heels tightly together, and assumed a determined, soldierlike pose. From that day Mr. Hughes has had entire command of himself. (Text.)
(2864)
Self-deception—See Facts, Ignoring. SELF-DEPENDENCE
By thine own soul's law learn to live; And if men thwart thee, take no heed; And if men hate thee, have no care— Sing thou thy song, and do thy deed; Hope thou thy hope, and pray thy prayer, And claim no crown they will not give. —John G. Whittier.
(2865)
SELF-DEPRECIATION When Deacon Hotchkiss bought Brother Bemis' yearling heifer he demanded a guarantee of the animal's condition, and he asked Brother Bemis to swear to that guarantee before the justice of peace. Brother Bemis was hurt by this unusual precaution on the part of a lifelong friend and neighbor. "Why, Brother Hotchkiss," he remonstrated, "you ain't no need to be so pesky s'picious with me. I ain't never cheated you, hev I? You wa'nt like this never before." "I wa'nt—I wa'nt," assented Brother Hotchkiss cordially, "but I hearn you t'other night when you wuz on the anxious seat at revival meetin' and I sez to myself, sez I, 'if Brother Bemis is half the sinner he makes himself out to be, it behooves me to be ever-*lastin' keerful with him next caow trade.'" Which goes to show that a man is more likely to be taken at his own estimate of himself when he puts that estimate low than when he puts it high; and that it is not over-*wise in a man to make estimate of himself in time of excitement and a place of publicity. (Text.)—Puck.
(2866)
SELF-DISPLAY
Many men embrace the most trivial opportunities to attract attention to themselves, with far less reason than the great actor in this incident recorded in Scribner's Magazine:
Nothing else he ever did equaled Mansfield's
recital of his experience the night he
condescended to the plebeian rôle of a
waiter and wore an apron. His whole "business"
was to draw a cork, but he took pains
to drive that cork home before coming on
the stage. When his cue came to draw the
cork he tugged and tugged in vain. His face
grew scarlet and perspiration dropt from
his forehead. Then he handed the bottle to
another waiter, who struggled with all his
strength without budging the cork. Mansfield
turned a deaf ear to the voices in the
wings shouting for him to leave the stage.
He took the bottle back again and with renewed
effort finally dislodged the cork. The
insignificant pop it gave after those Titanic
efforts again brought down the house.
(2867)
SELF-EFFACEMENT
Was Rafael, think you, when he painted
his pictures of the Virgin and Child in all
their inconceivable truth and beauty of expression,
thinking most of his subject or of
himself? Do you suppose that Titian, when
he painted a landscape, was pluming himself
on being thought the finest colorist in the
world, or making himself so by looking at
nature? Do you imagine that Shakespeare,
when he wrote "Lear" or "Othello," was
thinking of anything but "Lear" and
"Othello"? Or that Mr. Kean, when he plays
these characters, is thinking of the audience?
No; he who would be great in the eyes of
others, must first learn to be nothing in his
own. (Text.)—William Hazlitt.
(2868)
SELF-ESTEEM
We may be properly independent of the patronage of royalty, but this independence need not take the form of rudeness as with the musician in these incidents:
Liszt refused to play at court of Queen
Isabella in Spain because the court etiquette
forbade the introduction of musicians to
royalty. In his opinion even crowned heads
owed a certain deference and homage to the
sovereignties of art, and he determined it
should be paid.
He met Czar Nicholas I, who had very little notion of the respect due to any one but himself, with an angry look and a defiant word; he tossed Frederick William IV's diamonds into the side scenes, and broke a lance with Louis Philippe, which cost him a decoration. He never forgave that thrifty King for abolishing certain musical pensions and otherwise snubbing art. He refused on every occasion to play at the Tuileries. One day the king and his suite paid a "private view" visit to a pianoforte exhibition of Erard's. Liszt happened to be in the room, and was trying a piano just as
