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ABOUT PEOPLE.

of a household, as well as strangers, should observe the law of meum and tuum. Umbrellas are borrowed and lost, books are returned dog-eared. We steal another's time by asking him to do what we can do ourselves; we promise to stay ten minutes, and we stay thirty. We steal other's health and patience by inflicting upon our friends the history of our own troubles, using them as a safety-valve for ourselves. As visitors we do not regard the honor of our hostess' family, but, when away from it, tell some amusing weakness belonging to it. We steal into each other's confidence for purposes of curiosity, and, worse than all, we steal affection, often to reject it when it has lost its primal value. An affection, once deliberately won, is a burden or a privilege forever. Too often the stronger nature appropriates the weaker one, alienating its friends, and then, satiated, preys on another. It is said that women especially are prone to this fault, because so

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