Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-04-14

all OTdLOIJ Will ne IIlS LoCC LAldC hc
has always had an entertaining
companion in himself.
Most Of us, alas are such poor
company to ourselves we are so
tedious and tiresome and dull that
the thing we ddead more than any
thing else on earth is our own So
ciety. We can not bear to be alone,
even for an hour, and in our fran
tic efforts to escape from our weari-
ness of ourselves we resort to des-
perate devices.
We flock to see moving pictures
whose scenarios are written down to
the level of idiot children. We pay
out good money at vaudeville shows
to listen to jokes of the Rutherford
3. Hayes period. We spend eve
nings at jazz places jumping about
to the ringing of cow bells and the
beating of tin pans. We conSort
with other Individuals, even more
asinine than We are ourselves. Any
thing to avoid tete-a-tete with our
Selves
Happy, then, the man whose mind
to him a kingdom is, and who is
never SO little as when alone. Hap
Ply is hew no has within himself a
comrade of whom he never tires;
one is always suggesting new and
entertaining things to do, and who
is always interested in everything
that happens: who is forever getting
a fresh angle and another view
point on every subject; one who hits
folly as j. flies and sweetens ana
gladdens the world with an unfail-
ing sense of humor.
Age has no terror for the man
who is that sort Of a companion to
himself. Loneliness does not exist
for him, for if he. were by himself
on desert island he would still be
In the midst of a brilliant and en-
tertaining society.
Since we must always live with
ourselves, and we can not avoid our
own company as/we would that of
any other bore, it is a pity that we
do not give more thought to max
irg ourselves agreeable companions
for ourselves. OF course, the best
way to do this is OF cultivate our
minds.
You cannot imagine the man whose
brain is stored with all the stored
past being so afraid an evening with
himself that he fees to the corner
grocery for company. Nor can you
picture the woman who loves to read
preferring to hang over the back
fence and gossip with the neXt-doOr
neighbor about the number of chop
bones the Jeneses have in their gar
bage can.
Why, cultured people have the
perpetual companionship of every
body worth knowing from Cleopatra
down to the latest cinema Vamp, and
from Alexander the Great down to
Foch. Their intimates are warriors
and orators and statesmen and kings
and heroes and martyrs, and they've
got everything that has ever hap
pened, and lot that is going to
happen to think over, so it is just
impossible for them to be bored with
their own society.
Another great resource against
boredom is travel. The people who
get so tired of their own company
that it gets upon their nerves and
drives them crazy are nearly always
those who live in a rut and who
never get out of it. They've seen
nothing but their own little hollow
in the ground and they are weary
unto death of it.
Those who travel bring home LOT
of memories that make them spell
binders to themselves to the end Of
their days. They never lack a fas-
cinating companion because they
have only to say to themselves, 'Do
you remember%' and all the magic
of far places rises up before their
eyes.
Once, in crossing the ocean, 1 met
on the steamer a plain and shabby
little woman who was vitality inter
ested in every detail of the ship.
She told me that she was a little
buttOnhole maker in cloak factory
and that she sat all day long facing
a dead wall working buttonholes,
week after week, and year after year,
until she felt that the monotony of it
would drive her mad. So she had
taken every dollar of her savings and
made this trip to Europe. She was
going back to her buttonhole making,
but she said she would not mind
now.
She wouldn't see the buttonholes.
She wouldn't see the blank wall. She
would be seeing the glitter of Paris
streets and the glory of cathedrals
and the beauty of Italian lakes. She'd
never bore herself again as long as
she lived.
Another insurance against boring
yourself is - cultivate a fad. Get
interested in something outside of
yourself. You can thrill over post
age stamps and get excited over old
prints, and find an interest that
never pals in first editions, or some
particular breed of china, and spend
many happy hour cantering along
on your hobby.
Do -anything-that will
give you resources within yourself
so that you will not be afraid to
be left to the tender mercies Of your
own society. For the great trouble
with people. who Lore themselves is
that they lore ether people also.
The people who are always lone
some and who depend upon others to
entertain them are public nuisances.
Don't be one CT them Try chun-
ming up with yourself. You may
find your own society more diVerting
than you thought it would be.
Copyright, 1899