Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-27
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Z. TRACEWELL.

Is the power Of public opinion which, in
many matters, Is no more right than
any other opinion.
y 4 y
Contrast this character-this nui-
sance-with the man or woman who Is
perfectly fair in his dealing with others.
When another, even q stranger, says
something which offers an opportunity
for the righteous expression, he leans
prevent himself from taking an unfair
advantage.
He know that no man invariably
can say the one correct thing. the one
right thing, the one sentiment which
viii combine justice, truth and love tr
such q way as to appeal to every one.
He gives the other credit for the same
decency of thought which he possesses
himself: he Is unwilling, just because
the other has failed to express himself
to pretend that this other has produced
finished product of thought.
Think Of all the woe, unhappiness
disaster. which have been produced in
the world through the pretense-and II
Is nothing more than pretense-that
what Is once delivered by speech or
writing is fixed, final, tnnmutable.
Perhaps this attitude Is necessary,
one would not say it Is not, to prevent
even worse unhappiness, but in many
instances, known to every one, great
injustice has been caused by it.
This attitude is based upon the false
assumption that the mind of every
man Is a perfect intellectual mechan-
ism, incapable of producing anything
but the truth Of his thoughts.
The fact is that the finest char
acters can be worked upon by anger,
or other emotion, to say things which
they by no means mean. Or such in
terpretationS can be put upon their
thoughts and deeds that they can be
placed in an unenviable light. A clas-
sic example Of this Is to be found, in
fiction form, in Guy de Maupassants
story, THE Piece of String"
An old man who made a habit of
found them was falsely accused of
picking up q pocketbook, too. There
was no more to IL than this. The
open and covered accusations of his
neighbors finally 30 worked on his
mind that he became Cracked" on the
subject, and spent the rest Of his life
defending himself Just q piece of
string. piece Of stringl" he would
mutter.
A sad story, but a true one. tn,
world is full Of clever, unscrupuloul
persons who delight in turning an in.
nocent action into q wrong, pretendine
that a deed which they themselveI
would be glad to perform some way hai
something wrong in 1t when done b.
another.
Such persons are mental scoundrels
thieves Of regulations, mischief makers
wherever they go or wherever they arr
found. The proper defense agains,
them-and 1t will work only in minor
caseS-is TO laugh at them. Here, a
In many situations in life, a sense O;
humor is priceless thing. It prevent.
one from taking both himself ai1C
others too seriously. It makes sure that
the victim does not play directly irtC
the hands of the meddler by addins
fuel which the villain Of our piece 4
trying industriously to blow into flame
1ndinerency as q policy Is the next
best remedy. It Is possible to be indif.
ferent in many cases. and thus take
the sting out Of the worst efforts of thu
mean ones Of this world. Another rem.
edy, which takes great personal vigor, Il
that Of the counter-attack. It Is to bC
recommended according to tempera.
ment, age and the case. Avoidance q,
much as possible of the nasty ones 1.
another good remedy, which fails, un.
fortunately, when such persons have in.
quisitorial minds, as they so often have
Our last remedy, and perhaps the best
at least in some cases, Is the clencheC
INST, vigorously applied to the Jaw, CHR
or nose Of the offender.