beautiful? It is not fair to the others----" and so on.


=TACTLESS BLUNDERERS=

Tactless people are also legion. The means-to-be-agreeable elderly man
says to a passée acquaintance, "Twenty years ago you were the prettiest
woman in town"; or in the pleasantest tone of voice to one whose only son
has married. "Why is it, do you suppose, that young wives always dislike
their mothers-in-law?"

If you have any ambition to be sought after in society you must not talk
about the unattractiveness of old age to the elderly, about the joys of
dancing and skating to the lame, or about the advantages of ancestry to
the self-made. It is also dangerous, as well as needlessly unkind, to
ridicule or criticize others, especially for what they can't help. If a
young woman's familiar or otherwise lax behavior deserves censure, a
casual unflattering remark may not add to your own popularity if your
listener is a relative, but you can at least, without being shamefaced,
stand by your guns. On the other hand to say needlessly "What an ugly
girl!" or "What a half-wit that boy is!" can be of no value except in
drawing attention to your own tactlessness.

The young girl who admired her own facile adjectives said to a casual
acquaintance: "How _can_ you go about with that moth-eaten, squint-eyed,
bag of a girl!" "Because," answered the youth whom she had intended to
dazzle, "the lady of your flattering epithets happens to be my sister."

It is scarcely necessary to say that one whose tactless remarks ride
rough-shod over the feelings of others, is not welcomed by many.