Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1865-04-18
From the Atlantic Monthly. !
Ab0at FauIt-Finding.
BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.

our acquaintenance did of an event that
crossed her purpose, "Neil, Lord, if it's
you, send it along"
But that this may be done, that home
life, in our unsettled, changing state of
society, may become peaceful and restful,
there is one Christian grace, much treated
of by mystic writer's, that must return to
its honor in the Christian Church. l
mean-THE GRACE OF SILENCE
No words can express, no tongue can
tel, the valne of not speaking. Speech is
silvern, out silence is golden" is an old
and very precious proverb.
But" say many voices, "what is to be-
come of US, if we may not speak Must
we not correct out children and servants
and each other? Must we let people 90
on doing wrong to the end of the chap
ter ?"
No; faults must be found; faults must
be told, errors corrected. Reproof and
admonition are duties of householders to
their families, and o. all true friends to
one another.
But, gentle reader, let us look over life,
our own lives and the lives Of others, and
ask, How much Of the fault finding which
prevails, has the least tendency to do any
good ? How much of it is welI-timed
well-pointed, deliberate, and just, so spok-
en- as to be effective
" A wise reprover upon an obedient
ear is one of the rare things spoken of
by the Solomon.-the rarest, perhaps, to
be met with. How many really religious
people put any Of their religion into their
manner of performing this most difficult
Office? We find fault with stove or fur
mace which creates heat only to 30 up
chimney and not warm the house. We
say it is wasteful Just so wastefu often
seem prayer-meetings, church~services,
and saeraments; they create and excite
lovely, gentle. holy feelings,-but, if these
do no pass ont into the atmosphere of
daily life, and warm and clear the air of
our homes, there is great waste in our
reli.ion
But apart from the fault,fnding which
has n definite aim, how much is there that
does not profess or intend or try to do
anything more than to gire vent to an ir-
ritated state Of feeling The nettle stings
US, and we toss it with both hands at our
neighbor; the fire burns Us, and we throw
Goals and hot ashes at all and sundry OF
those about us
There Is .G-ettu5ness, q mizzlling, drizzl-
in~ rain Of discomforting remark; there
is grumJdRg, 4 northeast storm that never
clears there is scoldiag, the thunder
storm with lightning and hail All these
are worse then useless; they are positive
SINS, by whomsoever indulged,- sins as
great and real as many that are shuddcr-
ed at in polite society.
All these are for the most part but the
venting on our fellow beings of morbid
feelings resulting from dyspepsia, oycrtax-
edsnerves, or general Ill health.
a minister cats too much mince-pie,
goes to his weekly lecture, and seeing only
half a dozen people there, proceeds to
crumblo at those half dozen for the sins
Of such as stay away "The Church is
cold, there is no interest in religion and
so on; a simple outpouring of the blues.
You and DO in one week the work we
ought to DO in six; we overtax nerve and
brain, and then have weeks Of darkness in
which everything at home seems running
to destruction. The servants never wer,
so careless, the children never so noisy,
the house never 50 disorderly, the state
never so ill-governed, the Church evident
y going over to Antichrist The only
thing, after all, in which the existing con-
dition Of affairs differs from that Of
week ago IS, that we have used up our
nervous energy, and are looking at the
world through blue spectacles. We ought
to resist the devil Of fauItfnding at this
point and cultivate silence as a grace till
our nerves are rested. There are times
when no one should trust himself to Judge
bis neighbors, or reprove his children and
servants, or find fault with his friends
for he is so short-set that he cannot strike
a note without striking too hard.
The man who has not slept for four
teen years finds rival in Daniel Mckee
of Claysyille No, who sleeps six weeks
at a time, and is wide awake the rest Of
the year At all hours OF the night he