The Washington herald., 1912-04-07
THE FIRST AID
TO POPULARITY
Is to Keep Your Egotism Con-
tinuously Subdued.
BY DOROTHY DIX.

ny DOHOIhl DAAs
Would you like to be popular? woult
you lige to be one Of those fortunate
people at coming every eye brightens
every lip curls into a smile. every hand
gees spontaneously out in friendship?
OF course you would: The real, Sc
cret, universal desire Of the human hear
is for popularity, and IL somc good fairI
should offer us our greatest wish W.
should ask for the power 10 win the ad
miratiOn Of our fellow-creatures.
But, you say, you are not one OF th'
lucky few who are born with a certih-
cate to the Lodge OF GoodfellOwship In
their mouths, so to speak. Further. yot
opine that the art Of being a hear
smasher is one that comes by nature
and not by grace. and that popularity
middle name is really personal magnet
ism. 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
be explained than why the magnet at
tracts the needle. Undoubtedly there are
people possessed of an almost hypnotic
power over us. whom we like in spite OF
ourselves, and often against our better
judgment. They have a way with them
that we find it impossible TO resist, even
though we may disspprove of them in
the highest degree.
They Are Scarce.
These strangely gifted mortaIs are.
however, in a very small minority. They
are almost as scarce as hens teeth.
. The most of our acquaintsnces we
could assign a very clear reason as TO
why We like them or dislike them.
In this, it seems to me, is the tidings
OF great joy. for il shows that the secret
of popularity is not In the middle of the
SPHINX may suppose. but is simply
an everyday art at which even the most
bunGling of us may become reasonably
expert IL we devote a little intelligent
time and work to IT,
But how shall you 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 humary nature is cut
of 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 persons that
makes you want to take to the tall tim
Der when you see him or her coming?
Egotism,
There is nothing else under the sun
that is so affecting SO unendurable.
nothing that bores with the bore of
forty-inCh auger. as the man or woman
who does a monologue about his or her
individual affairs.
Reflect. beloved. on the mUrderous feel
ings 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 notifying mistakes il only
he had been consulted
Recall the way your heart goes down
into the very heels OF your slippers when
some woman comes 10 spend a long after
noon with you in order TO relate to you
all OF her private affairs.
Oh! the Agony!
Reflect upon yoar agony. as she d.
lated upon what she said to her hus-
hand. 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 weariness with
which you listened to the account of all
Of 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 descriptions that she
gives Of her encounters with butcher.
and baker. and dressmaker.
Or. perchance. the woman that YOU
dread most, and whose visits are equal
to a spell of sickness. is the woman
who comes to see you to pour out her
tale OF woe. and who simply slops up
your parlOr floor with her tears She has
divorced her husband, or had trouble
with her children. or lost her money,
or quarreled with her sweetheart, or
gained forty pounds in flesh. All are
Affections with which you have moth
ing TO do. and which you can't help,
but you've got to listen TO them. not
once but a hundred times, for sorrow
is sweet morseI that such a woman !
rolls under her tongue and never swal- |
lows and gets done with
And 10 get the fun flavor Of Il she |
has to hold up some long suffering sis |
ter and share its bitterness with her.
Must Pay the Price.
Now in this world it is written that |
pay corresponding price II you
want TO be popular, If you want to be !
liked, IL you want to have people glad
to see you. are you willing TO deny your
self the joy Of talking about yourself?
That's the first step TO popularity.
DO You suppose, II you are a man,
that anybody wants to hear you talk
about yourself? That any human be-
Ing. unless it's your mother or your
wife, wants to hear the details OF your
success In business, or cares three raps
whether you have got a Tweedle-de-
dunn 30, or Tweedle-dedee 40 automobile?
II you are woman do you suppose
that any other woman is any more
keen to hear the smart things that
your children say than you are to hear
about hers. or that she takes the slight
sst interest in your troubles with your
servants? Nor does any one pine TO
spend a Joyous hour being soaked in
rour tears, any more than you yearn to
De picked down in their weeps.
Just mark this down--the first AID IN