear to agree with hin
since this will only throw you deeper
into the mire.
What you really want is to rise up
swat him in the eye and land him sew
eral hard cracks in the jaw.
Instead you gibber that you had new
er dreamed he took so much interes
in you. That you feel flattered that h<
should have taken all the trouble t.
find out about you. That you really re
gard yourself of so little importance
that you are completely flabbergastet
with this display of interest-that 70,