Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-18
THE DAILY CHIT-CHAT.
By Ruth Cameron.

Did any one ever, I wonder, wait at a
meeting place for tardy friend without
passing through three distinct states OF
mind?
The first state of mind is always one
of irritation 'She is always late" you
think as you consult your watch. I
suppose she'll have some story Of
the cars being slow, for she always does.
There's no sense in it. She ought to al
low for that when she starts"
How long this state of mind lasts all
depends upon your previous experience
with your friends capabiity for hardness
In ordinary cases, it would endure from
five to ten minutes. At the end of that
time irritation gives place to an entirely
new feeling.
This state of mind, as, Of course, you
know if you have-ever waited for any
one. is a growing wonder If you or she
could have made any mistake in the time
or place. appointed for neeting. Gould
she have said RS. instead of S's? you
RS. No, I'm sure she said SIS. for re-
member thinking that they had such a
nice waiting room. in here. Gould II
have been half-past b instead of half
past 90 is the next question. NO. you
assure yourself, because she never could
have expected us to get all we planned
done and get out to Cora's at 5. Still
| that would be just like her. I've good
mind to telephone. But If go away
from here she'll be sure to come and
think I've given her up. Oh, dear, why
must she always be later
The third state Of mind sets In earlier
or later, according to the Temperament
of the waiter. But half an hour of watt
ing almost always brings to the average
person the apprehension that something
has happened to the missing one. could
she have been run over? These automo-
bile accidents are so common nowadays.
Can she be sick? Can it be that her
mother is worse? She looked real misera-
BILE the last time / was there, and she s
liable to these sudden attacks. Dear me,
wouldn't it be terrible for Lucy il any,
thing should happen to her mother. She
depends on her mother so much" So
runs the current of your thought, and 80
probable does this entirely groundless
hypothesis of yours seem to you that you
have almost come to regard 1t as fact,
and are proportionately relieved when
you see Lucy's familiar figure hurrying
toward you.
Your car broke DOWN." you respond
to her breathess explanations. Lucy,
you do have the worst luck. I was get
| ting real worried about you. Nonsense?
Well, l guess you wouldn't say SO If you
| were me. l felt that something must
be the matter. never waited quite so
long before. How's your mother?' So
you greet your recalcitrant friend, much
more warmly on the whole than you
would have had she come in that first
| ten or fifteen minutes.
Is the moral. to be half an hour late If
you must be late at all? No. If there's
any moral it's just this: You haven't
| made any mistake in the time or the
meeting place: she hasn't been run over
or taken suddenly i'll; no member of her
| family has died; she's just late. as she
has been before, and will be again. So
next time don't fret and worry. Just sit
still and read a book or paper, and re-
| member this little talk and possess your
soul in patience.
Will ! do the same? I'll try to, my
friend. That's the. best 1 can promise.