"A PLEASANT GIRL."
A TRAVELER in Norway last summer came to a village early one morning, and was struck by the air of gloom, which pervaded the streets. Unable to speak a word of the language, he could not ask the cause of this, and concluded that some sickness or financial trouble had fallen upon the community.
As the day wore on toward noon, however, the houses were closed, shop windows were covered; all trade and business ceased. It was death, then.
Presently he saw the people gathering for the funeral. There were the village official, the nobleman from the neighboring chateau, and apparently every man, woman, and child in the village. It must be some dignitary of the church who is dead, or some other country official.
As he stood watching the crowds passing down the little, rocky street, he caught sight of the face of a German known to him. He beckoned to him.
"The town has lost a great man, apparently'?"
"Ah, no. It is only a young maiden who is dead. No. She was not beautiful nor rich. But, oh, such a pleasant girl, monsieur. All the world seems darker, now that she is dead."
It is a singular fact that when we reach middle life, and look back, it is not the beautiful, nor the brilliant, nor the famous people whom we have known that we remember with the keenest regret, but some simple, sincere, "pleasant" soul, whom we treated as an everyday matter while she was with us.
Go into a family or social circle, or even into a ball-room, and the woman who has the most friends there, as a rule, is not the belle, nor the wit, nor the heiress, nor the beauty; but some homely, charming little body, whose fine tact and warm heart never allow her to say the wrong word in the wrong place.
The "pleasant women" are the attraction that everywhere holds society and homes together.
Any woman, however poor and ugly, may be one of them; but she must first be candid, honorable, unselfish, and loving. If she is this, the world will be happier and better for every day of her life, and as in the case of this poor Norwegian, it will seem darker when she is dead.
—Evangelist.
Do not contradict. In making a correction say,
I beg your pardon, but I had an impression it was
so and so. Be careful in your corrections, as you
may be wrong yourself.
HE who always does his best, however little, is
distinguished from him who does nothing.