The Washington times., 1919-11-22
DEAR MRS. wOODROw:

DEAR MRS. WOODROW:
am sixteen years old and q stenog.
rapher Every Wednesday evening sew
eral girls whom have known ever
since l was child meet at one
another's houses and we all knit and
ehat, chat Last Wednesday. while at my
Others faults. and when 1t came my
turn one Of the girls said: dorothy
has one great big fault. and that IL
s tnat she sympathizes too much with
Now. Mrs Woodrow, this astonished
me rs well as most of the other girls.
For few days I could not help but
think about 1t, and am still thinking
about II most Of the time, and i am
sorry to say that l found out II was
the truth. But l am very respondent
now, for | do not know how i can
ever overcome such q thing.
Please write an article on the cure
Tor self f-sympathizers and greatly oblige
girl who Is much worried over q very
DOROTHY II.
NEAR DOROTHY. do not think
you had a very nice party.
l know that when one is six
ten, one can enjoy almost anything,
but i can easily Imagine a more en-
tertaining and amusing, not to
mention profitable way Of spend
ing an evening than attending q
sort OF mental clinic and ruthlessly
dissecting the poor, shrinking,
quivering faults Of ones self and
ones friendA
Self.Pity.
Effect Of
am sure all of you girls thought
you were being helpful to each
other, as well as showing great
personal heroism when each of you
took the criticism ieveled at you
stoically and good-naturedly and
determined to profit by It, and then
nerved yourself up to the point Of
administering the same treatment
that you had received But we can
only judge Of the efficacy Of any,
thing by its results, so let Us con-
slider the effects of this nothing
but-the-truth causerie.
Every girl present on that We'd
nesday evening was probably af-
fected by this searchlight OF criti-
cism very much as you were and by
your own account you were at first
astonished at this new and unflat
tering picture of yourself, and
then IL filled your mind to the ex-
clusion Of everything else. You
thought IL over and over You con-
sidered it from every angle. Then
came the painful realization that IL
was the truth.
Now / ask you, did this clear up
the whole thing for you? Not at
all. 1t merely produced a feeling
Of dependency. which was followed
by encouragement. And that isn't
the worst of 1t. You are still wor-
rying over II, and making your
self unhappy. You, are paving
yourself SO much for. plying your
self. that you are quite miserable.
The cure, my dear. is simple
so simple that yon may treat il
with scorn. You may think / am
taking your perplexity lightly, and
talking down to you in a superior.
there-little-girl-don way, be-
cause you are very young. as
sure you that ! am doing nothing
OF the kind. l am giving you the
one real remedy for your bother.
1t Is this-forget 1t!
What II you are inclined to re.
gard yourself as imposed upon and
III treated now and then? Such
imag'n'ngs are not penal o~enses.
And why should you expect to be
exempt from faults, when they
flourish In such rank and untrim-
med luxuriance In most Of US?
Don't BE Like
Early Puritans
The early Puritans had q dreary
pastime over which they wasted
much time. They called II examin-
Ing their hearts for hidden and un-
ssa1sctsd traces Of evil The re.