Show cowardice in social life just see how it Is in these respect able lives of ours see how almost all our trivial shortcomings have their root back in this one shameful sin of cowardice take gance which means theft take affect which means untruthfulness take worry which means distrust and Is not distrust an irreverence of the mind it not of the lipse take con cern about small physical ills which means selfish narrowness ah well the list grows as long as the ten commandments as we think it over indeed it is a most disagreeable di line of thought and far pleasanter and easier to work out for other people say mesdames X and Z than our selves for instance we can see clear ly enough mrs X s cowardice in her extravagance that woman it you trall believe it buys a new carpet though she chasn t paid her butcher for two months because she Is ashamed of the worn spot in front of the win dow A rug would look queer in such a place so she can t cover the spot but she is afraid to have people see it so she buys a new carpet of course she could perfectly well pull the old carpet up and have decent clean boards but heavens no she has not the courage for realities hence mr X highs and the butcher when an other month oes by and he is still unpaid swears and mrs X s forehead tales a new wrinkle coward the thief too from the butcher s point of view for of course the price ot that carpet has come out of his pocket and fool the sinner adds severely for being a woman of more education than mrs X she understands the dig aty and refinement of economy margaret apeland in harper s bazar |