SELF-CONFIDENCE
5544 Faults Seen In Photograph
A prominent photographer of Milwaukee, Wis., says that there are actually few beautiful women or handsome men in the world.
“It is interesting to see the number of persons who do not know that they have a crooked nose, one eye smaller, a lopsided face, or some other fault,” this authority said, and he added: “When people look into a mirror they usually are combing their hair, shaving, or otherwise in motion. Motion is the great deceiver, and when in motion the faults are minimized. It is when the face is stationary, as in a photograph, that the faults become apparent.”
—Tom M. Olsen
5545 MacArthur’s Night Before Exams
Douglas MacArthur was preparing to take an examination for an appointment to West Point. The night before the examination he could not sleep. His mother spoke to him. “Doug,” she said, “you’ll win if you don’t lose your nerve. You must believe in yourself, my son, or no one else will believe in you. Be self-confident, self-reliant, and even if you don’t make it, you will know you have done your best. Now, go to it.”
When the examination scores were announced, Douglas MacArthur was number one.
5546 Washington’s Crooked Street
The city of Washington, D. C., was completely planned by Pierre L’Enfant, a Frenchman, before a single brick was set or a street was opened. Since it was laid out with orderliness, beauty, and defensibility in mind, many have wondered why Pennsylvania Avenue, the main street of the city, makes that outrageous jog around the Treasury Building instead of continuing straight ahead and passing south of the White House as it was planned. Traffic and parades have been fouled up here for over a hundred years, all because President Andrew Jackson, tired of interminable wrangling over the site of the proposed Treasury Building, walked out of the White House one day, stuck his cane in the ground at random, and declared, “We will build it here.” And that’s where it is.
—Sunshine Magazine
5547 Man’s Postal Alarm
One day a man in Blackpool, England, thought he detected the smell of burning timber, so he sat down and wrote a postcard about it to the Blackpool fire brigade. “Will you come to my house?” he asked, “I can smell timber burning.”
When the firemen received the post card some twenty-four hours later, they thought it was a joke. But as they weren’t doing anything anyway they decided to investigate and see who the practical joker was.
When they arrived, you can picture their surprise when they found the house was really on fire! Some timbers under the man’s hearth were smouldering, so they promptly extinguished them. He was fortunate that the place hadn’t burned down, waiting twenty-four hours for the fire department to arrive.
But this is the same attitude that many people take regarding the “everlasting burning.” God gives out some terrific warnings about the awfulness of hell and the certainty of eternal punishment, and you can almost smell the burning when you read about it. But people generally do not seem to be in any hurry to escape.
—C. D. Carter
5548 A Crossed-Up Lawyer
Marshall Cummings of Tulsa, Oklahoma, accused of purse- snatching, chose to be his own lawyer. But he wasn’t very successful in pleading his case. As he cross-examined the victim, he asked: “Did you get a good look at my face when I took your purse?” A state jury convicted Cummings of attempted robbery by force and gave him a ten-year prison sentence.
5549 Towline Undertow
On February 27, 1972, the tug, Haro Straits, sank near Roberts Bank, WA, twenty miles south of Vancouver. The tug was raised, and thorough examination was made. No hull defect was found.
In his detailed report to the court of inquiry, J. A. Smith, a naval architect and marine surveyor, expressed his opinion that the tug was pulled down stern first by her own towline.
—Prairie Overcomer
5550 Psych-Out
A common tactic among competing athletes is the “Psych-out”. That is using psychology to make the opponent either feel second rate or to bluff yourself as “the best.”
For instance, Don Schollander, member of the US Olympic Team to Tokyo in 1964 was asked: “Do you really think you can swim the 400 meter and the 100? That is a tough combination.”
5551 Others Are Worse
In his autobiography, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky tells about a time he was soloist at a concert conducted by Arturo Toscanini: “The maestro paced the dressing room in which I practiced, repeating, “You are no good; I am no good.” “Please, maestro,” I begged, “I will be a complete wreck.” Then, as we walked on stage, he said, “We are no good, but the others are worse. Come on, caro, let’s go.””
—Doubleday
5552 “You’re The Stuffed Tomato”
We’ve often wondered how waitresses could remember the various orders for different meals that they receive day in and day out. And now we know, because while we were getting impatient at our table the other day, we called to the girl: “Waitress, have you forgotten me?”
And, to the amusement of everyone around, she answered pertly, “Oh, no, sir! Indeed not. You’re the stuffed tomato!”
5553 Schelling’s Mistake
The rehearsal progressed without incident for some minutes. Then Toscanini, listening to Schelling expound a solo passage against a light orchestral background, suddenly rapped his stick imperiously on the stand beside him and called to Schelling, “What are you playing there?”
Schelling looked up in surprise and repeated the measures he had just played.
“No, no,” said Toscanini. “Let me see the score.”
He raised the score to his eyes in the legendary way, peering intently at the page. Suddenly he looked up. “Just as I thought,” he said. “You were playing wrong.”
Schelling confirmed this astounding dictum by returning to the piano and playing a minutely-different form of the passage he had just delivered. As he said afterward, he had always played it that way, never bothering to check it against the notes he had originally written.
5554 Salesman To Eat Dust
A salesman selling vacuum cleaners knocked on the door of a remote farmhouse. When the lady of the house opened the door, he walked in and dumped a bag of dirt on the floor. “Now,” boasted the salesman, “I want to make a bargain with you. If this super-duper, new vacuum cleaner doesn’t pick up every bit of this dirt, I ll eat what’s left.”
“Here’s a spoon,” said the farmer’s wife, “we don’t have any electricity.”
—Pastor’s Manual
5555 Epigram On Self-Confidence
• God knows best; she hasn’t arranged your anatomy so as to make it easy for you to pat yourself on the back.
• It’s fine to believe in ourselves, but we mustn’t be too easily convinced.
—Better Homes & Gardens