XIII.
How to Forget.
I would consider it a great favor to obtain
your advice on
how to forget one whom you love dearly, purely and truly,
and get no more encouragement or acknowledgment for your
affection than a simple "I do like you," together with
the
confession that another man (whom you know to be your
inferior in every way, conspicuously so financially)
has the
love you crave for.
I feel instinctively that the young
lady does love me, but
wish to step down and out, considering it beneath my
dignity
to press matters, especially after being told the other
fellow
has the preference. Trusting to learn from you
how to throw
off this spell I'm under, I sign myself,
FAITHFUL.
There are various schools of memory--but one
of forgetfulness. That is the school of time.
Many professors teach the art of remembering--
time alone teaches the art of forgetting.
Meanwhile time may be aided and his task has-
tened by unselfishness and concentration.
Take up some new line of study or work--some-
thing which shall be a benefit to others, and conse-
quently to yourself. Whatever we do for others
brings certain dividends which no condition of
the market can depress or curtail.
Unselfishness is God's stock, and no syndicate can
be formed which affects its value.
Use every spare moment in doing something for
somebody. No matter whether it is appreciated or
not--remember, you are building up on your own
character.
Take a new study. Interest yourself in a new
language or accomplishment. Be so occupied that
you have no hours for reverie. Seek the society of
agreeable women who will assist time in his efforts
to make you forget an unworthy, or at least an un-
appreciative one.
It is as useless as unwise to attempt to explain
why the young lady prefers your rival.
There are no chosen paths for love's feet.
He
wanders wheresoever he will. He cannot be har-
nessed and driven where he does not choose to
go of his own preference, even if the road is a
smoother and fairer one than the by-way of his own
selection.
Discontinue any brooding thought on the subject.
Put aside your resentment and your wounded van-
ity. Make your life a success and continue to sur-
pass your rival in all desirable achievements.
Remember, it has been wisely said that success is
the only revenge worth seeking.
Do not waste a moment's time in sighing for any-
thing which fate denies you. Turn your mind
toward winning other things--other prizes in life's
school. Nothing and no one can take from you
that which really belongs to you. Whatever be-
longs to you by divine right will be yours.
Every-day thoughts in prose and verse. by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Chicago: W. B. Conkey Company, 1901.
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