OCR Text |
Show ! THROUGH A j 5 WOMAN'S I i EYES 5 c 5 R g By JEAN NEWTON uc). u ;he ile.I S:.d;.ule. Inc.) A Woman's Failing "Is there anything In the world j more irritating than the way some women make rules to govern everything every-thing and then want to run other lives by their own rules and measures I and judge other people with the yardstick yard-stick of their own making? Without j knowing or considering 1 lie circumstances circum-stances of a situation or the character and disposition of the person involved, they will fling down their rule for any matter 11s umjuei-riotinbly as nature na-ture dings a flash f ligl, cuing across the sky. With no thought of the re- snonsibility ,-,ey assume they will 1 volunteer nn opinion and give ud- j vice on a subject of which they have j absolutely no understanding. but 1 which they Jam into line under, one of their rules! It is the older generation, genera-tion, of course, from whom we suffer most in this, way. Is there any won der, then, Hint grown children do not seek or regard the advice of their elders el-ders who would judge only by the antiquated an-tiquated rules behind which they have entrenched themselves?" One guess tells us that this reader is suffering from a well-meaning mother or aunt, perhaps, who has the fault of generalizing, who says'. "This Is the way to handle a husband," without knowing the man; "That ' is the way to bring up a child," without considering the Individual child ; "There is the way to happiness." without with-out regard to whose happiness is in question, and the fact that each of us must judge what constitutes happiness for ourselves ! Life Is so complicated and people so very different that It is foolish to generalize. The older we grow, the more we see this Illustrated; the more evidence we find of 1 lie fact that It is neither fair to judge nor practical to advise one person by rules that fit another that in the human equation the fact that something has happened one way ls no proof whatever that anything will ever happen that way again ! We should know, if we have lived at all, that rules about human beings are as full of exceptions as life ls of surprise, nnd that for unimpaired, unim-paired, straight thinking we are best off regarding rules as so much excess baggage and discarding them altogether. alto-gether. And yet people, and older people as a rule, fall victims to the temptation to generalize. They tell us how much freedom a daughter should have, how a mother should spend her time, what we should do with our money. Women are most prone to this failing. fail-ing. Men usually are slower to form opinions. "Kidding Ourselves Along" "Well. It 'seems everything happens for the best," said that chubby, contented con-tented looking little Mrs. Sniithers, "if John hadn't died he would have seen the disintegration of the business he loved; that would have made him very unhappy. And if my boy hob had not been lamed as a child, he would have gone to France, and perhaps been killed or terribly disabled. So taking It all in all, I think I'm a very lucky woman. Kveryiiiing happens for the best." "Her son Is lamed and her husband dies and she tells herself she's a Hn-r.y woman! She just kids herself along!" was the comment of a snappy young matron who had overheard. "1 believe if the world came to an end she'd find a reason for rejoicing and be absolutely convinced It was ail for tile best. She kids herself along--that's all." If that is true then there Is a very wonderful gift in just "kidding ourselves our-selves along." What Is love bur "kidding ourselves ! along"? It endows its object, a man or woman whom the world rc gam's as ; a poor ordinary c-c-e.i ore. with ali the : beauty, all the grace, all the chann, j all the wisdom and all the glory of j our own imagination. Through ihe j rose colored irlnsses of love plainness 1 becomes fairness, itisiuuilienuoe ln-I ln-I comes radiance, mediocrity becomes I splendor. I What is that but "kidding our-I our-I selves along"? And where would the j world be without il ? Then. too. it lias ' happened that when piople have 'kidded themselves along" hard enough with reference lo the qualities of J some one they love, that the object . of that self-iii !us,,ii has In reality taken on some of the hue of their i rose-rolored glasses. In the words of the evangelist, love tins "washed them clean." ' Not only love, bui beaul.v where is , that but in the eye of ihe l,eb,,i,er? J And the divine harmony of souiel exquisite ex-quisite nius-c w hicli evi.as only be- i - cause there are ears lhat lone been ! ; trained to 111 "1 , rstarid and appreciate I II? Are all t!n,-e himians "!:-, Iding ' i tliem.-el es along"? I ! And if 'be ear and the eye may - be train,-, 10 see and hear le-aiHy. ' why not the mind to underM ,1:1 I and 1 appreciate ihe f,-i-.i:ly and geod in the 1 workings of Providence? jf ;f,af ,. 1 j "kid-iii c ours.-lves aloiiL'" ihero i hap-oinf hap-oinf -in lea rning t he art |