SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS. 87 



must roally think me!" But neither says what 

 a fool tlie other was ; each is engaged in tliiukiiig, 

 not of his or her neiglibc)r, but of tlie impression 

 his or her neighbor has formed of himself or her- 

 self. We are all perpetuiilly pla3'ing at cross- 

 questions and crooked answers. Each is absurdly 

 anxious about the efVect j)roduced by himself, but 

 absurdly cool and disdainful about the effect pro- 

 duced by others. 



Whoever wishes to be cured of this ceaseless 

 internal torture should school liimself carefully in 

 the habit of remembering that everybody else has 

 his own doubts and fears and hopes and peculiar- 

 ities, his own tremors and blushes and joys and 

 gratifications. If, poor victim, instead of troub- 

 ling yourself only about what Robinson thinks of 

 you, you sometimes try to think whether you are 

 doing your best to give pleasure to Robinson, you 

 will soon find that the endeavor to concentrate 

 your attention Ui)on somebody else's mind has 

 taken it for the moment off your own eternally 

 nagging personality. Depend upon it, most peo- 

 ple think more about what is being said and done ) 

 around them than about the people who are say- 

 ing and doing it. If the conversation happens to 

 turn u[)on Lord Wolseley's recent movements in 

 Egypt, Mr. Tittlebat Titmouse, venturing with a 

 little flutter of hesitation to express his personal 

 ideas upon the general's capacities as a strategist, 



/ 



