Evening star., 1926-09-30
Personality.
JOSEPH COOPER loved Milly
Blake from the moment when
he first met her. She had

lie IlTSI met ucIs oHV Iou
Ao deep blue eyes, reddish gold
en- curling hair. and, oh, yes,
bewitching dents in the sides of her
cheeks when she said things like
Beatrice borrowed Bessie's black
bag"
NIilly considered Z. Joseph about as
a. blind man would consider spec
tacles-as useless but harmless. For
a long time he had practiced the sub
lime art of f1atteIv on her with one
half of per cent effect. He was
a spring of adjedives. a fountain OF
comparatives. a veritable geyser OF
superlatives, and Milly, sitting on
the porch hammock, gazed at the
scenery or knitted absorbedly hand
full of blue yarn which never took
any definite shape. She wasn't I'M
pressed. She wasn't even interested.
+. Joseph used to ponder the matter
over on the 10-minute walk home
from Milly's house.
And then one day at the dentist
he got a suggestion. In the waiting
room he beguiled the time until ms
agony by reading the apologize pile
of magazines that covered the table.
Suddenly a fullpage advertisement
struck his eye. 1t read:
PERSONALITY.
BE success. DStGlOp yum PSi
sonality i'm so lessons. Captivate the
onnosite sex. Attract your own.
This may be the turning point or
Your life. Learn the secret OF being
a convincing talker. Send for SO les
sons in a plain cover now.
This was only the beginning. When
T.. Joseph reached the end OF the an
nouncement he realized that his per
sr -ality hadn't its first teeth yet.
F.. re it could grow up to be blg'
st .ng personality so lessons were
es. ,ntial. Accordingly he slyly pock-
eted the little coupon from the DOT
tom of the page.
While he Waited for the results OF
his differed coupon E. Joseph con-
tinued his visits to Millys. But now
he looked at her through different
eyes. through the eyes of one VINO
knew his personality had not yet
evolved. Instead of his usual elo-
ouent flow of language, he nam
tanned an almost dismal silence.
wasn't that he wished to do this, out
every time he thought or a Drignt
idea he also remembered that ms
personality was still latent anu
when he thought them over the Ideas
of his undeveloped personality uioh
seem clever at all.
F.. Joseph's silence bewildered Mlliy;
she had been accustomed to his
loouacitv. Day after day she had
listened to him, feigning an express
sion of boredom which she dld not
feel. It was not wise to appear 100
much interested in young man. Ana
the plan had worked beautifully. r.
Joseph, far from being discouraged
by her attitude, had been spurred to
new effort. Valiantly he had strlven
LII
But on this afternoon everything
6eyiated from it's customary course.
T. Joseph emphasized his unusual
silence bv breaking it now and then
10 utter a few constrained remarks
Then once again silence would DRIFT
back, tangibly-stifiingly Milly un-
ayailingly searched her mind for some
trivial banter.
And the remainder of the week
only served to increase the tension
between them. Consequently T.
Joseph hailed the arrival Of the course
1ovously and immediately read IT
through to the end.
First he piled up heap OF cush-
ions in a big armchair and surmount-
ed them with his old felt hat. This
was Milly. He began to address her
seriously. in accordance with les
son I.
So carefully did he study the les
son that when he went to call on
Milly the next day he knew it per-
fectly. When the opportunity came
he deftly introduced 1t into the con-
versation.
II don't believe / ever saw such
fine weather az were having this
Fall; have your"
It's perfectly Marvellous said
Millv innOcently.
1T reminds me of what the poet
says" f. Joseph quoted glibly. Il
love the days when soft blue haze
creeps on us about dusk.
Oh, lesson l went off beautifully.
True, sometimes Milly did not say
quite what she was expected to. but
r. Joseph each time this occurred
Skillfully led the conversation back
to safe and familiar topics. His sue
cess delighted him, and when he re-
turned home he began to master
lesson with enthusiasm
BY the end of three weeks he had
progressed beyond the schedule and
was on the thirty fourth lesson, IN
Producing the Personal Element in
Conversation with a Young Lady.
All was going well. Milly no
longer appeared indifferent to what
he said. She not only listened to
him. but even seemed to be inter-
ested in his conversation. If all con-
tinued to glide on so smoothly, r.
Joseph thought that he might hope
kor a favorable reception of his suit