Page:Side talks with girls (1895).djvu/240

228 what they do. When I say "give" I do not mean in its ordinary sense, but I do mean in the sense of being generous with pleasant words, and by showing an interest in whatever is going on. You have the wrong kind of pride about your work. You say, with a curl of the lip and a toss of the head, to some one who has just been introduced to you, and who it is most likely will be only a five minutes' acquaintance, "Oh, I am a working-woman." Now, that is none of her or his business. Strangers are not interested in it, and you have no right to thrust your private affairs upon them. It is quite as vulgar to talk continually of one's poverty as it is to flaunt one's riches, and indeed, sometimes I think it is the more vulgar of the two.

So for you and me, who are "strangers in a strange land," there are many things concerning which we must be careful if we wish to gain and to keep a social position. First of all we must be careful in making friends, and I think it is always wise to beware of the new acquaintance who is over-familiar and over-confidential. Then, too, we must take advantage of what we can bring from home, that is, the letter of introduction to the clergyman, and to the various ladies who may