Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1849-05-17
A BEAUTIFUL EXTRACT.


"THERE are great laws of duty and reli-
gion, which should govern our conversation
and the divine Teacher assures US that, even
for our idle words we are accountable to
Him who has given us the power of speech.
Now, by no means believe that there is
any principle of our religion which frowns
upon wit or merriment, or forbids playful
speech at fit seasons and within due limits.
The very fact that the Almighty has created
the muscles which produce the smile and
the laugh, is a perpetual rebuke to those
who would call all laughter madness, and
all mrth folly. Amusement, in its time
and place, is great good and know Of
no amusement SO refined, SO worthy an in-
tellcctual being, as that conversation which
is witty and still kind, playful, yet always
reverent, which recreates from toll and care,
but leaves no sting, and violates no principle
of brotherly love or religious duty.
Evil speaking, SANDER, detraction, Cos
sip, scandal, are difficult to be guarded a
galnst in conversation; and you are doing
much towards defending yourselves against
it by the generous mental culture which you
hoy in this seminary. The demon of SLAM
der loves an empty house. A taste for SLAM
der betrays a vacant mind. Furnish your
minds, then, by useful reading and study,
and by habits of reflection and mental in
dustry, that you may be able to talk about
people--about events too long past or too
remote to be interviewer with SANDER. But,
if you must talk about people, why not about
their good traits and deedsl The truest in
genuity is that which brings hidden excel
lences to light; for virtue is, in her very ma
ture, modest and retiring, while faults lie on
the surface, and are detected with half an
eye.
"You will, undoubtedly, be careful to
have your words always just and kind, if
you will only take sufficiently thorough
view of the influence of your habits of con-
versation, both in the formation of your own
characters, and in determining the happiness
of others. But how low an estimate do
many of us make ofthe power of our tongue
How little account we are apt to take OF our
words Have we not all, at times, said to
ourselves Oh it is only wordn when
it may have been sharp as drawn sword,
have given more pain than score of blows,
and done more harm than our hands could
have wrought in a month Why is it that
the sanderer and tie tale-bearer regard
stead of feeling that they are accursed of
God and mani 1t is because they deal in
evil words only, and they consider words as
mere nought. Why is it that the carping
tongue, which ilches little from every
body's good name, can hardly utter itself
without sheer, and makes every fair char
acter its prey, thinks better of itself than a
petty pilferer would 1t is because by long,
though baseless prescription, the tongue has
claimed for itself license denied to every
other member and faculty.
But, in point of fact, your words not
only express, but help create, your charac-
tiers. Speech gives defniteness and per-
manence to your thoughts and feelings
The unuttered thought may fade from the
memory-may be chased away by better
, thoughts-may, indeed, hardly be a part of
your own mind: for, if suggested from
without, and met without welcome and
with disapproval and resistance, 1t is not
, yours. But by speech you adopt thoughts,
, the voice that utters them is as pen that en-
7 graves them indelibly on the soul. lfyou can
suppress unkind thoughts, so that, when they
I rise in your breast, aud mount to your very
lips, you leave them unutteted, you are not,
on the whole, unkind-your better nature
= has the supremacy. But if these wrong
feelings often find utterance, though you
h. call it hasty utterance, there is reason to
s fear that they flow from a bitter fountain
= within.
t Consider, also, how large part speech
e makes up Of the lives of all. 1t occupies
1 the greater part of the waking hours of ma
< ny of us while express acts of moral
, bearing, compared with our words, are rare
: and few. Indeed, in many departments of
y duty, words are our only possible deeds-it
y is by words alone that we can perform or
). violate our duty. Many of the most impor-
tant forms of charity are those Of speech.
; Almsgiving is almost the only expression OF
e charity of which the voice is not the CHIEF
e minister; and aims, conferred in silent cold
: ness, or with Gliding or disdainiul speech,
freeze the spirit, though they may warm the
n body. Speech, too, is the sole medium OF
It a countless host of domestic duties and OBJ
= servances. There are, indeed, in every
| community, many whose only activity seems
d to be in words. There are many young
l. ladies' released from the restraints of school
It and many older ladies', with few or no do
: nestle burdens, with no worldly avocation
l. and 10 taste for reading, whose whole wa
n king life, either at their own homes or from
,. house to house, is given to the exercise fol
l good or evil, of the tongue-that unrul,
a member, And how blessed might they
e make that exercise-for how many holy
C ministers of love, sympathy and charity
), might it suffice-how many wounds nigh
= it prevent or heal--did they only believe
& and feel that they were writing out thei'
e own characters in their daily speech Blu
II too many of them forget this. So long al
they do not knowingly and absolutely lie
IS they feel no responsibility for their words
N They deem themselves virtuous because
d they refrain from vices 10 which they hat
l. not the shadow Of temptation but carp
il backbite and carry i'll reports from house L
house, with an apostles zeal and martyr