PETTY ANNOYANCES.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 146, 24 July 1880, Page 3

PETTY ANNOYANCES.

BY BISIAIP CLABK, OF KHODE ISLAND.

; persistent attack of a swarm of flies on a hot summer afternoon will cause many a mau to lose his temper, who would be as calm and serene as a marble statue in the presence of a dire calamity. The akin is the most seusitivo part of the human body, and so the inner man; or soul, has an outer covering that is very susceptible to those little touches of importinent fingers, which the philosopher may tell us are not worth regarding. I am inclined to believe that, upon the •whole, we suffer more from the petty nnnoyanees of life than from its more serious trials. A shit time ago I wrottS a very plain paper rin " Things td be remedied." I liow propose, in the same simple way, to give a sketch of " Things to bd avoided." I shall state what they are without much comment.

1. Untimely VislU. —Calling upon people out of season, either at their place of business or at their homes, and faking up their time when they are occupied with their own affairs, is a thing to be avoided. Idle persons are apt to have tio little consideration for those »dio are busy. Call upon business people, on lin.siiie.ss, in business hours, but not for a long; friendly chat on matters and things in general, ('all upon your neighbours in their homes at such hours as they probably will lie prepared to receive you, and not before they are downstairs in the morning, or while they are at dinner, or just as thov jire going to bed. In England to interfere with a gentleman at his dinner woidd be regarded as a high misdemeanour if not as a crime, and it does not help the matter hitieh to send in word that yon will wait till dinner is over. One's digestion is not improved by the consciousness that there is a string of people iu the nefct room anxiously longing for yon to tome forth and listen to some tedious uppual in behalf of some stupid rai», And once more, when you get up to go, it is well to j/o, and not keep vonr host in a draft for half an hour, while you recapitulate and amplify and further illustrate ttnil argue the point, of which lie has already heard more than is agreeable. 2. Impertinent Interruptions. —lt. is not considerate to stop people iu the streets, when it must, be evident at a glance that they are in haste to catch the train, or to keep an appointaient, or to get horn" after business hours, anil button-hole them for ten or twenty minutes. Neither is it in good taste, when you sen two persons engaged in earnest talk, to step in and siiter iipon miscellaneous conversation. A man possessed of ordinary instincts ought to know whin his t-orupahy is' desired hud when it. is a nuisance. It is also ts. great impertinence to strike in witli something entirely foreign to the subject, vfhen one is in the midst of a story or a statement or an jirgnrasn.t-, and to persist in talking about "this, that, and every thing," to one who is trying to re.ul the morning paper or n book or anything else. \Vh"uewr a man is so absorbed that he .lues not care to reply to what you say, it is lime to stop talking.

3. UivtnmJy Ileqnrth --Such as insistiiig that one slial! contribute to in object for which ho cares iiothf.ijr, o'« the ~r uinJ of Mr reputed wealth, or because i ther people have given,—indicating the precise amount lie is bound to bestow, —or asking for a specified loan, which both parlies know will never be repaid, and, thoiefore, ought to be solicited na charily. —and crowding the man when you cannot holp seeing thut he is strongly tempted to piteh you out of the door. The brazen ■way in which some people ml; for autographs, photographs, recommendations, letters of introduction and the like, and without the slightest claim upon the person applied to, ami even without any personal acquaintance is stupendous ; and the more absurd the demand, the more likely the applicant is to tako offeuee when he is refused.

4. Indirection*. —This is a very mild ■word for expressing the sort of annoyance of which 1 am now to speak—as, for instance, the forwarding by mail for a series of years, of a periodical to one who does not want it, but docs not like to hurt the feelings of the oditor by returning it, supposing it, of course, to be " Complimentary," and then receiving a till for fifteen or twenty dollars, which tho law obliges him to pay. There was a theological Quartorly published in NewYork a few years ago that kept its stupid head above water by such tricks as this, —I trust that it has gone down into tho depths before this time. 11 is an annoyance to receive a costly work from the writer or publisher for which yon have already declined to subscribe, will) the delicate (suggestion that you may cither remit the price or accept the volume as a gift, which, of course, you will decline to do—preferring to pay fifty cents in postage to bo rid of it. Neither is it alto, gether agreeable, after writing gratuitously for a periodical for a series of years, in order to help the thing on, to have a bill forwarded, charging you throe to five doJari p»r annum for a work to which yon uover subscribed, but only coutrioat,4,

t .' iSupcrJiuoiM Cmifidtiicn. —There are some things ono does not care to know, and it is a preat nnnovanco to have a gossiping neighbour insi'st upon making you the depository of such unpdatahlt •ecreta, end then, porhaps, going on with a series of questions iutondod to worm out of yon an opinion winch you are not dii-poscd to givo. It is equally annoying to poison of this sort intimate that i?l>ere is sutuqtlung which lie mijht toll

von that wonlil greatly surprise and grw\i I von, hut which he would for the pre-:- I withhold out of regard to your feeling> | It is also an atmoTauec, and an impei j tinencc, to he questioned as to your view of a curtain matUr, It may lie in th presence of (lie veTY people before whon j you would bo most ttftwllling to stub your opinion. Boring an acquaintance, I or oven an intimat* frinud with perpetual talk a!. >ntr rbur own private i affairs is nsuperjltious confidence. 6. MUceltan/imi Amwi/tincc-i. —It is use-; less to think of cataloguing these, fori their name is legion. Carelessness in ' keeping your appointments; keeping! other people waiting your own eonvenience ; coming iu late to church, or! the concert, or the lecture, and always in ■ creaking boots; delay in answering important letters ; borrowing new books of ! the owner before lie has had lime to read j them, and returning the same at a bite date, perhaps never; scribbling foolish! comments on the margin ; always de- , pending upon it neighbour for a sight I of the Daily or Weekly paper, when j you are as well able to pay for it as he is; learning to play on musical instruments in the full hearing of sensitive ! and nervous people ; but we may as well I stop hero. " ' .Some people are very annoying without seeming to bo at all conscious o'f tho fact; others appear to take a deliglit in tormenting their neighbours. The former may he cured by a little good counsel, while the latter sire incorigiblo. They may not be capable of committing a great crime, but they are the source of perpetual irritation, and like the autumn flies, to which I have already referred, they always light on the most sensitive parts. There are ways of keeping off disagreeable insects,—would that some specific might be found to keep off disagreeable people',—or to reform them.