ON BEING A SNOB

By 0. J. FERGUSON.

In these days when the word SNOB is being bandied around I have my suspicions that there may be several shades of opinion as to its exact meaning. As I use it, we shall understand that it implies an arrogant feel of superiority. Observe that it relates to the feeling, and nothing is said as to whether or not the superiority actually exists. There may be or there may not be a real difference of level or value.

There may be a clear recognition of the odds which actually exist, but that man is not a snob who does not have the smug. pharisaical, arrogant conviction that his excellence puts him into a preferred class. Upon the other hand, that man is a snob. who, because of real or of assumed preeminence acquires a mental bias which does not permit him to recognize the rights of others—their good qualities, even their needs,—and his own responsibilities to these associates.

Having a definite feeling of self-respect, and doing all one can to give a sound basis for that opinion does not make one a snob. There may come with such ideals an even greater sense of responsibility to others, and a deeper humility in the face of this responsibility, —even a feeling of one's insufficiency.

A snob is an egotist, too.

Perhaps you have heard the story of the man who was such a trial to his associates that one of his best friends undertook to penetrate his shell of egotism, and lodge somewhere within the inner recesses a suspicion that he might be overstressing his importance. So he said:

"Percival, do you know, some of the fellows were talking about you last night, and they seemed to think that you have too high an opinion of your own abilities; that you over-rate yourself."

"Why! How strange!" was the reply. "I have a very humble opinion of myself, considering what I'm really worth!"

A snob has lost his sense of proportion and of perspective. From his center, all things diminish, not as the square of the distance, but as some higher power—the fourth, or the tenth, or the twenty-fifth.

A snob sees others as inferiors scarcely worth noting, and worthy of nothing at all unless it he to contribute to his effulgence. Typically, however, he is self-sufficient.

Contrast with this individual, not a meek, down-trodden, buffeted, spineless, jelly-fish man—but a strong, upstanding, aggressive thinker—a man afraid of nothing more than of having personal prejudice— a man whose soul is large enough to seek the good of others—a man who almost banishes from his vocabulary the first personal pronoun. This is the proper basis for judgment of the snob. What do you think of him?

DEFINITION OF ENGINEERING

Because of the widespread activities of engineers, and the state of flux of their categories, the task of defining engineering has been well-nigh insuperable. Many definitions have been given,
but they err by being too all-inclusive or by lacking in range. The one presented herewith is likewise subject to severe criticism, but see where you can improve it.

Engineering is the science and the art involved in the processes of developing and using, especially bv means of machines, structures, and organizations, the forces and resources of nature, for the economic service of man.