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She Says That Nothing Can Ever Compensate
a Woman for the Utter Absence of Tactfulness
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Copyright, 1907, by American-Journal-Examiner
The possession of talent, education, and
all the feminine virtues, cannot compensate a woman for the utter absence
of tact.
By tact I do not mean diplomacy. Diplomacy suggests the designing woman; the woman who has always her own ends in view; while tact springs from the unselfish and kind impulse. The perception of tact is so keen that it intuitively avoids the phrase and tone which would wound; and applies the soothing balm of the right word in the right place to one who is suffering from another's lack of tact. Silence is Eloquent A woman of gifts and good intentions called
upon another woman whose name was also known in the world of art.
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The tactful friend carries them, but they are concealed; after he has shown them on the proper occasion, he does not relate the fact to the friend. Friendship speaks more loudly in silences of this nature than in loud boastings before or after defending another. And however loyal and true a friend may be, the friend who proves a continual delight, through years, must possess tact. The tactless woman frequently possesses a really kind heart; she is not to be confounded with the spiteful woman, who purposely makes her acquaintances (for she has no friends) uncomfortable. For the latter, not the former, were written these lines: The Tactless Woman She is wonderfully observing
And she is so sympathetic;
The tactless woman usually possesses great benevolence, and love of power. She wants to shine as a benefactor; and to have her friends realize her vigilance in their behalf. And she said, "If you had heard me yester
But oftentimes the enemy from whom we are saved wounds less cruelly than the reported defence of the tactless friend. |