False Sapphires and True Diamonds.
A Cleveland jeweler is reported as disclosing one of the tricks of would-be smart folk. He declares that many people of considerable wealth wear imitation stones. These are seldom diamonds, because it is comparatively easy to tell an artificial diamond. They are generally colored stones—rubies, or emeralds, or sapphires. These false stones are worn with a real diamond, and the true jewel carries off the deceit. The diamond is so plainly a genuine article that no one questions the genuineness of the gems that accompany it.
There! said I to myself when I heard of this; that accounts for the success of some people whom I know. They do not deserve to succeed, these people. They are cheats in many ways. They pretend to know what they do not know. They get credit for doing a lot of things that someone else does for them. They repeat the bright sayings of other folks as if they were original. They brag of possessions they do not possess, and hint of accomplishments that were never theirs. They glance at a book and talk as if they had read it. They make a smattering of an art serve them for a thorough acquaintance with it. And yet the world seems to believe in them, and takes them at their own estimate of themselves.
Now I understand it. I will look into the matter, and I believe that I shall find in every one of them some genuine diamond accompanying all this falseness. While I have seen the artificial gems, probably the world has perceived the real one. This man may be kind, sincerely kind. Another, perhaps, is thoroughly honest. Another is always in a good humor. Each of these qualities is a splendid diamond. No wonder the world, perceiving it, lets the other stones pass without an investigation.
Of course the world is wrong; but I wonder if I, too, am not wrong a little!