The Washington herald., 1916-11-22
Vanity
ny JOHN ID. BARRY.


of an American who has spent more than
twenty-five years OF his life in Europe.
4 He has acquired q great fortune here and
! he IL highly regarded. Circumstances
have brought him into more or less in
| innate relations with royalty and it is
amusing to hear him talk about his royal
! friends. One might think that he would
\ be spoiled by this kind Of success but he'
is saved by his sense OF humor. Per-
haps. on the other hand. he knows the
royalties too well to be unduly impress
| ed. Their prestige" he said to me re-
Gently, 'hes in their keeping themselves
apart II they weren't as exclusive they
would betray their secret
What Is their secret?' asked.
| why, simply that they are very or
binary people, like most of U.S."
He told me little incidents illustrating
| the simple human qualities of women and
men whose names were regarded with
| awe throughout Europe. their fondness
| for unbending when they were not on
exhibition, for having gay little parties,
for doing work that gave them real oc-
| cupation. His stories made me. think
of the court of Louis XVI and Marie An
toinette where 1t was a fad to work and
where Louis developed skill as a lock-
smlth and Marie Antoinette made
charming dairymaid.
According to this observer. there was a
good deal of wasted talent among the
royalties in Europe today One poor little
prince had a longing to become the leader
of an orchestra. He amused himself by
standing with a baton, in front of a
phonograph and waving with the music.
Several others were musicians. including
the Car, and several had talent for paint
ing. Perhaps IT would have been even
more surprising II. with all the opportu-
nifty they had for cultivating taste, they
did not show talent Of some kind. After
all, in spite Of the efforts to seem DIFF
ferent. they remained human You see.
they are a good deal like actors Some
thing of the ancient notion that kings
were gods or half gods stays in their
minds, and makes them feel that, before
the public. they must play UP to 1t. They
know II has a kind Of hypnotic effect on
| the world. even on the people Of those
countries where royalty doesn't exist I'm
fortunately for them. the world is waking
out Of this spell and growing disrespect-
full OF all the royalties. So it's important
for them to maintain their pretences to
save whatever illusion ID left
DO you think they're happy people as
a ruIe?" / asked.
Are people who have to indulge their
vanity all the time likely to be happy"
In Stockholm / made the acquaintance
of family where there are several chill
dren, one of them a girl about 10. who
has extraordinary beauty. The mother.
who is very WISE is most concerned about
the beautiful child, not on account Of
greater affection. but on account Of fear
lest vanity lead to Generalization of char
acter. Il have seen so many beautiful
girls spoiled by cdulation," / once heard
her say. TT seems as IL the world en-
tered into a conspiracy to spoil them.
! Wherever Mimi goes people tell her that
she is beautiful. even strangers in the
street So far IT does not seem to have
made her self-conscious. She has not
yet realized the power that Is going TO
come to her from her beauty. Every day
l try to think of helping her to develop
character that shall keep her from hav-
ing her life injured and perhaps destroy
ed / sometimes wish she were more like
the other children who are very ordinary
looking"
The words made me think Of one
Of the plainest-looking girls l had ever
known. She was so plain-looking that
some OF the people who did not know her
well were often tempted TO hold her up
| to ridicule. But those who knew heT
never felt any such temptation. They
liked her too much for her freedom
from self-consciousness and her good will
toward the whole world. One of her
women IrlenQS UolQ me lndt, IN a DufSI
Of confidence the girl had confded to her
an explanation of her good nature. When
she was quite young her playInates. with
the frankness of children. less cruel than
thouGhtless, made her feel that she was
conspicuous for her plain looks. in fact
almost funny. For a time she was so un-
happy that she wished she could die.
Then she saw a way OF escape for her
self. She would make herself so agree
able that her looks would not count seri-
ously against her.
That girl married and is now the mother
Of children almost as plain looking as
herself. But she doesn't care about her
looks. She knows that, as far as looks
are concerned. they haven't anything to
be vain about.
I'm glad my children haven't a thing
that I know anything of to make them
feel they are in any way different from
the rest Of the world" | have heard a
sensible American father say on more
than one occasion. He knows that sue
cess and happiness lie. not in the seQues-
tered or the favored places. but in the
great highway of life. And he knows
that vanity, in all Of its many disguises,
good looks, family pride, special gifts,
| fzfo