Omaha daily bee., 1915-04-29

II anyone should call you a gossip or
infer that you were addicted to gossip
yov would he indignant. It is a peculiar
phase Of human nature that not one in
dividual ever has been found who would
confess to a tendency in this direction.
People are to be encountered who realize
their sins and faillngs in many directions,
but the man or woman never yet has
been seen who said: Yes. 1 have the
falling of gossiping and OF relating I'M
pleasant things about my neighbors."
Perhaps 1t is because the habit is so
universal that no one finds himself diff
ferent from his fellows in that respect.
Have you ever tried passing an entire
week without giving utterance to ar I'M
pleasant criticism OF anyone? OF course
YOU will exclaim as you read these lines
that you have passed many such weeks.
tut unless you were dwelling on a desert
island, or in solitary confinement In a
prison with your food passed through
gratings, It is questionable whether you
ever allowed seven days to slip by you
unmarried by some phase Of disagreeable
comment on others
II you set out in an undertaking of this
kind you Will observe that it is not an
easy thing to do. no matter how amiable
you may be, how broad IN your judy
ments and how Kind in your Instincts
After you have passed the second mile
stone in this seven-day journey and lived
forty-eight hours without criticism you
will be so set up in your own opinion
that on the third day you will criticize
somebody for criticlzing somebody. This
will be your downfall, and after that you
will probably find something unpleasant
in someone you encounter each of the
remaining days of the seven, and men
ticn II.
Human nature is, indeed, prone TO faults
and blemishes which are easily discerned
and impossible to approve. x is much
easier to find fault than to praise. The
unpleasant qualities in human beings
strike US in the face. while the pleasant
ones we need to search for.
In the new year just beginning there
can be no more important and no more
difficult undertaking than this attempt
to avoid spreading the unpleasant things
of life by talking about them, and by
increasing the pleasure OF life and the
good qualities of the people you know
by discussing them. II would be an IN
teresting experiment. Just before retlr-
ing each night take a mental survey OF
your conversation since you arose in the
morning. mark in your diary with red
G each day which has passed with no
disagreeable or unkind comment from
your lips; mark with black B each day
wherein you have transgressed by such
utterances.
Be frank and honest with yourself; no
one should see the book save the invisi-
BILE helpers who are near you, and your
self. and you will gain nothing by self
deception; that Is the worst possible thing
I'd DO In any effort at acknowledgements
this yielding TO self-deception. When
you realize that you have failed. confess
it to yourself and start anew the next
day. Criticise yourself but believe In
your power to reform and recreate your
self.
Do you realize that II each individual
devoted all his power OF criticism and
fault finding TO himself. and made con-
tlnuaI efforts to be that which he desires
others to be. how soon the world would
be evangelical? That Is the task given
10 each OF us to 90. II Il good work for
you to attempt this newly year.