Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-02-27
ALITTLE STORY
OF THE PRESENT
World Is Indeed a Poor
Place For Cynics to
Live In
BY BEATRICE FAIRFAX

There was once a girl who trusted
everybody. She had builded the struc-
ture of ner life on the basis of an
old question: proverb from the
German: "As one shouts into the for
est, so echo returns to you
She met the world on basis of
trusting good fellowship and the
world seldom failed her.
Clerks in the shops rewarded am:-
ABILITY with interest; walters in hotels
showed an Intelligent desire to please.
Men who found that she was always
on time for engagements seldom kept
her waiting to be called for; old
people to whom she gave kindly cour-
tesy spoke well of her; hostesses who
discovered that she was punctilious
about keeping engagements invited
her to all their most interesting par
ties. Lucille gave the world the square
deal of trust and honesty and the
world awarded her prizes in most of
it's games.
Then she met a man whose weak
good looks any psychologist might
have told her a few very unpleasant
truths. She, however, was not a psy-
chologist. So she followed numerous
of her sisters before her and fell very
much in love with George. George
duced Lucille to friends as character
less as himself and threw her over
without compunction at the end of a
month.
Lucille was startled, but her faith
in human nature came up undamaged
when Cyril-one of Georges friends,
proceeded to console her by kindly
devotion that lasted two months.
CyriFs detection came in due time and
then William offered his services as
physician to wounded pride.
Three months later Lucille found
herself in possession of what she
deemed broken heart. AS a matter
OF fact she had badly sprained atti-
tude toward human nature. Having
suffered because of her faith, in three
weaklings, she fancied that she at
last knew life for the cruel and re-
lentless producer of misery it was.
And Lucille became a cynic. At
twenty-siX she had mastered such
watchwords as: You might as well
do the other fellow and do him first"
NO man is ever on the level with a
woman; The world is q cruel and
relentless place. and it doesn't appre-
ciate honesty"
Now Lucille was short to servants.
peremptory to clerks, Indifferent to old
folks and careless about her engage
ments. And as she shouted into the
WV SSls oO tIlS tCIO DaCk TO neT.
And just then, when she knew with
exactly what cynicism to laugh at
protestations of love, a Real Man came
into her life. When he told her he
loved her, Lucille replied "Of course
you do-to- day" And when he as
sured her that he had never cared
so much for any woman as fo- her.
Lucille was ready with a fiippant
That's what they all say"
She didn't mean to let any man
make her suffer again She was too
wise for that And the Real Man
wooed a merry young cynic for three
months and forgave broken engage
ments and overlooked forgotten ap-
pointments and tried to keep his ideal
of the girl he loved alive in spite of
her best efforts to destroy it. And
the girl neither believed the man nor
gave him any reason to believe in
her.
So one day Lucille discovered that
she had been deserted again and she
smiled cynically and assured herself
that the world was indeed a poor
place.
MORAL-When you learn a clever
aphorism like "As you shout into
the woods echo returns to you" it
is good idea to test it out thoroughly.