The Washington herald., 1913-10-24
POSING ADDS NO
WHIT TO DIGNITY
Gracious Acceptance Of FHendiness Is
More Indicative Of Greatness
Than Is Lefty Disdain.
Nv FRAyCEs sHAFFER


She was really very pretty. with eyes
that could light up In the tenderest way
when she wiIled 1t SO, and smile that
was simply enchanting when the right
kind of folk were around But she hap
pened to be riding on an everyday car,
with the usual mixture aboard, and her
eyes and her smiles were held in reserve
for those she deemed Of her kind.
To her companion. another young
woman, she was graciousness itself. and
beanty fairly radiated from her face, but
she chanced to make a remark which
called for a bit of information, IL any one
was sufficiently conventional-and per-
haps sufficiently friendIy-to vouchsafe 1t.
And it happened that strange woman
at her side was both. In the most deli
cate, yet cordial. manner she supplement-
ed the others lack of information upon
a matter of passing interest. and did II
quite unobtrusively and in the fewest pos
sible words. But, myi at what a cost.
For my Lady Disdain turned to her
with the most crushing curl of the lip
and fash of the eye, which she Of the
friendly heart apparently did not notice
at aIl-not yet. She even ventured bit
more, and this time she recognized the
intended cost. though 1t did not hurt her
at all. For the young woman barely an
swered, and her glance was so frigid and
naughty surprise that the purest kind of
friendliness was forced to run to cover.
The soft eyes were as cold as bits of
steel, and the lips, Just a brief minute
ago all wreathed in charming smiles, were
hard and cold as the eyes: and every bit
of her told a story of scorn and patrician
wonderment at the venturesozne stranger.
Before she left the car she smiled once
again, and the soft. tender look came
han 10 I1a hfff a lin
of iciness left in the mere little trick Of
half turning away from the stranger.
Stranger Was Amused.
And the stranger?
Why, she smiled quiet little smile of
amusement, and was not crushed the
least bit in the world, and for two very
good reasons. In the first place she rec
ogniZed that the arrogant assumption of
superiority came from one who was too
weak in character to do much crushing;
and. again, she was so certain of herself,
so secure to her own firm position, So
cially and otherwise, that she could AFFORD
to do nothing but smile.
But as my Lady Disdain swept from the
car, with a queer little mingling of
frowns and of smiles, one onlooker who
happened to know the real standing of
the two women wondered IL the resentful
young woman would have hidden her
smiles and hardened her eyes had she
once guessed that 1t would have been
more in keeping with some of the false
rulings of strictly conventional folk had
the friendly stranger been the one to
raise her eyebrows in lofty contempt
But they were in a public conveyance, and
my Lady Disdain never guessed.
As things run, country folk may not
be a bit friendiier or more impulsively
kind than the men and women products
Of big, cold cities, who, down in their
hearts may be warm and open and
friendly indeed, once the crust formed by
the years is cleared away. But as one
of the passengers on the car looked at
Lady Disdain, frigid and very, very dis
tant one moment, smiling and all that
was lovely the next, she thought of a lit
tie episode cut on a country road.
A Kindly Act.
A couple of pedestrians had paused for
a moment or so of rest near the gate
way of a prosperous little home set back
a bit from the roadside. And as they
sat there, idly noting woman moving
about near the door and two small kid
lets beside her, they were suddenly start
led by the appearance Of a tow-headed
boy who sprang up before them without
any warning. He had in his chubby
brown hands a little basket Of pears,
strangers, with an invitation to take
one" They took one" quite willingly,
but the basket was still alluringly held
out, and in reply to bit of questioning
the little messenger revealed the fact
that his mother had sent the fruit be-
cause she guessed it might be welcome
And then she looked out upon them with
a nod and smile in confirmation.
Now, the pears never would be awarded
a prize for lusciousness; indeed. they
were quite poor and tasteless, except as
they bore the rare flavor of human
friendliness. But the little act of graci-
BUSINESS, stranger to stranger, and the
simple assumption of kinship were very
refreshing and suggestive of a kindly
spirit, unaffected by rules and regula-
tons. And il was quite natural to guess