Avoid Making Others Uncomfortable
By Annie Laurie
I RODE down-town with a fidgety woman this morning. The car was crowded, and the fidgety woman and I sat together on a little narrow seat — at least I sat; the fidgety woman fidgeted. She trotted her feet, and fussed with her veil, and dropped her pocketbook, and rearranged her skirtcoat. She frowned, and cleared her throat, and turned around and looked out of the window on the right side of the car, then she flounced back and looked out of the window on the left side of the car. Then she got a letter out and read it. Then she went to making notes on the envelope of the letter. Then she dropped her pencil and couldn't reach it, and a lanky boy across the aisle tried to get it for her, and turned red when two girls next to him giggled at his efforts. Dear me, I thought, I wish she wouldn't fidget so; and then all at once, when I went to move, I found out that the sharp edge of a little box I was carrying had been poking right into the fidgety one's side, and that I had ridden at least two miles with my foot planted firmly on her dress. I wonder if that isn't the way we do a good many times — blame people for fidgeting when we're the one who is making them fidget. I know a man who says his wife nags him. She does nag him. If you knew the man, you'd wonder how she had patience enough to live with him at all. Have you a fidgety husband? Take notice; perhaps you're the one that's making him fidgety. Have you a sensitive friend who is always having her feelings hurt? Look out; you may have a particularly irritating way. I suppose that fidgety woman hated the very sight of me all the way down in the car, and I sat there and wondered what on earth was the matter with her. The next time I sit next to a fidgety woman, I am going to take a great deal of pains to make sure that I am not the one who is making her fidget. — Annie Laurie.