The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-06-17
ABOUT BLAB.

Silence has shining virtues, but it is
liable to misrepresentation. Only the
other day Washington correspondent
exhausted the shallow CULVER of his rid
icule in column of comment upon
some member who has neveryet waived
his fist on high and yelled-'sMr.
| Speaker" This silent man is repre-
sented as zone who has no opinions"
| We regret that his name is not given.
A man in Congress with no opinions
strikes us as something above the ordi-
| nary. He is presumed to have no opin.
ions because he does not, twenty times
a day, arise in his place and demonstrate
his lack of opinions. Happy mani ssen-
| trenched behind his newspaper" or
| writing letters to-can it be that this
| opinionless man writes letters to his
wife or sister? or some other reputable
woman? No matter. He has no opin-
ions, because he is silent in his place.
Therefore let him be pointed at and rid
| iculed, and when his term expires. let
his constituents keep him at home. OF
what use is member of Congress unless
he can yell like an Indian. on the war
| path, and drink oceans of whisky?
| There is another silent man in Wash
| ington-whether the readers believe it
or not. There is 8 silent man at the
other end of the avenue. He never puts
himself forward as q man wiser or bet
ter, or greater than others. He entered
| its General. His communications were
"yea, yea, and nay, nay;" his dispatches
very bFief-containing very little about
| himself and much about business. He
never tried to paint out the wrinkles on
the iron front of war with fine writing.
Meeting an obstacle, he Numbered away
at it, and it was removed. The army of
| the Potomac had been addressed and re-
viewed ad 7lausedm. Its annals were
yoluminous. The silent man, who
smokes-and so few Americans do that,
| you know-took the army. of the Poto-
mac from its anchorage ON the banks of
the Rappahannock and encamped it be-
fore Petersburg. His dispatches on the
| way would not fill page of foolscap,
| OF course this man of silence and CT
CARS was fool. Everybody knows
that, because he held his peace, and put
no spread eagle into his conversation.
A public man who does not apostro-
phiZe the American eagle once a day is
an idiot. All wise men are garrulous-
vide George Francis Train. Yet, this
reticent man succeeded, and received
the surrender of the chief of revolt.
The man who acted, by some inversion
of natural law as, expounded by parti-
san journals, for once accomplished
more than the men who talked. We
shall waste no time in trying to explain
| this singular anomaly.
Now that the people have made this
silent man Chief Magistrate, ought he
not to drop his reserve, and open his
| lips for much speech? Ought we not to
hear from him at least three times day,
in response to the profound questioning
of newspaper reporters ? Should this
man of silence persist in having some
privacy? All great men wear their
hearts on their sleeves. This man does
not wear his heart on his sleeve, there
fore he is not great. This logic is bor-
| rowed from Democratic paper; we do
not claim it, grand and conclusive as it
certainly is. This man does not initiate
George Francis Train, and therefore,
must be ignorant. He refuses to pub
fish all he knows about foreighn affairs ;
therefore he knows nothing of our re-
lations with other nations. He does
not dispatch the army to arrest Juarez,
said to be a smuggler as well as Presi-
dent of Mexico; therefore he is fool.
| Whether of Aristotle, or Bacon, or
Whately, or Mill, we know not; but
this is logic, and the public may here
after know a great and good man by his
capacity for blab.