Year: 1879

teristic Of the day. In past times enc
mics had many resources-duels, horse
whipping, tournaments, pluckings OF


boards, and smitings under fifth-ribs


but in these days their only choice lies


between dead cut and the cold
shoulder. The readiness and portability


of this last weapon renders its use but


too common, and it is rarely that any
social gathering takes place without
SOME very pretty fighting with this in
strument. 1t has also this advantage.


that its use is not confined to the male
sex, for women can WELD it on occasion


with the ferceness of petrOleuses. The
graceful use of the cold shoulder fairly
deserves to be ranked among the fine
arts; while, on the contrary, nothing
can be more ungainly than its awkward
application. When a tactless man
meets the object of his detestation, he
looks .nervously sself-conscious, and
seems undecided whether to cut, or
merely slight his enemy. After blush
ing in foolish manner, he gives an
awkward bow, which, intended to be
graceful, nreality yludicrouslyclumsy.
A casual observer might impute his
singular behavior to shyness rather
than hatred. The most successful hand
at cold-shouldering is the heartless and
listless man, who can put his victim
completely out of his mind, and forget
his presence, if not his existence, as
soon as he has accorded him the coldest
of frecognitions. Without insinuating
that women are more heartless and
istless than men, we may observe that
they are far greater adopts in this art
than the opposite sex. Most men are
more or less i'll at ease when they know
that theyare giving pain to others, but
this is by no means invariably the case
with women. We might even go so far
as to say that ladies sometimes too
evidently derive satisfaction from the
annoyance of others while retaining
their own caloric; but men cannot OBJ
tain like result without first becom-
ing icicles themselves. The lords of
the creation, moreover, when wishing
to appear dignified, are apt to assume
an air of vacant stupidity. They are,
IN fact, bad actors; and when man
would like to knock another down, he
finds it an effort to treat him with cold
politeness.


But if the art of giving the cold
shoulder is worthy Of requirement,
much more SO is that Of receiving it
judiciously. II is quite possible to en-
dure its application with such becom-
ing dignity that the aggressor comes off
decidedly second-bestin in the encounter.
Perhaps amused indifference forms the
most effective armor against its thrusts,
for few things so disconcert an enemy
as to find his attacks affording diver
sion to his antagonist. The probability
in such case is that he will either lose
his temper, and thus put himself inn
mediately in the wrong, or else sur
render Internationally on perceiving
the absurdity of the situation. 1t is
said that people who have an inordinate
fear of infectious diseases are more sus-
ceptible of them than others; and, in
the same manner, those who are
always dreading the cold shoulder are
most vulnerable to that kind of attack.
Indeed, men who live in perpetual fear
of sights from others become so con
cOlebihCt LII UllC11 uld1uGI lIldB 1t lS tA-
tremely difficult for their friends to
treat them with geniality. The coldest-
hammered people are frequently those
who look for most warmth from others;
and when their expectations are not
gratified they forget that the GOODNESS
they meet with is but a dim reflection
of their own. But miserable as is the
state Of persons who suffer from over
sensitiveness, it is to be preferred to
that Of the hardened Wretches who are
impervious to the sternest enslaughts
of the cold shoulder. There are beings
who are so convinced of their own at
tractiveness that nothing will per-
suade them that they are objects of
special aversion. If they observe that
the manner of an acquaintance is I'M
usually cold they attribute it to dyspep-
sia or to depreciation in the value Of
his Investments.


1t may be doubted whether any
human being has ever lived to the age
of thirty without experiencing the cold
shoulder in some form or other. Who
does not know what it is, when casually
falling in with a couple of friends, to
see them smile significantly at each
other, and then accord him a colder
greeting than he expected2 Or who has
not. heard a knot Of his acquaintances
chuckle with ill-coneealed mirth when
he left them? If any one has escaped
such a fate, has he never found the
conversation of friend cold or abrupt
when he had hoped it would be sympa-
thetic and familiar? Is there man so
lucky that he has never been made to
feel that he was in the way when pay
ing call? Have not most of us oc-
casionally found that our most interest
ing communications have been re-
sponded to by vacant tReally, =
while our best stories have failed to
provoke smile? Do no friends who
once signed themselves ''yours very
affectionately" now conclude their let
ters with chilling ''yours truly?n
Have none of the old nick-names and
familiar expressions been dropped, and
are all The standing invitations to
luncheon still in force? Have we not
written affectionate and detailedepistles
which after long delay have received
but curt notes in reply. containing no