by some instances of lack of tact: A lady guest at a
table where broiled ham was the meat provided, declined to take any, and
then added, "I don't think pork is fit food for any human stomach." Of
course an embarrassment fell upon host and hostess and all the company,
and the rest of the meal-time was passed in an ineffectual endeavor to
restore conversation to a harmonious basis. What caused this lady to
make such a remark? Simply lack of tact, which means that she had not
the fine sensitiveness that would prevent her from wounding the feelings
of her friends. She had no delicacy of perception as to the reflection
she cast upon her host and hostess by so brusquely condemning something
to which they were habituated. This is one instance of lack of tact, but
here is another of different character: A company of educated people sat
down at table together, and the conversation happened to turn on the
question of the authorship of Shakespeare's plays. One lady, who was a
recent college graduate and supposed to be possessed of an unusual
degree of culture, said in a most positive manner: "I think the
advocates of the theory that some one other than Shakespeare wrote the
plays attributed to him, simply show their ignorance and shallowness."
An uncomfortable pause fell upon, the company, for two of the best
informed people present were entirely convinced that some one other
than Shakespeare wrote the plays. It was simply lack of tact that
betrayed this lady into a positiveness and obtrusiveness of statement
that made others uncomfortable and aroused their antagonism. Here is
still another instance: One lady was introduced to another lady who was
the wife of a gentleman much older than herself. After catching the name
the lady said: "Are you the wife of old Mr. C----?" Of course everybody
around who had any sensibility was pained and embarrassed by such a
blunt, brusque question. Yet the lady who displayed this want of tact
was a college graduate and the principal teacher in an important school.

Now, no rule or rules will ever prevent anyone from doing and saying
things which show lack of tact. Nothing will do it but the cultivation
of a spirit of sympathy which will enable one to realize how other
people feel when their opinions and peculiarities or circumstances are
so bluntly antagonized or alluded to. I know an excellent and
high-minded lady, of superior intellectual culture, who often complains
that she has few friends. She