Slights

Thoy fivo oheap. It costs nothing to turn the face, to simt the; mouth, M not see i person who is not before the oyes, .and lias expectations if not claims. It is very easy to put oft" the cali long overiluo; to neglect onding au invitation to a party to one who is not of much account; to pass a former frieml on tho strect witliout recognition; to go and come, ignoring tho cxistenco of people who have righta and foclings. Andit is as oowardly to do ko as it ia eisy aud mean. But tl io choap, cowardly slight is as hard to "bcar as it is contcmptible. How it ránidos. It stings liko a nettlo. It is prussic acid on a woimd. ïho very cowardlmefss of it makes it moro paiiiful. If Miss Scornful had only had the conrage to frankly sjiy sht does not care for our friondsliip, and prefers room to our company, we conld jiossihly roply witli an (iqually polite exjiression of popular cliilliiKfSs; but to be drojipod out niic(remoi]ious]y and out direct is like a stiib in the dark. Society is a set of complex relations. People are bound togother. ïhey have duties, obligations, ifliliations. KiudneKS and politeness aro parts of the unwritten law of social commerce. A slight is a sort of robbery - a mean, pick-pockety sort of robbery, too - of the notice one has a right to exijcct. It may not cost anything just to mind ano's own business, and let a friend lauéuish for want of notice and sympathy Mid cheer; but it shows what ho is made af, and what I1Í8 friondsliip is worth. Wit! person who eau slight another is too baso to be slighted by a socond time.