a case of delirium tremens. They were
all one to her, so far as the human beings went. She knew the diagnosis
and the care of the physical disease,--and that was all. She did the
material work very well, but she must have brought torture to the
sensitive mind in many a poor, sick body.

Another form of false sympathy is what may be called professional
sympathy. Some people never find that out, but admire and get comfort
from the professional sympathy of a doctor or a nurse, or any other
person whose profession it is to care for those who are suffering. It
takes a keen perception or a quick emergency to bring out the false
ring of professional sympathy. But the hardening process that goes on
in the professional sympathizer is even greater than in the case of
those who do not put on a sympathetic veneer. It seems as if there must
be great tension in the more delicate parts of the nervous system in
people who have hardened themselves, with or without the veneer,--akin
to what there would be in the muscles if a man went about his work with
both fists tightly clenched all day, and slept with them clenched all
night. If that tension of hard indifference could be reached and
relaxed, the result would probably be a nervous collapse, before true,
wholesome habits could be established, but unfortunately it often
becomes so rigid that a healthy relaxation is out of the question.
Professional sympathy is of the same quality as the selfish sympathy
which we see constantly about us in men or women who sympathize because
the emotion attracts admiration and wins the favor of others.

When people sympathize in their selfishness instead of sympathizing in
their efforts to get free, the force of selfishness is increased, and
the world is kept down to a lower standard by just so much.

A thief, for instance, fails in a well-planned attempt to get a large
sum of money, and confides his attempt and failure to a brother thief,
who expresses admiration for the sneaking keenness of the plan, and
hearty sympathy in the regret for his failure. The first thief
immediately pronounces the second thief "a good fellow." But, at the
same time, if either of these apparently friendly thieves could get
more money by cheating the other the next day he would not hesitate to
do so.

To be truly sympathetic, we should be able so to identify ourselves
with the interests of others that we can have a thorough appreciation
of their point of view, and can und