Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1857-11-18
TALK! TALK!

TALK! TALK!
Say something, say anything! rather
than sit there with closed lips, so statue
like, that we involuntarily straighten
ourselves, and gasp for breath. You
have brain and tongue-use them
They were not given to you to be "hid-
den under bushel," or TO rust away in
idleness. You were not made TO live for
self alone, there is a sphere beyond-the
good, the happiness of your fellows.
A human being without speech is an
automaton, a cypher. He may have
mind but we do not see it; heart. but
we do not feel it; for any but himself he
might as well have been unborn.
A stupid man is the most insuferable
of all things. He gets up and lies down;
fills a given space on this mundane
sphere, makes the very air sitting with
his presence; taxes the ingenuity of his
acquaintance with the continual effort
to set him going. If successful in draw
out few words, It's relief unutterable!
but let him alone, and the animal soon
relapses into this thing in black, this
block, doing in the chimney corner, or
if nominally awake, chewing the cud OF
his own unrevealed fancies. Condemned
to a side and side existence with such an
one, l should have the brain ache, the
heart ache, and betake myself TO eating
ten-penny nails or fly off TO the moon, or
something equally desperate, to see if l
could make him speak.
l once had the misfortune to know
family whose conversational powers were
entirely monosyllable. l tremble even
now as recall their Rosinante vending
his slow and solemn way to our door at
one o'clock on midsummer day for an
afternoon sit down. With what gravity
were unrolled the nice wliite knitting,
and the more bulky articles of needle
work for the interminable campaign!-
Our expedients to sustain conversation
were comical enough. though every
bone sched with the effort to s'ave off
silence; and we were rewarded only by
Miss Sophia's simper, and Miss Betty's
yes and no, when she couldn't help it
meanwhile, the needles were piled with
unceasing diligence, and the results Of
that afternoons labor summed up profit
ably in the weeks category. After
supper the capacious work basket was
repacked. solemn adieus were spoken.
and we could thankfully breoth again.
know an old lady whose favorite max
i'm is not to talk before strangers, and in
their presence adorns the corner, with
mouth and nose drawn down, and eyes
rebukingly cast on those who have less
stringent ideas ofpropriety than herself;
of course her entrance acts like a para
lytic stroke on tongue and nerve.
There is no charm in that domestic
circle, where silence prevails, where a
pin fall may be heard upon the soft car
pet, where the father sits statue. like,
gazing in mid air, the mother building
baseless castles over her work, the little
ones reiressing their infant glee from
sympathy.
There is no pleasure in the social cir.
Gle, where the long and awful pause is
frequently felt. where the "lords of cre-
alton" form tangible, dismal line of
black upon one side of the apartment,
glancing ever and anon at the mute
visions of beauty in parallel range, no
one venturing to lift his voice amid the
deathlike stiffness, or to break the bOun-
dairy of the charmed ring.
Brothers and sisters, why don't you
talk? A thousand daily incidents afford
pleasant themes for social chat; diversity
of opinion gives zest to life, different
points of observation vary the self same
scene.
Do you walk abroad with your eyes
open, and yet see nothing worthy Of
mention? can you gaze on fine land
scape, the starry heavens, the wonders of
nature and art, and yet never feel an
uncomfortable desire to exclaim, beauti-
full! charming! Do the agreeable and
disagreeab!e strike you alike, or never
strike you at all? Has the overburden-
ed heart no joys or sorrows to pour into
the ear of sympathy? Have you no
bright thoughts it would do others good
to hear. no knowledge that would in
crease theirs, no pleasantries with which
to cheer some dropping spirit! Is thy
mind waste, thy spirit dead within
thee? Not? Then talk! talk!
Is it timidity that holds your tongue
in durance? You can talk we'll if you
try, and be not too proud to reveal your
self as you are. Is it contempt for 9TH
ers? Come up then to the stand of COM
parison, and learn that you are not inf
nitely superior as you imagine. Have
you nothing to say? Yoa have, if you
will say it: talk learnedly, nonsensically,
discuss the weather, or any other topic
but your neighbors-spare them.