Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-02-09

loss what to do. She had no time
to return to her room; the doctors
and the head nurse were even then
advancing down the ward toward
her. Some sharp eye would be sure
to spy that forbidden ornament.
In her quandary, she slipped the
ring from her finger and thrust it
into the hand of the hobo beside
whose cot she was standing.
Take care of that for me, will
you, Jack?" she murmured a swift
aside. I'm giving it to you, be-
cause l know l can trust YOU
1t proved tc be a very busy even
ing for the nurse. After the visit
OF the staff she was kept so con-
stantly occupied that she did not
think of her ring again until after
she had left the ward and was in
bed. However, she did not feel any
especial concern, so confident did
she feel that surly Jack would keep
her treasure safe.
But when she went back to her
post in the morning, she found his
cot empty. He insisted on leaving
almost as soon as it was daylight"
they told her. I'VE asked him if
lie didn't want to stay and say good
by to you, but he said you would
understand why it was necessary for
him to hurry off" And although
she hired detectives and used every
means to get some trace of the fugi-
tive, she never saw either him or
her ring again.
You can draw almost any moral
you please from this parable. One
might be, not to cast pearls before
swine. Another, that it is unwise to
put too great a strain on even the
sincerest gratitude.
But to me the most obvious one
seems to be that gratitude instinc-
lively SHES at any emphasizing of
the obligation. 1t resents any tit
for-tat idea, any suggestion of q bar
gain. 1t wants to express itself like
Diana's kiss, unasked, unsought."
The old bookworm recognized
that the little girls sympathy was
disinterested, absolutely without
thought of return, and therefore
was pleased to requite her far more
generously than her service could
have called for. The hobo was per-
haps equally grateful, but when she
showed that she felt he was under
an obligation to her, he perverseiy
threw her down.
l do not know, of course, but I
am almost willing to wager that if
SllG lltu OlIllllGu llldl uIluChN Cdu-
ton, Il am giving this to you be-
cause 1 know 1 can trust you," she
would have found him waiting in
the forming to give her her ring.
She underscored the obligation,
though, and thereby caused him to
ienege.
The sense of obligation is always
irritating, indeed, especially when
one sees small chance of repaying
the favor. There is something I'M
all of us which frets against an un-
paid debt. We don't want to be re-
minded of it. Excuse the necessity
for it as we may, we can't help but
regard it as a slur upon our capa-
hility. 1t lowers us in our own self
esteem. We all take a pride and
satisfaction in feeling that we are
square with the world.
The only pride and satisfaction
that equals this, perhaps, is that
which comes from a worthy sense of
having been of aid or assistance to
some one else. In other words, ben
evidence is its own reward. IF you
look for any other you are almost
certain to be fooled. 1t is this cred
itor feeling expressed either in
words or sometimes in ones atti-
tude that causes most of the So
called ingratitude in the world.
used to know a country editor.
one of those village sages to whom
everybody in the community carries
their troubles and perpleXitles. Ev-
cry issue of his paper carried at the
head of the editorial column this bit
OF counsel: Don't cast up!"
That's what causes more than
half of all the rows and disscnsions.
political, religious and personal, that
l have to SETTLE" he would say.
"'Forgive us our debts is easy to
pray; but when it comes to forgiv-
ing our debtors, and then forgetting
that there was ever any debt to for
give, there's scarcely one man in a
million that can measure up to the
mark"