Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1874 — Mice and Mice-like People. [ARTICLE]

Mice and Mice-like People.

Quiet people seldom get justice done them, except by their immediate friends. It is your noisy, rackety folk who secure most of the world’s spontaneous acclamation. The man -who talks common-places at the top of his voice, who is in the habit of perpetrating preposterous jokes and laughing consumedly at the same, and who makes a point of thrusting himself into conversation whether he understands the drift of the same or not, runs a niuch better chance of being dubbed a clever fellow than does the individual who rarely.speaks unless he is thoroughly au fait with his subject, and who is addicted to advanclng his opinions in a hesitating, timid fashion. Even when boisterous people have been found to be shallow impostors and to partake largely of the character of the drum, which looks big and is so extremely, hollow, many persons still feel a sort of admiration for them, and they receive more credit than is their due. Their boldness, which, in many instances, amounts to positive impudence, secures the half-admiration of those who feel, and rightly, that it is useless their attempting the same kind of thing, and who are frequently completely eclipsed when brought into contact with a forward being of the kind under notice. These are led to feel, moreover, that they compare unfavorably with him in another and, in the eyes of a sensitive being, a more important aspect. He is addicted to indulging in extravagant protestations of friendship at a moment’s notice; after an acquaintance extending over half an hour he will slap your back with considerable force —indeed, with more force than is pleasant, looking at the matter from a physical point of view—and ram his arm through yours with an amount of energy which should speak volumes for the warmth and sincerity of his feelings toward you, and finally-walk off with-you with an air of easy proprietorship which ought to be vgry flattering to your vanity—i. e., if you are at all liable to glory in the fact that it is competent for you, more than for the majority of your fellows, to make a very favorable impression in a short space of time. Quiet people, on the other hand, .are slow in manifesting warmth of feeling, and you will not often find them slapping comparativestrangers on the back, or linking arms with people of whom'they have not a thorough knowledge. Occasionally, of course, they may do so, for the contagion of example is so great that these passive beings are sometimes led to imitate the ways of their more dashing brethren. But, in the event of their doing so, they invariably only succed in bringing down humiliation upon themselves. There is a hesitancy about what they do which plainly indicates the effort they are making, and they

demonstrate in many ways that they are half ashamed of what they arc attempting. When they talk loudly there is a quaver and a hardness in their voices, showing that they are departing from their ordinary rule of life. While attempting any extravagant manifestations of good feeling it *is customary for their faces to assume a sheepish expression, and the evidence of their uncomfortablcness is completed by a series of blushes. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that those who know most about human nature, and are the greatest adepts at studying character, have justly a decided partiality for many quiet people, feeling that genius is apt to be shy, and that sincerity is often diffident, while, on the other hand, an excess of clatter often only hides innate weakness or serves as a cloak for ulterior designs or mean motives. Certain it is that the man who gushes upon slight provocation is invariably but a broken reed to rely on when one has to battle with the fierce waves of adversity ; while the retiring individual often proves a tower of strength, and shows himself possessed of depths of character of which no one has hitherto been disposed to give him credit. Why is it that these retiring people whom we have taken the liberty of comparing with mice arc so fond of being left to themselves, as they most undoubtedly are? How is it when they enter a room filled with people to most of whom they are comparative strangers they have a weakness for getting into some obscure corner, and of screening thent. selves from general observation by a book or collection of prints or photographs, the probability being that the books, prints, or photographs interest them but little? It seems likely that all this is owing, not so much to want of capacity, or natural shyness, or timidity—though it may in some cases be largely due to this—as to their inability to adapt themselves to a promiscuous assemblage, an inability which they probably feel and lament over. Addison was a bashful man when in company, but there is no reason for supposing that his shyness arose from a sense of his inferiority to the majority of people whom he was called upon to meet. Indeed,there is no doubt that in richness of idea and power of expression few who came near him were anything like his equals, mjjCtrless his superiors. Yet the fact nmnains that he was undoubtedly shy. Hfe case is illustrative - of the fact that timid men are not necessarily noodles, as some superficial observers seem inclined to imagine. Probably if the truth were known many of the quiet people under notice feel the most profound contempt for the majority of those who contribute to the noisy gabble which passes current in drawing-rooms and at dinner parties. More probable still, at the same time they are aware that they arc unable to contribute a satisfactory share thereto. Somehow or other, the few sentences they do hazard do not seem to fit in with the flow of talk, and their only effect appears to be an unpleasant one, which recoils on the heads of the speakers. This simply arises from the fact that they cannot adapt themselves to all circumstances, the result being that they are only able to talk satisfactorily and well with those who thoroughly understand them, and whom they thoroughly understand. Theymay sometimes be above the generality of folk, they may occasionally be below, but it is not so much a question of highness or lowness as it is of adaptability. In witness thereof may be cited the fact that a host of mediocrities are in the habit of talking at almost all times with singular ease, albeit the greater portion of what they utter is conventional nonsense. Still, nonsense is better than nothing, and the order of beings under notice would do well to be less severe in their condemnation of it. They may rest assured that they would appear to more advantage when engaging in the most vapid of dialogues than they do when retiring in corners and building castles in the air, or thinking contemptuously of the intellectual weakness of those whom they are regarding. A little attention to the matter would soon enable a man to cease to attract attention on account of his quietness without causing him to become boisterous. — Liberal Review.