Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1890 — Tactless. [ARTICLE]

Tactless.

There is a class of unfortunates one of whom is usually to be found in every school or community. They are often able, scholarly and witty; they have kind, generous hearts, yet they go stumbling stupidly through life, wounding the hearts and nerves of acquaintances and friends at every step. Mary Campbell belongs to this order of girls. She spends a winter in laboring faithfully with a Sunday-school class of poor children, and then mortally offends them by harshly telling them of their faults, and hoping that when they meet her in the autumn their conduct will be greatly improved. She anxiously recommends the minister, just after a tedious discourse, to study Ilobertson’s sermons as models of force and vivacity. She insists on talking to a man just married to a second wife of the virtues of the first. She gives handsome gowns and hats to her poorer cousins, and invariably adds, “Because you can’t afford it, you know, my dear.” When one does her a favor,if it be but the gift of a bunch of roses, she is careful to send before nightfall a present of at least equal money value. Her brother many years ago gave up drinking, but whenever she is with him now she harasses him with thanksgivings for his reform, and tells the story of his fall and victory to any stranger who may be present. With all these blunders, Mary’s intentions are kind, and it never has occurred to her that her instincts are not fine or her remark s delicate and sympathetic. “The most intolerable of all people,” remarks a witty American, “is the foolish man who means well.” Our French cousins called the unerring perception which enables us to say without fail the right thing in the right place the sixth sense. Some of us are born with it. It ri as natural a trait, indeed, in the American character as it is rare in that of some other peoples. It can be gained by cultivation of a kindly spirit, and the habit of placing ourselves momentarily in each man’s place before we speak to him.— Youth’s Companion.