=THE BORE=

A bore is said to be "one who talks about himself when you want to talk
about yourself!" which is superficially true enough, but a bore might more
accurately be described as one who is interested in what does not interest
you, and insists that you share his enthusiasm, in spite of your
disinclination. To the bore life holds no dullness; every subject is of
unending delight. A story told for the thousandth time has not lost its
thrill; every tiresome detail is held up and turned about as a morsel of
delectableness; to him each pea in a pod differs from another with the
entrancing variety that artists find in tropical sunsets.

On the other hand, to be bored is a bad habit, and one only too easy to
fall into. As a matter of fact, it is impossible, almost, to meet anyone
who has not _something_ of interest to tell you if you are but clever
enough yourself to find out what it is. There are certain always
delightful people who refuse to be bored. Their attitude is that no
subject need ever be utterly uninteresting, so long as it is discussed for
the first time. Repetition alone is deadly dull. Besides, what is the
matter with trying to be agreeable yourself? Not _too_ agreeable. Alas!
it is true: "Be polite to bores and so shall you have bores always round
about you." Furthermore, there is no reason why you should be bored when
you can be otherwise. But if you find yourself sitting in the hedgerow
with nothing but weeds, there is no reason for shutting your eyes and
seeing nothing, instead of finding what beauty you may in the weeds. To
put it cynically, life is too short to waste it in drawing blanks.
Therefore, it is up to you to find as many pictures to put on your blank
pages as possible.