TACT.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 July 1927, Page 1

TACT.

"Conceal merit.” “dissimulation.” and “falsehood” are harsh words to use in explanation, of the word “fact. ’ Tact is a delioaov, an imaginative perception of what is fit. pleasing, acceptable. ft involves no lies. Or, when it is the vehicle by which a lie is carried. ii is generally quite charming in itself and can he separated from ihe lie as being altogether blameless and without guile. And. in order to ho itself Inet, must he unohstruetive. The Sight- of a consciously tactful person in action is horrifying. A person who •‘changes the conversation.” for example: or niie across whose face an expression of mysterious sanctity passes as a difficult corner is negotiated; a hostess who smiles frozenly at a broken umnntchable plate and who says in a hollow voice : “Its only an old thing John picked un at a sale”—all these are. to me. not only really tactful creatures at all. They think they are ta< tfill. P.ut it is one tiling to he tactful and quite another ro think one is being tactfnl. It is the distinction clear? The one is a sympathy : the other is a performance: Frank Swinnerton in “flood Housekeeping’'.