Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/675



heels tightly together, and assumed a determined, soldierlike pose. From that day Mr. Hughes has had entire command of himself. (Text.)

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Self-deception—See. 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. — (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.

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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.

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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.)—

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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