CHAPTER LII 



THE LAST LAP — THE REAL " SELF " 



My Friends, Men and Women — Lord Northcliffe's Dictum — 

 Hoping On — Apologia 



I HAVE had many friends in all classes of life. Many 

 I have kept, while I suppose it is inevitable to drift 

 apart from others through various causes which may 

 not constitute faults — on either side. Years go by 

 and different surroundings are met with ; change 

 of environment can mean change of people. By 

 " friends," men and women both are included. I 

 cannot recollect having made an enemy among the 

 former, and if with the latter there can exist the 

 irresponsibility of sharp tongues ; other men — better 

 than I — have been " spoken about," from various 

 causes, from "giving a loser" to "preferring the most 

 congenial in womankind." The advantage women 

 have as a sex is that their mind changeth very little 

 from one year to the other or from one century to 

 another. That is the charm of retrospect. Existing 

 conditions studied are the only differences from when 

 they were the pivot of the philosophy of the ancients, 

 or the theme of Shakespeare. Women of all ages are 

 the same ; they wear different clothes ; they use face- 

 creams instead of cold water ; they distort or improve 

 the figure ; they may luxuriate in their hair or 

 wear transparencies or switches, but, they have ever 

 the same attribute — charm 1 This belongs to the 

 garrulous or the amiable, the shrew or she of the 

 placid plaited hair ; the natural beauty or she who 



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