it. Do not let us be proud of our personal defects and peculiarities.
They are subjects for regret, not pride. When a woman boasts that she
"knows she is often impatient, but she simply cannot help it, she is
so peculiarly constituted!" she acknowledges a weakness of which she
should be ashamed. If she is so undisciplined, so untrained, that she
cannot avoid making life uncomfortable for those around her, she would
better stay in a room by herself until she learns self-control. Often
the very eccentricities of character to which we cling so tenaciously
are but forms of vanity. Why should our preferences, our likes or
dislikes be of more account than those of thousands of other people?

Another great mistake we make is that we try the effect of other
colors with our own, and resent it hotly if they do not "go well
together." We do not insist that they shall be like ours in tint, but
they must act as good backgrounds, or form pleasing combinations with
ours, or we will none of them. Now it is quite possible for human
beings to hold contrary views from those entertained by you and me,
and still be excellent members of society and reputable Christians. To
many of us this seems incredible, but it is none the less true. Not
only are individual characters different, but environment and
education make us what we are. Very often a person who is uncongenial
to us, will, in the surroundings to which she is fitted, be at ease,
and perhaps even attractive.

I do not say that we must like everybody. That is a physical, mental
and moral impossibility. But we may do others the justice of seeing
their good traits as well as the bad. And sometimes when we find a
chance acquaintance drearily uninteresting, it is because we do not
take the trouble to find out what is in her.