The Washington herald., 1918-12-13
THE ART OF PLEASING.
By DOROTHY DIX
THE WORLDS HIGHEST PAID WOMAN WRITER

l often wonder why parents. who
have the welfare of their children so
much at heartsnever take the trouble
to teach them the gentle art of pleas
ing. u.
No one can be so stupid as not to
realize that the ability to make friends
and to produce an agreeable impress
sion upon the ones fellow creatures
Is about the most important asset that
any man or woman can possess. 1t
is letter of credit that the world
honors at sight. II is the open sesame
to the doors that lead to sue
cess in business and society, for people
will do things for us because they
like us that they would not do simply
because ii was just or right to save
our lives.
Every father and mother knows
this and yet they let their children
grow up brusque, and rude. and over
bearing, with a personality that an
taEOnizes everyone at sight. and which
makes everyone whom they meet
yearn to hand them some sort OF a
solar pleXus blow.
Conscientious parents teach their
children to keep clean, be honest. and
speak the truth. They might well
add to this another admonition to be
agreeable. for without pleasantness
all of the other virtures become as
sounding brass and tinkling cymbals.
Why should children not be taught
to be agreeable? Why should they
not be taught to turn a smiling face
instead of a Erouchy one upon the
world. and to put what they have to
say into words that mollify instead
of insult the one to whom they are
addressed?
"It isn't what he says, It's the nasty
way he says it," Chevalier used to
sing about the man who had mortally
offended him. and we have all felt
like joining I'm the chorus. We all
know people who even do generous
and kindly acts in such a nasty way
that they make their good deeds un-
forgivable offenses.
These are they of whom we say that
their bark is worse than their bite.
but. alas, hbne of us like to be barked
at, and we keep as far away as possi-
BILE from those who have the habits
of an ill hammered cur. Thus II is
that many a man and woman of a
heart of gold goes through life I'M
loved and unappreciated simply be-
cause they had never learned> the
gentle art of pleasing.
There is an agreeable way and a
disagreeable way of putting every
thing. and those parents who do not
teach the children a pleasing mode of
speech have done them an irreparable
injury. One can even say. mo" with
such kindliness, with such regret, with
such an obvious wish that one could
have granted the favor asked that
one takes all the sting from the re-
fusal, and one can say yes" with
such arrogance, with such turbulence,
with such condescension that it makes
the recipient want to throw the favor
back in the donors face
Children can be taught to speak
courteously. They can be taught to
show consideration for the feelings
of others. Then can be taught how to
read and write, and these are the
ground work of the art Of pleasing.
To let boys and girls grow UP in
dulging in glum moods, in swapping
and snarling out replies to the things
that people say to them, and in per-
mitting them to make brutal speeches
is nothing less than criminal negli-
gence on the parents part.
The art of pleasing consists in know
ing how to get along with people. how
to rub their fur the right way instead
of doing 1t in way that makes them
arch their backs and fight you.
This is a talant for which the world
pays big money and which lands it's
happy possessor on the top of the
ladder. In its supreme expression it
is gift of the gods, but a very good