The Daily Missoulian., 1917-07-23
Little Fables
of Plain Folk
The Girl Who Attracted
Attention.
BY SOPHIE IRENE Loes.

whose aim in life was to attract at
tention. She began very early---in her
high school days She insisted on hav-
+! ing her hair "put up when all the
other girls wore theirs in the girlish
way.
/ She always managed to get some
| curious little twist to Il. knowing full
! well that everybody would LOOK at
, her. When she grew older and had
! the choosing Of her clothes she would
, always select the most unusual colors.
the most extreme styles--everything to
be different from the others: anything
| to draw eyes to her.
Then she joined various cults and
isms. Each had its mystic colors and
| emblems. Always she adorned herself
| with them, SO evcrybody could SEE
them. II she was delving In Egyptian
dances she would paint her face very
white and assumed the air OF an
Egyptian princess.
When the soldiers were enlisting she
donned soldierly dress, and affected
the military" manner. You knew at
once she was trying to initiate. In a
word. any fad or fancy that came out.
she was the first to adopt 1t. Always
she was a walking advertisement for
the latest grotesque idea.
There was only one reason for all
these vagaries--to attract attention.
Every place she went. while the wom-
en- tolerated her. they disliked her, be-
cause they knew all her pffectations
We're assumed for one purpose---to hold
the center of the, stage. She came
from a good family and therefore waA
received in many prominent places. s
Some of the men were amused by.
her---for the time being. And they
flattered her by telling her that she
was courageous to dress as she
pleased. They would encourage it just
to see what next she would adopt. But
having learned to hold the limelight 1t
made no difference to her what they
thought and she went merrily on,
hoping that some day. somehow, the
Prince Charming would come along
and find her in one of her dressed-up
moods; and she would be happy ever
after.
So she continued in her own "indi-
Viduaf' way. Now. of course. this was
all very well while the girl was young.
The charitably inclined people always
hoped that she would outgrow 1t. But
alas. and alas! the older she became.
the more whimsical and freakfsh.
Soon she looked like a veritabic. ugly.
valentine And now it came to pass
that whenever people made up their
party list she would be excluded with
n "not-that- trump" expression.
So it continued until one day the
girl looked into her mirror and saw
% 20 hni A{SNsr T.
alize that all her school chums and
women friends had married the men OF
their choice, or were otherwise occu-
pied in some interesting work. She
also began ITO count the number of
people who had dropped" her in the
recent years. She had but a very litGs
income and. old age was staring her in
the face.
She wondered what was the matter
Had she not always kept up dat,
and been attractive? And had she not
always drawn attention before any OF
the other girls And here she was in
the little hall bedroom with sad
reflection from her looking glass. She
called to the old woman on the foo,
helow-the old woman who seemed to
know so much.
What Is the matter with me?'
asked the girl. "Will / never attract
any more friends? What have I done?
I am so unhappy"
And the old woman spoke to he,
like this: Take that
enamel off your skin. Wipe off those
painted lips. and quit lining your face
Smooth back your beautiful hair. and
wear simple clothes--like everybody
else.
De sweet, and kind and find some-
thing to do. In a word. give nature
chance. You have been artificial all
your life.
And like the ostrich you have hid
your natural self in the sand and
showed only your highly colored
feathers. Therefore they haven't seen
you at ALL They have passed YOU by.
They were attracted for n moment bv
your bright plumage but your REAL.
SELF was always lost to them--hidden
In the sand
"Come out of it. Everybody has a
personality--a natural one. 1t is the
kind that counts. Throw Off all these
Eewsaws and foreign trinkets that
make you look like an everlasting imi-
tation. In short--be yourself"
ANA would you believe it. the old
woman,s words worked. Pretty soon
the old friends of the girl said, What
mas come over her? She is SO changed
SO quiet and unassuming"
II was hard at first to Change her
whole attitude. but she finally sue
ceeded and, though late in life "he"
came along and was attracted to her
for all time.
But wherever she could she preached
this moral to young girls:
III You live only to attract atten-
tlon, you will attract it--and nothing
more"