The Washington herald., 1920-07-17

Are You Good Company for Your
| selff
| Gee" said q small boy to me
the other day, but I'd hate to be
my Aunt Maria and always have to
live with myself"
And I thought of Aunt Maria,
and many another one like her,
gloomy and pessimistic. warped in
soul and suspicious OF disposition.
always chewing over the cud of
bitter thoughts, and l pitied them
Tor the company they must keep.
For the one human being on
earth from whom there Is no DOS
sibility Of escape Is ourself. We
can avoid our enemies. We can
fee from our disagreeable friends
and acQuaintances. We can put
many miles between ourselves and
depressing members of our families.
We can divorce our husbands and
wives when We can no longer en-
dure them. but there is no way of
freeing ourselves from ourselves
Our personality is an Old Man OF
the Sea, fastened upon our backs,
from which no magic can deliver
US. We are doomed to bear our
selves company from the cradle to
the grave.
How unfortunate, then. the lot Of
those whose ego is not a pleasant
person with whom to live. How
| Important to cultivate those graces
of mind and heart that will Sc
cure us congenial companionship in
ourselves. and enable us to be never
less alone than when alone!
Think OF what a horror 1t must
be to have to live with yourself
IL you are grumpy and grouchy
and filled with a deep dark suspi-
cion of your fellow creatures!
Think OF what Il means never to
see the world except through green
and bilious eyes. never to taste life
except to fnd IL gall and worm
! wood on your lips!
| Consider the poverty Of those who
! believe in nothing that Is good and
| sweet: who receive no love because
they give none: who miss friend
| ship because they trust no one; who
have nothing but their own hard.
! cruel thoughts for company!
! Wouldn't you hate to be a crouch.
and have to live with yourself?
Or, think what II must be to have
| to spend year in. and year out. with
| a melancholy, pessimistic individual.
who believes the worst of every
| thing, and never sees anything but
despair, and failure. and the black
ness of midnight everywhere!
| Wouldn't you loathe having to live
| with yourself II you were a pessi-
mist?
Or. think what IL would be to be
| one OF those who are filled with en-
wy and jealousy. and who eat their
hearts out in bitter repining be-
cause someone else has more OF the
good things Of life than they,
Think of a woman who hates all
other women who are younger and
more beautiful than sic, or who are
more admired by men, or have finer
establishments, or more gorgeous
clothes. Think of a man who be-
grudges every other man his sue
cess! What bitterness. what heart
burnings. what futile pangs Of rage
tear at them like SO many vultures
feasting on their very souls
wouldn't you hate to be one OF
those who must go through life
chained to the green-eyed mon
ster?
Think OF a woman who is whining
and complaining and dissatisfied.
and that nothing in the world ever
suits "a woman whom God Al
mighty has not been able to please.
and who finds the weather always
too hot or too cold or too wet or
too dry-a woman whose husband
and children should always have
done the thing they didn't do
woman who frets at her servants.
and berates her dressmakers, and
whose whole life Is a turmoil over
trifies.
Think of never knowing a min
ute's peace and calm, or the JOY OF
pure satisfaction in the society OF
someone dear to you, or the posses
sion of some coveted article. or he
ing in some desired spot!
wouldn't you hate to be a wor-
rier, and have TO live with yourself.
and get on your own nerves as bad
ly as you get on other peoples?
Think OF the suspicious people
who are always looking out for
sights, and who see offense in every
casual careless word and look. and
who brood over II until II obsesses
them, Think OF a morbid vanity
IndI Is dl"dyS oh lHC "dNSh W SNN
il Just the due amount of respect is
paid to il. and the adulation offered
IL that IL thinks II deserves. and
that suffers tor!ncnts when 4 heed
less world passes II by! Think of
person. starving for praise. and
whose only meat and drink Is self
pity.
wouldn't you hate TO be a man or
woman with an inCrowing egotism,
and have to live with yourself?
Think OF the stupid people who
never read anything, who have
never seen anything understand
ingly. who have no entertaining
thoughts to keep them amused and
diverted. who cannot spend hours
hours-in trying TO
Sherlock Holmes the minds of their
acquaintance, so as to find out
why they married the people they
did. or choose the occupation they
follow. or acted as they did under
some given circumstances!
Think of those who cannot fnd