Evening star., 1925-03-17

| been to him. When affairs go wrong
at the office he saves his words for
his wife, to whom he may safely spill
| them.
| If some one plays him a mean trick,
| instead of futilely beating the air In
the presence of that man he takes his
woes home to his wife, and soon be-
gins to feel better.
! X X X
| The man who talks about others
! behind their back is not such a villain,
, then, as he has been painted. knock
| ing" others may be carried to excess,
of course, but as a general thing 1T
relieves the feelings and allows one to
| come to a truer estimation of the one
| criticized.
! l have often seen a man start out
on a campaign of villification of an
absent comrade, and before he had
ended he had come around to a much
| better understanding and apprecia-
ton of the man under the hammer.
| Misunderstanding of others is one
| of the great troubles OF the world.
If only we could know all about
| another, get into his mind and look
| out from his eyes, we might hope to
| have universal peace, not among ma
| tions alone, but among families and
| acQuaintances.
| How can we have universal peace
| If scarcely three men can get to-
| gether without recrimination?
Misunderstanding carries so many
| faces that 1t is hard, at times, to fnd
| the mans real face. Discussion-be-
hind his back, if you please-helps
=! clarity the vision, so that the next
| time you meet him you may be able
to see him in a better light.
| Talking behind a mans back Is so
much better than telling him the
same thing to his face!
| l realize that some wary one may
say at this point: ''Ah, that is where
| your program falls down! Few would
dare to go to man and tell him TO
his face what they would say behind
his back. What you should do is ad-
vocate cutting out all talking behind
| the back"
| My answer to that is: never advo-
cate anything which I believe impos-
| sible of carrying out
A man has got to talk. 1t Is just
a question of where he does 1t. And
| l submit that 1t is better for him to
get his mean cracks out of his sys-
tenn behind the victims back, as the
phrase has II, than to his face
| In other words, man is a talking
| animal. Talk he must. If he has a
| grudge against some one, he is going
| to talk about him, whether it is right
| or wrong. 1 do not imagine there
will ever be national prohibition of
| knocking" either.
4 x X
Imagine going to Timothy Brown,
your old side-kick, and saying: Tim
othy. old chap, you ought to get rid
! of that old cap you are wearing
| Honest, you make me ashamed to
| walk down the street with you How
| on earth you can keep on wearing it,
| do not know. All your friends are
| talking about IL. Loosen up and buy
| a new one, for heavens sake and
mine"
| Good old Timothy, who regards that
| cap as part OF him, would only be
hurt at such structures and cling to
his old cap all the tighter No. the
| proper way. If you feel bad about
Tins cap. is to go home and take
| lt out on your patient wife. Tell her:
Say, have you ever seen Timothy
| Browns old cap? Haw, Haw, It's
a disgrace. That bird ought to loosen
up and get himself another one"
| After all. much OF what we saw
| about others behind their backs is
not worthy of being repeated to their
| faces. 1t is entirely negligible, in tha
| vast scheme of things. BY TALKING
behind ones back we save ourself
from hurting others and, what Is more
important, save the feelings of others
| women, being more practical than
| men, and kinder, have ALWAYS shown
their common sense by following this
] practice siA"