A Valuable Possesion.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2657, 12 November 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

A Valuable Possesion.

Of all the good gifts the fairy godmother can bestow on a favored mortal, none stands its possessor in better stead than the rather elusive one of tact. Health, wealth, beauty, and brains, right royal endowments though they be, lose much of their value unless this'precious asset be found in combination with them. A'well-known writer defines tact as “an intuitive art and manner which carries one through a difficulty better than either talent or kowledge.” .Perhaps this explanation is as good as any other, but it does not cover all the ground. There _ are many times and many opportunities which call for tact without people "having to be in difficulties. It is wanted in the every-day affairs of life, in dealing with one’s husband, or children, or servants, and a household very, quickly shows if its presiding genius is tactful or the reverse. No woman however talented can. shine in the social firmament if she be lacking in tact, and though one is inclined to regard the attribute as belonging more especially to her sex, we do not always find it in the feminine character. It is impossible to go to a schoolmistress and say to her, with reference to the education of one’s daughter, “Please pay' particular attention to music, French, and tact.” For the gift comes instinctively to those who are naturally quick, -warm-hearted, and sympathetic. But it can be trained and cultivated too, for who are more tactful than our own Royal Family, who are taught from their earliest childhood to consider the feelings of others, and to put them at their ease. Tact enables us to say the right thing at the right time, and to leave unsaid the wrong one. Tact also heljis us won - derfully in our dealings with our poorer neighbors. are often intensely sensitive and proud, and resent any suspicion of patronage; yet they are •"rateful for our sympathy and aid it we do not ride rough-shod over their prejudices. Sometimes we see kind but thick-skinned parishworkers who spoil the good they do by the way m which it Is done, and, though their ministrations may be accepted, a teelin<r of resentment remains^ against the tactless good Samaritan. The poor are very generous, and love to give ot their small store. A loaf of home-made bread a nosegay of flowers from the garden, how pleased they are to make a present of them, and how deeply hint they would be if we offered payment in exchange 1 • , ~