“Dad, that’s just my case. But I do want to be popular. In school I mean,—and with the boys and girls. I’ve never been a favourite.”
“No? Well, you can be, easily enough, if you choose.”
“How?”
“Simply by being agreeable always. And by agreeable, I don’t mean plausibly polite, I mean actually to agree with people. With what they say and what they do.”
“Whether I mean it, or not!”
“Pshaw! I don’t want you to tell falsehoods, of course. But if some one says, ‘I just adore sunflowers, don’t you?’ and you hate them, you needn’t say, ‘No, I detest the horrid things!’ but you can say, ‘They’re such a brilliant yellow,’ or ‘They do grow very tall,’ or something generally acquiescent, instead of flatly disagreeing. Do you see?”
“Some. And if anybody raves over a girl that I dislike, I suppose I can keep my mouth shut.”
“More than that. You can surely find something nice to say about the girl, even if you dislike other traits she has.”
“Yes, I s’pose I could. And if the girls do things that I can’t abide, I ’spect I can at least refrain from criticism.”
“But that isn’t enough, Bernie. You must seem to like them, unless, of course, it’s something really wrong. But if it’s only a habit or a mannerism or a fashion, smile at it, and agree, even if your own private opinion is just the opposite. This is simple tact,—and will win popularity for you sooner than anything else.”