Show A egv YA f 00 THE SOCIAL I 1 iconoclast C 0 N 0 C L A the gin giri who was generally cheer ful came in from an afternoon of calls with a long face now what s the matter with you asked her mother well this has been an afternoon of ideal didn dian t know there were so many busybodies to spoil one ones s faith until to day I 1 haven t an ideal left all my little balloons have come plopping plopping down to earth I 1 ha e learned that there are no heights and that what I 1 imagined were heights are simply clouds there is nothing lovely under the sun every thins thing and every one is smirch ed where have you been asked her mother well first I 1 went to mrs liter ary s I 1 said I 1 didn dian t know when I 1 en joyed a lecture as I 1 did mr reader readers s the other night and mrs literary fairly fell over herse f to tell me that most of the lecture was stolen and that she had read the giester part of it in emerson s essays you know I 1 don t know a thing about emerson s essays so I 1 thought she in be right therefore I 1 skipped at once to light opera with which I 1 flatterer flat terea myself I 1 was well acquainted I 1 said there was some fasci fascinating rating catchy music in the latest comic opera favorite and mrs theatergoer who also was calling on mrs liter ary sniffed and remarked that the music in that opera was vas as ancient a the hills just old stuff made over then I 1 switched back to literature liera ture again and ventured that the novel kovei of the day was a interesting book and mrs LI arary squelched me with the plot of that book has been used hundreds of times it s the same old thing dressed a little differ antly that s all and that s the v ay it went all the afternoon it I 1 dropped in to see mabel you know she makes no pretense of knowing grything ary thing about books music or art I 1 thought I 1 should find solace there but she displayed a disagreeable knowledge of people I 1 mention ed od that mr blank was an admirable man so devoted to his work and such a gentleman she em declared that he was a roaring bluff looked serious and shirked his work on to others and treated his family atrociously then I 1 spoke in enthusiastic terms of mrs airs stunning s figure and she assured me that it was all artificial I 1 learned learne I 1 that the manly looking little blue blood boy was capable of mean tricks that most handsome men were vic ous that pretty girls were invariably made up and that my bosom friend did not do me a favor because she ill ed me but because she had ome axe lo 10 grind I 1 suppose these ame people go around tell ng children there are no fairies and old that the bible on which their faith is pinned is noth ing bat an ordinary book I 1 s they tell trusting wives that their bus b ads are not always upright ard fon foul 1 mothers that their children are far from angels anels I 1 suppose they stick their noses into every ones one s burtne busine 4 and make every one uncomfortable why yo i I 1 now one of jhc thc thee e cranks that I 1 called upon this afternoon went so far as to tell me that I 1 was not what I 1 seemed she said she knew I 1 was not naturally cheerful but adopted that manner because I 1 knew the world did not dot care tor for a melan choly person and that she had also a cusp cion clon that I 1 had a nasty under my sweet smile the old cat and what d d you say to all these d peopled asked the girl girls F mother well I 1 told them that when agnor ance was bliss folly to be wise and that I 1 hoped I 1 should always re main in ignorance of the short com jigs of my friends and relatives and that I 1 was not in sympathy with people who were always trying to undermine an another others s air castle the girl 9 mother smiled and then you wondered because some sharp tongued person told you that you had a a nasty temper under your sweet smile |