Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-08-16
GOLDEN SILENCE.
Something About the Rare Talent Of Holding
Ones Tongue.

"Speech is silvern but silence is
golden" saith the proverb. Certain
ly a talent for holding ones tongue
deserves high rank among negative
virtues. Many man passes for wise
simply by saying nothing. and those
who talk least make fewest enemies.
True, sometimes we may repent our
silence, but such repentance is rare
compared to the frequency with which
we array ourselves in mental sack
cloth because of incautions speeches.
| To adopt tire rule once given to a
laxative girl by friend who knew
the world 'Never speax of yourself,
and never say anything which is un.
necessary" would seem at first likely
to make Carthusian monks and nuns
of us all; yet it is to be questioned
whether the advice were not wise.
There are always people who like to
talk, and good listeners are rare. 1t is
said that Macauley once rode half a
day in coach with a deaf mute,
whom he afterwards pronounced a
person of remarkably sound political
views, and Madame de Stael on one
occasion was induced to harangue a
wax figure for an hour under the i'm
preston that it(the figure) was a gen.
tleman who admired her writings and
had expressed desire to become &C
quainted with the author. These
stories may or may not be facts; GER
tain it is that both of the great per-
sonages in question were fond OF
hearing themselves talk, and suffi-
ciently egotistical not to notice wheth-
er their remarks elected more than
silent acquiescence on the part of 9TH
ers.
All savage nations place high value
upon silence, and conversation is be.
yond doubt one of the arts of civiliza-
ton. To know what to say and
when to say it-this is the sixth sense
which shall steer its possessor safely
over hidden shoals and through
breakers, and win for him the harbor
of popularity. Fluency and garruli-
ty, these are as different, as distinct,
as the flowers we cultivate with care
and the weeds we uproot in disgust
from our flower borders; pity that
the one should ever be mistaken
for the other. Undoubtedly halt
OF the mischief in the world has
been done by too much talking. Had
Eve not stopped to parley with the
serpent, Paradise had never been lost;
and thenceforth all through history
Idle words have been one of the agen-
cies which have turned the fate of
nations. And word once spoken
can never be unsaid alas for the
times when we bewail ourselves in
dust and ashes over the speeches we
would fain never have spoken. Per-
| haps the Eastern despots, who cut
out the tongues of their slaves, placed
too high value upon silence as a
virtue for servants. Yet modern
usage demands that the well-trained
domestic shall never speak unless first
spoken to. "Good children are seen
but not heard" is a saying, passed into
oblivion with the old-fashioned doe
trine which required filial obedience
but i'll the days when it was part OF
household doctrine it must have add
ed infinitely to the comfort of the
families IN which 1T was so observed
In short, throughout all ages sages
have taught the virtues of silence, and
hundreds of wise sayings might be
quoted in its praise; but neither
proverb nor precept can have more
weight than the words of Holy Writ,
wherein it is said that, "For every
idle word God shall call us into
judgement"