The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-08-11
ExAGGERATloN MISTAKEN FOR
VIVACITY.

Many people mistake eXaggeration
for vivacity. They overstate every
thing in fashion trying to the nerves.
One who habitually exaggerates must
not expect to be believed. The only'l
question in the mind of the listener is
what allowance to make for the
speakers weakness.
Then there are the people who are
always quoting what they have heard
as if it were law and gospel One
such woman mentioned casually in a
public place that we'll known firm
in town was on the point of failure.
She was startled and embarrassed
when man near her demanded her
authority for the statement. She ex-
planned that she did not care to con-
tinue the subject, but he insisted. 1t
finally came out that an uncle of hers
who was in the same line of business,
had said that he did not see how the
firm in question could sell at the
prices it did and make any profit
Many a reputation is assailed in just
such an irresponsible fashion. People
repeat something they have heard, or
their own deductions from what they
have heard, and somebody's good name
suffers And that habit is especially
serious when, as often happens, the
speaker has listened so carelessly as
| to be able to give only a garbled ac
count of the original statement If
you have fallen into the way of re-
! pootino Soma no undorctood ROW a rlvc
you have overheard, as settling
vexed question, you must not wonder
if your friends remain unconvinced by
your statements.
| Some peoples words are so colored
by their wishes that they are abso-
lutely unreliable. They do not mean
to tell falsehoods, but their desire to
have thing so, overmasters their
common sense. Marian, who has been
sick several days, RECEIVERS on the day
of the party, and assures her mother
that she feels. perfectly well. Her
tongue is still coated, her eyes heavy,
and the clinical thermometer shows a
slight temperature Yet Marian de-
clares almost tearfully, that she never
felt better in her life She is SO
anxious to feel well enough to attend
the party, that it really seems to her
, she does.
If people have difficulty in believ.
ing you, that dones not prove that they
think you are given to telling false
ing the truth or not quite so simple
and easy as some of you have thought
it.
Every one knows that prejudice
is the hardest thing in the world tt
get the better of. 1t is like certain
} weeds which you can cut off or pull
up, but they have a way of starting
up again at the next shower. A pref
udice is much more difficult to con
quer than conviction, for the latter
is grounded on reason, and the for
mer is most unreasonable of all things
What helps to make a prejudice
invulnerable is the fact that we are
all rather proud of our prejudices
To surrender them is like giving III
J part of ourselves. Instead of real
izing that a prejudice betrays weak
5 ness, we regard it as a proof of espe
| cial insight, and flaunt it on all oc
casions. If only we would realize
: that a prejudice is something to bt
: ashamed of, rather than proud of, i
| we could grasp the fact that our pref
udices are just as silly as those O
r our neighbors, we should be in a fai
; way to conquer them.