Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-01-24
INITIATIVE
THE CHARM
Girls Should Cultivate Their
Best Qualities, Conquer the
Worst and be Genuine
BY BEATRICE FAIRFAX

The charm of genuineness is very
real. No matter how thoroughly
YOU initiate something which you are
not, the imitation will differ in some
iashlon from the original. That is
because the imitation is governed a
little by the basic qualities of the
imitator.
Suppose NIollie is a iovial buxom
outdoor girl. Her tastes run to golf
and tennis and tramps in the open;
TO swimming and rowing, and all
forms of athletics and outdoor eX-
ercise. Mollie falls in love with Ar
thur. student, and a hi tof recluse
lie is quiet in manner aristocratic in
tastes and spends most of his life
studying and meditating and very
little of it in active pursuit of any
thing that is not mental.
Says Mollie to herself, Heavens,
he probably thinks I'm a perfect
hoyden! He couldn't possibly have
any use for a blowsy, flushed, un-
tidy girl, who is always chasing
around outdoors. He probably
thinks that l haven't mind above
golf balls and canoe padding. I'll
show him."
Now if Mollie sits down hon
estly and cultivates mental interest
To add to her physical prowess she
VIII probably turn out to be a very
NC rthwhile young woman, with n
nice balance between mind and body
Eut If Mollie flngs aside all her real
interests and poses as one who is
suddenly conscioEs of the fat that
all the things for which she had
once thought she cared no LONGER
count, think what a sorry little imi-
triton Mollie is going to turn II to.
Arthur will see through hef sham
If he has any real mentality. She
won't be able to talk to him intel
ligently about the theory of evolu-
ton, or the rise of Prussianism or
the meaning of Coleridges' poetry,
She will have nothing to contribute.
and her cheap little sham will be sure
10 repel. On the other hand, if
Mollie had just made an honest and
perseVering struggle to understand
Arthurs interests, and at the same
time had continued to be what she
really was, she would have been far
more likely to appeal to a thinker.
1t is possible to foster your own
growth. cultivate your best quail
ties and conquer your worst. But
no more than you can turn bull
frog into a nightingale, can you
make yourself over into an entirely
different being from the one you are.
Please accept that. 1t isn't my
opinion; it is just fact In bleach
ing brown hair golden. you do not
produce for yourself a new sort of
temperament or a different set of
ideals. If you don't like olives you
can cultivate a taste for them
graft it on. But If you do like
chocolate, you will have pretty
hard time making yourself imagine
that you hate it. So then, what is
the use of pretending that you hate
chocolate or of posing as one who
oil IL ,sII .
If sweets don't agree with you,
say so frankly; don't strike an aes-
thetic attitude and say that you
think it is vulgar and childish to
like candy.
The tragedies of posing are many.
First of all. just as the natural
color of your hair, probably goes
better with your skin than any ar
tificial shade you could produce, so
your own tastes and manners and
tendencies probably fit in better with
your personality in general than a
lot of artificially cultivated ones.
The point is to really discover
yourself, to make sure what you do
think and feel in life. Don't stupid
ly dismiss fine things from your life
wave them aside and say, II don't
understand music" or there's moth
ing in this poetry stuff: it's silly
IF fine, thinking people admire
certain things, it is probably be-
cause there are admirable qualities
in those things. Examine them.
Find out whether or no they have
a value for you. And if they haven't
say regretfully that etchings do not
appeal to you. Don't sit around and
prattle about dry prints and copper
plates when they are really mysteries
10 you.
Find out, then, what you like,
measure your likes by a decently
cultivated sense of values, and If
you have a tendency to like the
cheap and base. try to conquer 1t,
and to cultivate instead any flicker
of fineness in your nature. But
don't pose and pretend that you
have higher, finer motives than you
have.
The tragedy of posing is that 1t
fools nobody but you, that the pose
may not be half as charming as the
real you, and that you won't get
much enjoyment out of it: whereas
you might thoroughly enjoy express
ing your honest, actual self.
There have been a good many
don'ts in this little talk, but in an
other one / am going to tell you
frankly just how ! think each Of us
can be natural and honest and that
thoroughly lovable thing, "a real
person"
Watch for the next article in this
Interesting series by Miss Fairfax,
TO apDear soon on this DaRe.l