Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-11-21
WAITING Is VERY
HARD EXPERIENCE
No Trial Puts Stability to
More Terrible
Test
by BEATRICE FAIRFAX

Nothing at all in the world is more
likely to defeat it's own object than
hurry. From the enthusiasm that in
asm that insists on action at once, pre-
pared or no. is Just tiny, step.
What one s Wisb uu PfTTVerp for mat ct the
door," II you wish hard enough you
may often feel that you hear the knock
the door there is nothing there.
The old story. of the boy who cried
Wolff! when there was no wolf and
who perished miserabiy when the wolf
came. illustrates this fairly well. The
danger for which we watch with actual
impatience becomes negligible through
familiarity and when 1T comes we have
no protection against il.
Nothing makes person such a pes
simist as the indulgence in unfounded
hopes that prove wrong. Nothing
makes a person so criminally careless
of danger as watching fearfully for ac-
cidents that need never have been en-
pected. and so binding himself to the
approach of real trouble.
Waiting is one of the most trying ex-
perienees in all the. world. There is
ter to more terrible test.
Have you ever waited for a letter
that meant life or death, love or indlf-
man is due at In the morning. You
wait at I and wonder how you will get
through the two long hours until he
comes. Somehow bathing and dressing,
eating your breakfast and doing the
tasks of the day bridge over the time
until quarter before 8.
Then you station yourself at the
window and watch for the first glimpse
of the longed-for messengers gray suit.
Suddenly you see him far down the
street. Closer and closer he comes,
weaving his path in and out of door.
ways. With beating heart you wait,
sigonizingiy sia wondering as he he CON comes
what you long for.
He seems to have tremendous mail
to distribute and to do it slowly and
with tortoise-1ike progress. Now he Is
at the door next to your own. He passes
your house and goes to the next.
You must wait bravely for the noon
mail and the next, perhaps; The let
And no blow ii deals can hurt you more
than did the agony of waiting for what
THE Impatient man believes that the
proverb.. And the only bad luck in ali
the world is the bad luck to be weak
chance have very little to do with the
periods during which one waits.
You walt wait for letter letter because s. the i,
time. That has nothing to do with
luck, but depends entirely in your hu-
man relationship with that person and
how unselfishly and considerably ne
thinks of you.
To highly sensitive souls who arr.
nervous and imaginative, waiting al
can control that strain not not let II
spell agony. Because a loved one who
said he was coming at has. not ar
rived at 9 does not mean he has been
murdered by bandits or is never com
ing at all. 1t probably indicates moth
ing more tremendous than that he
started later. or was delayed by some
trfiing circumstance.
When you have conquered your own
impatience so that you can endure inn
potent waiting calmly you have done
much to assure yourself of a peaceful
life. 1t is chiefly women who indulge in
| torments of agony when waiting. Most
men know enough to fill in periods OF
waiting with some activity so that
their minds shall not anXiously dwell
on specializing how soon the looked
for event will occur.
A book or a bit of sewing will often
serve to tide over a period of waiting
Force yourself to concentrate on SOM
thing other than the thing toward
which you are looking. If it comes it
will find you calmly waiting to receive
it, and if ii fail to come your conserved
energy will train you to go on waiting.