Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-19
Life's roblems
Are Discussed
By MRS. WILSON WOODROW

You have broken your doll, 1 know"
Five letters in one mail delivery
and each one of them sob.
There is really no differentiation in
troubles; whether your woe is in rea-
son or out of it. it is still a woe. /
There is no hard and fast line be-
tween the real and the imaginary. If
you have the blues for no cause |
under the sun, you still have the
blues; and they are just as hard to |
bear as if there were a definite ex-
cuse for them. But why should we !
multiply our bothers and griefs, and
then study them under a magnify !
ing glass?
Here is one of the letters:
Il have always striven to show a |
cheerful countenance. But often /
have found it very hard; for if 1 was
naturally cheerful there would be no
need of an extra effort.
Il didn't know really looked
cheerful until some time ago some
one remarked. "I believe nothing
would go wrong if you were around.
You're a regular gloom-chaser.'
Now. Mrs. Woodrow, when Il
often feel very blue and discour-
aged, and still people think 1 am
care-free. and when hot temper
seems ready to burn me up and still
1 keep it within me and try to be
sweet, am 1 not deceiving? Am II
| not false to everyone and to my
self? CONSCIOUS"
Fudge! my dear "Conscious!" AS
the family doctor, 1 prescribe a little
genuine sin for you. You are in
danger of becoming too good. Stop
always bottling up that hot temper.
Give it a day out now and then, and
let it burn someone else. Why
, should you have all the scars? And
chase that New England conscience
of yours. 1t is beginning to tryan-
nize over you terribly. A New Eng
land conscience is like little know
ledge-a dangerous thing. You'veI
got to keep it firmly in it's place. or
it'll lend by bossing you and all of
your affairs.
And, please, if you would be loved
and your companionship sought, do
not be determinedly cheerful. Just
be cheerful. A "determinedly cheer
full person is certain to bring out the
worst traits in everyone about.
met one of them on the street
the other day. 1 am very careful
never to meet her anywhere else, al
though we have known each other
for years. And there she was with
the same neat, vanished smile on
her lips, and the same hard, bright
eyes which never smile.
L am glad I never meet her at the
breakfast table; that is no place
for determinedly cheerful people.
am sure 1 would never be able to
sit opposite her and decorously eatl
my eggs. I would have to hurl
them straight at that unvarying
smile.
And as to whether you are deceiv-
ing yourself and your friends by
appearing cheerful when you do not
feel so. / can't see that any moral
question is involved. No matter how
demanding and intrusive your friends
may be, they can hardly dictate to
you what face you shall show to the
| world. It's none of their business if
you choose to wear the mask of
gaiety, even though your heart is
ballasted with lead. We are not liv-
| ing primarily to please our friends,
| but to be worth while to ourselves.
You might just as well argue,
| When l feel in a lazy, Indifferent
mood and do not take the least in
| terest in dressing my hair becom-
ingly or putting on my hat ct the
| right angle and getting out q fresh
! pair of gloves; and yet do so be-
cause l am impelled by the force of
| habit and my own self-respect, am
l not deceiving myself and my
! friends?"
In the last ANALYSIS and on basis
of strict fact, probably you are.
| But what of it? When some dear
| friend unsheathes her cat-claws and
scratches you an inch deep, and you
| feel like slapping her face then and
there, are you deceiving your friends
/ by Withholding your hand? Ger
! tainly not! You are merely obeying
| the unwritten laws of polite society.
/ It's quite permissible to claw her in
! turn-two inches deep, if you can
| with the iron word in the velvet
| phrase: but a taboo is set on the
| bare hand. Your nails are sup
posed to be manicured and orna-
mental, not sharpened for use.
| Therefore, let your scratching be
verbal; and never that, unless you
are driven to it. The cat in woman
! is her most detestable asset. To
| give it prominence is not playing
| the game according to the Marquis
! of Queensbury rules.
1t is your duty, a debt you owe
| to the world, to show it your smil-
! ing, pleasant, attractive side, and
| let your darker, sadder characters
! tics die from atrophy, and because
you absolutely refuse to give them
/ any attention. What right have you
| to cloud any ones else sunshine?
girl who has earned the title
lRuch about whether she is O de-
ceiver or not. 1t is q very nice,
commendable deception. If you are
unhappy, yours is not the only
heartbreak in the world; and our
private heartbreaks are a matter OF
no Importance to any one but our
selves.
Our friends, our acquaintances
the world at large are deserving of