Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-01-31

socially than the ar
49, gIing fiend.
You know the kind of people / mean.
They feel that it is their special duty to
disagree with everything that is said by
anyone else, and to oppose everything
thst anyone else wants to do. YOU can't
make any statement, however, simple
without having to go to the mat with
them over it.
If you opine that It is pleasant day,
they find it too hot, or too cold, or too wet,
or too dry. II you praise the food at din
ner. they find hundred faults with 1t.
If you voice your admiration of friend,
they tear his or her character TO tatters.
if YOU indiscreetly mention that you are
going to do certain thing, they prophesy
dire disaster. II YOU say you are gong to
place, they throw million obstacles IN
your way.
And If you give in to these arguing
hounds, as you often do through sheer
exhaustion, they turn right around and
take the opposite side of the question. All
they want is the pleasure of the row, and
the malevolent Joy they get out of irritat-
ing you, and spelling all of your pleasure
in the thing you Like.
For man or woman to be afflicted with
this arguing mania is fatal handicap in
business. No man wishes to do business
with partner whom he will have to fight
70 standstill over every proposition that
comes up. 1t takes too much strength and
energy that should be given to pushing
the enterprise. No employer wants an
over every detail of every order before
carrying it out, and then does it under
protest and with an air that says as
plainly aswords Tll-do-it-because-I-ha
to-but- t-L4lnow-it t's-wrong-and-I-toId-you-
20.
No customer ever goes back the second
time to the clerk who forces the thing
she doesn't want on her, instead of the
thing she desired, and who disputes with
her over her taste and knowledge of the
fitness of things.
/ have known plenty Of capable business
men who could never get on, because they
argued themselves out of every desirable
place they got into. The finest stenog-
rapher have ever known cannot make a
living, because she is one eternal, never
ending argument with her boss and those
about her, until she gets fred for the
peace of the Office. One Of the most bril-
liant actresses of our day is always seeking
job, because she is unenfurable in COM
psny. She would agree with Shakespeare
over the text of his plays. She argues
with the stage-manager over the business,
and when she gets to Heaven she will argue
with Saint Peter about the way he keeps
the Golden Gates.
Look about you, and you viii never find
an arguer who has made success of life
The people who preach anarchy, and dis
content, and rail at the government and
society from the tails of carts, and from the
cracker boxes around the stoves in country
stones, are the arguers who have made
/ failures of their own affairs. They were so
busy opposing other people, they had no
time to do anything for themselves.
Socially, the argler Is the chief among
ten thousand bores, and we would 90 as
far TO avoid meeting one face to face, as
we would q leper. One Person addicted TO
dIsputation, can spoil the lolliest party
for a score of other people, or turn the most
carefully-plsnned dinner into cinders,
ashes, and dust. For the arguer has an un-
canny instinct that makes him or her 90
for pet enthusiasm, tear your heroes TO
pieces, and asperse every faith that is
sacred and holy to you.
II is in the family circles however, that
the arguer gets in his deadhest work.
There let two Of these be left together, and
warfare RACES from the coming up Of the
sun 10 the going down thereof, and back
again. No subject Is too small and in
significant TO fight over, and there is no
peace, nor rest, nor happiness under that
roof
Such husbands and wives soon come
TO hate each other. Their children have
no respect for them, because, In the heat of
the argument, they have heard each make
horrible accusations against the other, and
= IL
who fight first on one side and then on the
other, when they are not battling among
themselves. If you want recipe for max
fIg marriage failure, just argue It's
all that is necessary.
And 20 what end is the argument? Did
YOU ever know of anybody who was con-
vlced by an argument, or who changed
his or her point Of view because Of one2
Never. The only result of an argument is
TO bore every listener stiff, and to leave
everyone thinking Of the arguer with q
bitter taste In his or her mouth.
Nobody loves an arguer. The people we
like, and whose society we enjoy, are those
who are congenial with US, who like the
same things we like and hold the same
views that we hold.
And what egotism il is TO try to force
our ideas and ideals on others, How can
we bc so sure that the mantle Of Solomon
has fallen upon our shoulders, and that
we are wiser than our fellow-creatures?
How can we presume to know that our
way is better than their way?
And even if we do know better, what
night have we TO deprive another of his
individual freedom TO live his own life In
his own way, and have, and do, the thing
be desires, without being badgered about
thenl
The moral of all of which is, that it is the
part of policy, of good sense, of kindliness
and fair play, never to argue, and when
we do not agree with others, to keep our
opin ions to ourselves, unless they are asked
for. OF course, to ask the arguer to deny
himself the pleasure of hearing his own
voice is to ask him TO make an heroic sacri-
foe, but it pays.
The most important thing that any hui
man being ever learns is when TO quit
talking.