The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-07-25
WHEN HINTS BECOME I,

Life hangs upon me; becomes a bur-
 den;
 I am ten times undone, while hope and fear,
 And grief and rage and love rise uG i at once,
 And with variety of pain, distract me-
 I don't suppose there is one woman
 in hundred who is free from the an-
 noyance of that parasite known as a
 hinter. Of all nuisances these pests
 are the worst. They are non-crush-
 able, and won't be driven away: They
 nibole at the heart of friendship and
 make relationship miserable Almost everyone knows some one about who
 has the hinting habit. If woman gets a new dress, her sisters and her
 cousins, her aunts and her friends, hint ceaselessly about their needs of
 a dress. If they owned a dress, even like her second best, how nicely it could be altered for Fannie, Bess, or Sue. There's not an article she pos ! sesses, from wearing apparel to table linen, that there are not covetous eyes upon. Her cousin hints that her daughter could invite desirable com
 pany to dinner if she but had an all-
 linen table cloth, a few napkins, etc.
 adding that it must be a burden to have as many as she has to look ,af- ter. Her friends hint that they would like to borrow a music-box-hke hers when friends are expected If they know she's a lover of matinees, her women friends hint that they wish
 they could go and see this play or that, but haven't the money to spare. <>f a n tells her bosom friend that she has saved up, by dint of extreme economy. a few hundred dollars from her hls- bands salary, combined with little extra sewing she has done for others, straightway that friend begins to hint how much she is in need of money. She tells in conf1d ence that she hasn't be unable to meet her rent for three months; that the terror of being dis possessed stares her in the face, un- less she can find some one to loan her the much needed small amount of money. Her husband earns larger salary than the woman she is limiting to. who knows we'll her friend could have saved more than she did, had she tried looking her expenses square ly in the fact and providing for them. There's nothing she has that the peo-
 
 for, from drawing of tea. to see if the Ibrand she uses Is, better than theirs, to the loan of her parlor, to make a show before some particular people.
 It is no wonder that some people Commence to get nervous when the conversation of those about them veers to a hint. One must either ig- nore it altogether, or comply with the carefully phrased requests. For it simply amounts to that. Few, if any, of this class of so-called friends ever return the favors extended them. If a hint is given them in return, they are artru1 enough to turn the conver- sation.
 Hinting for things one does not pos sess and wants to get out of some one else, is about the meanest sort of intrigue a person could indulge in It takes the sweetness out of bonds of and weakens its links. One is in constant dread of the hinter. The woman who has things is in con- stant dread of the woman who covets, and lets her know she would like them. A woman is Justified in keep ing under lock and key, safe from sight, the things she does not wish to part with by gift or loan. If a wo- man has a piano in her parlor, she has hints from all the young girls in the neighborhood. who haven't any, that the only thing which stands in the way of their having a musical ed- ucation is that they have no piano to practice on. Even her sewing ma chine proves a bone of contention Her friends tell her, they spent an entire week in doing bit of sewing that could have been accomplished in a few hours, if they only had had the l loan of a sewing machine The wo- man who has a son gets many a hint from mammas who have daughters that the young couple would be splen- dfdly matched; and that a good word might be put in for this girl, or that one.
 Hinting should not Be resorted to. Even if the wish is granted it is more than apt to leave a bitter taste in the mouth of the one who feels imposed upon. Hinting grows into a habit. There is only one kind Of hint pleas ing to a woman's ear and that is when a man she cares for hints that he is slowly but surely losing his heart to her. This hint has no terror. Generally it means an even exchange of hearts and ha.ppiness