The cheerful man makes a cheerful world, the gloomy man a gloomy
one. We usually find but our own temperament reflected in the
dispositions of those about us. If we are ourselves querulous, we
will find them so; if we are unforgiving and uncharitable to them,
they will be the same to us. A person returning from an evening
party not long ago, complained to a policeman on his beat that an
ill-looking fellow was following him: it turned out to be only his
own shadow! And such usually is human life to each of us; it is,
for the most part, but the reflection of ourselves.
If we would be at peace with others, and ensure their respect, we
must have regard for their personality. Every man has his
peculiarities of manner and character, as he has peculiarities of
form and feature; and we must have forbearance in dealing with
them, as we expect them to have forbearance in dealing with us.
We may not be conscious of our own peculiarities, yet they exist
nevertheless. There is a village in South America where gotos or
goitres are so common that to be without one is regarded as a
deformity. One day a party of Englishmen passed through the
place, when quite a crowd collected to jeer them, shouting: "See,
see these people--they have got NO GOTOS!"
Many persons give themselves a great deal of fidget concerning
what other people think of them and their peculiarities.
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