AUGUST 401 



it ' beautiful,' forgetting that the children may inherit from 

 the other side of the family a need for sympathy and the 

 expression of affection, and that these are as absolutely 

 necessary to some natures as food for the body. In my 

 experience I can most honestly say that the people who 

 have done best in life are those whose temperament has en- 

 abled them to talk out their difficulties with friends or rela- 

 tives, and who have learned to ask advice. Advice should be 

 taken to develop one's own judgment and, as I said before, 

 need never be followed. It is useful to understand how 

 matters strike other people who are not personally con- 

 cerned. The non-understanding of this is often the cause 

 of a bad influence being exercised by one sex over the 

 other. It is more easy to pardon faults than to forgive 

 those who assume virtues they do not possess. 



The mere forming of one's trouble into words makes it 

 seem lighter to bear. We have all sometimes, if not often, 

 known the extreme worry experienced on waking because 

 of some trivial thing we have done or left undone, which 

 disappears entirely or assumes its proper proportions after 

 our morning bath. Talking out to a friend often plays 

 the part of the bath. 



I can trace a change in my whole life from the 

 kindness of a Jewish old maid to me when I was a 

 precocious little monster of ten years old. We were at 

 Leghorn during a fearful earthquake, and the hotel where 

 we were staying, though not actually thrown down, was 

 so shaken and injured as to be considered unsafe to live 

 in. This good lady took us all in, and was kindness itself 

 to us. My heart went out to her with a genuine out- 

 pouring of love and gratitude, and when we left, having 

 observed my many little childish selfishnesses, she wrote 

 me the following letter : 



' MY DEAREST THERESA, As I feel quite certain 



D D 



