HOW TO ACQUIRE POISE
CHAPTER I
MODESTY AND EFFRONTERY CONTRASTED
"Never force your talents" a well-known writer has said. One always feels like crying this to those who, thinking to reach the goal of poise, fall into excess and develop effrontery and exaggeratedness.
Poise can not exist without coolness. We have seen that this quality is rarely met with in enthusiasts.
It is never found in those who have effrontery.
Poise does not consist in the species of ostentatious carelessness which essays to travel through life as a child might wander among hives of bees without taking any precautions against being stung.