Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-29

Sneering, one may think sometimes
is not appreciated at its full value.
It is customary to sneer at sneering
as If there were something fundamental.
ly reprehensible in it, when the trouble
lies mostly in misplaced sneers.
Common sense and discretion are a,
necessary here as elsewhere.
l. Sneering without malice is one thing
and sneering with mean intentions an.
other.
The qualified expert sneerer sneers a
conditions and circumstances, not n
persons or personalities.
Cord manners are essential.
X X 4
If one is courteous in his sf1eering hi
may work wonders with it..
After all, a sneer is irony in action
that is all.
Is there anything so terrible about
that?
Ironyl
What masterpieces have been created
in thy namel
When the average human being re-
sorts-or retorts--to irony, it is likely
to be pretty clumsy
Nevertheless, it hits the mark.
Sometimes it hits it all too we'll, thai
is when the unbiased observer sees thai
courtesy is as necessary in sneering al
at dinner party.
X Il x
II you want to put person down, a:
the phrase is, to put them "out of coun.
tenance,'' as it were, a good healthy
sneer is perhaps the very best methoc
Of approach.
The righteous man will not permit
himself to be taken down, or put out
of ccuntenance, so easily as all that. HI
viii be "as bold as a lion," according
to the proverb.
But the person who deserves ell thst
can be handed him is marked for tn.
attack, and no doubt deserves all thai
he gets.
Even with such a fellow, the expert
VIII conflne his good sneers 10 condi-
tons which may have been created BY
the man, and Will mainly refrain from
sneering directly at him.
Y X y
Bad Sneering is that which tends tc
take away a persons reputation ano
happiness. 1t is this type which has
given the sheer its bad reputation.
Consider the word itself. It comes
from the middle English, "sneren." tc
deride, which in turn is derived from
the Danish ''snaerre," TO grin like a dog
Snarl Is related word.
When dog snsrls, he does what in a
human being would be called a sneer-
ing grin.
There can be pleasant grins and I'M
pleasant grins, good smiles and evil
smiles.
Similarly, there are good sneers and
bad sneers, pleasant sneerers ard un-
pleasant ones.
*&&
To discriminate properly between
these types is to learn one of the les
sons of life.
In business. the man who can be
satisfied with what he has, without too
much reference TO what his associate
has, is on the high road to as much
happiness as this world allows any
man.
1t is much the same with sneerers
and sneering.
He who can instantly see the diff
terence between the good sort and the
bad sort is able TO keep his mental
equilibrium when lesser men fail.
The test must be whether the sneerer
confines his remarks TO conditions and
circumstances, not persons or per-
sonalities.
There is the dividing line, over which
not even the greatest may step without
fault.
He who sneers with proper discre-
ton may live to sneer another day. hut
ne who insists on snarling at the faults
and merits of others, no matter how
much justified, is on o dangerous road.
although 1t may look rose-strewn to
him.
Some one may object that what we