The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-06-15


and more like captive bound to the car of
their fortunes than like the coad tutor with a
voice in the manner of the driving and the
right to assist in the direction of the Journey
This is the reiicence of temperament, and
we see it in children from quite an early age
Athose children who are trusted by the
servants and are their favorites in
consequence, because they tell no
tales ebut it is disposition
that may become dangerous unless
watched, and that is always liable to degene-
rate into falsehood. For reticence is Just on
the boundary of deception, and Il needs but
a very little step to take one over the border.
Still nothing can be more foolish or more
suicidal, to say nothing of its sin, than lying
No mans memory is so good as to enable
him to lie with constant impunity. Some day
there must come the inevitable slip, and one
such slip of memory and consequent discovery
will undo the careful labor of life, and re-
duce the whole fabric to heap of unsightly
ruins.
That obtrusive kind of reticence which
paTades itself, which makes mysteries and
lets you see there are mysteries, which
keeps silence and flaunts it in your face as
an intentional silence, brooding over things
you are not worthy to know-that silence
which is as loud as words is one of the
most irritating things in the world
If words are sharp arrows, this kind OF dum0-
ness is even sharper, and all the worse be-
cause it puts it out of your power to COM
plain. You cannot bring into court a list of
looks and shrugs, or make it grievance that
a man held his tongue while you raved, and
to all appearance kept his temper when you
lost yours. Yet all of us who have had any
experience that way know that his holding his
tongue was the very reason why you raved,
A1,,I HI e.. L..
the worst of the tempest would have been
allayed. This is common manner of tor
menting, however, with reticent people who
have a moral twist; and to fling stones
at you from behind the shield of silence
by which they have sheltered them
selves is a pastime that hurts only one of
the combatants. Reticence, though at times
one of the greatest social virtues that we
possess, is also at times one of the most dis
astIous personal conditions. Half our modern
novels turn on the misery brought about by
mistaken reticence; and though novelists
generally exaggerate the circumstances they
deal with, they are not wrong in their facts.
If the waters of strife have been let loose
because of many words, there have been
broken hearts before now because of none,
or not sufficient. Old proverbs, to be sure,
inculcate the value of reticence, and the
wisdom of keeping ones own counsel. If
speech is silvern, silence is golden, in popular
philosophy; and the youth is ever en-
joined to be like the wise
man, and keep himself free from the
peril of words. Yet for all that next to
TRUTH on which society rests, mutual know
ledge is the best working virtue, and state
of reticent distrust is more prudent than
noble. Many people think it fine thing to
live with their most intimate friends as if
they would one day become their enemies,
and never let even their deepest affections
strike root so far down as confidence. They
rearrange La Bruyeres famous maxim, Lion
Ieut avoir la contiance de quelquen sans en-
avoir le ceur, and take it quite the contrary
way; but perhaps the heart which gives itself,
divorced from confidence, is not worth
accepting, and reticence where there is love
sounds almost a contradiction in terms
Indeed, the certainty of unlimited condolences
where there is love is one of the strongest of
all the arguments in favor of general reti-
cence. For in nine cases out of ten you tell
your secrets and open your heart, not only to
your friend, but to your friends wife, or hus-
band, or lover; and secondhand confidence
is rarely held sacred if it can be betrayed with
impunity
By an apparent contradiction reticent peo-
pie who tell nothing are often the most
charming letter-writers Full of chit-cnat, of
descriptions dashed off with a warm and flow
ing pen, giving all the latest news well au-
thenticated and not scandalous, and breath
ing just the right amount of affection accord
ing to the circumstances of the correspond
ents-a naturally eloquent person who has
cultivated the art of reticence writes letters
unequalled for charm of manner. The first
impression of them is superb, enchanting,
enthralling, like the bouquet of old wine;
but, on reconsideration, what have they said?
Absolutely nothing. This charming letter,
apparently so full of matter, is an answer to a
great, good, honest outpour wherein you laid
bare that foolish heart of yours, and deli
vered up your soul for anatomical examna-
ton; and you looked for reply based on the
same lines. At first delighted, you are soon
chilled and depressed by such a return, and
you feel that you have made fool of your
SELF and that your correspondent is laughing
in his sleeve at your insane propensity to
''gush." So must it be till that good time
comes when man shall have no need to de-
fend himself against his fellows, when conf
dence shall not bring sorrow nor trust be-
trayal, and when the art of reticence shall be
as obsolete as the art of fence, or the So
cratic method.