Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1878-05-31
ROCKVILLE MARYLAND. FRIDAY 81.

i
feelings are poured from time to time.
This is especially the case with quiet
girls. What they say in their moments
of confidence we cannot pretend to know.
Whether they are really quiet or only
shy is equally beyond the superficial OBJ
server. That they are not found to i'm
pede the pleasant flow Of soul in ordi-
nary society is often because they are
eminently good listeners and do not yawn
at the utmost commonplaces. That
mother should commit himself to speech,
with or without anything to say, is
enough to interest them. They are
thought sympathetic, and often draw
forth the tale Of woe long hidden. Men
begin by telling them of other loves and
often end by loving them for themselves.
In this they have great advantage over
the more gushing sister. They take no
notice Of foolish speech, and man i'm
AGNES he is safe in their hands. He can
say things to them which said to any
ono else might have serious consequences.
A quiet cousin is thus often great bless
ing to man. He can talk matter odt
as if with himself, and imagine after
wards that he has had counsel upon it.
The quiet girl hears him with outward
sympathy. agrees with all his views and
when asked to help him to a decision,
gives her casting vote in favor of the
course he already prefers. He finds af-
ter a while that her quiet receptiveness
is grateful to him and when she has
seen him safe through an engagement or
two, and half-a-dozen hirtations more or
less serious, he suddenly finds out, or at
least tells her so, that he has really been
in love with her only all the time. Some
times this happy result is brought about
by scheming, and it is great drawback
of quietness that duplicity is so often at.
tributed to it. The quiet girl of the
family regulates the autumn tour; she
silently directs its goings to the place
where her bosom friend, male or female,
is to be met with, and she will bury her
sisters in a northern moor or bake them
at Brighton with equal and unruffled
composure. True, she never asked to 20
anywhere in particular but at odd in-
tervals she hazards remark which sug-
gests the place, and now and then reads
out paragraph from letter or news
paper in which its advantages are set
forth. What she does say is listened to
by the family, for she is always sure of
an audience to her rare utterances, and
gets a reputation for good sense which
she does not always deserve. She is
never in scrapes, or if she is. keeps them
to herself. Her allowance is never over
drawn, or if it is, no one hears her
grumble that she cannot make both ends
meet. There seems to be method in
her doings to which people instinctively
yield, and she gets her own way, not SO
much because she tries to get it, as be-
cause nobody thinks of opposing her.
Like the flies, whose feet are provided
with soft pads, so you do not feel them
when they alight you, her influence works
unnoticed, aud everything seems ordered
for her rather than by her. She almost
monopolizes the attentions of the lady's-
maid she is supposed to share with her
sisters, and can always manage cup Of
tea in her room or breakfast in bed. She
can flirt on occasion in way no frivo-
lous girl dares to attempt, but she never
writes compromising letter. and has q
most convenient want of memory. She
accepts presents which her sisters would
have to refuse, and keeps them laid by
in cotton wool to look at during the hour
she is doing her back hair and saying
her prayers. She retircs gracefully 10
favor of the other girls, as if willing to
let them shine, and gets her reward in
the appreciation Of the old people of the
party. Quiet men find her agreeable,
and wonder why she is said to be silent,
but this is chiefly because she does moi
bore them by insisting on answers to her
questions. When she develops into a
wife, for she always marries at least
once, she gets her own way in every
thing. Her husband probably chose her
because he thought it would turn out
differently, aud finds when too late that
be could not possibly have made more
complete mistake. Children are always
fond of her, sons respect, if they do not
greatly love, quiet mothers. for they have
never heard them talk nonsense. Ser
wants never give them short answers, as
their words are few and decisive, aud
the poor people think them dignifed and
mines Of hidden wisdom. In fact. they
go through the the world under kind
Of false pretense /; they get credit for
great depth Of feeling and it is for some
reason thought well worth while 10 win
their love. Only the experienced man
estimates them at their right value, and
admires the merry little sister with the
sharp tongue, the pleasant smile, and ,as
he knows well, a warmer heart and truel
character than under the staid demcanol
of the quiet girl.
Quietncss is sometimes a sign Of bod
lily health. The nervous man who j,
always stirring is seldom strong. But
when a man is thoroughly wrapped "
in himself and his own Importance, per.
fectly satisfied with bis position and pros.
poets, the cut Of his clothes, the length
OF his whiskers. the attenuation Of bis
umbrella, and the lustre Of his hat, the
chances are that he is very quiet. Such
men are habitually well-dressed but as
they get on in life thoy cling 10 old fash
ions. They are not considerable for others,
yet they give very little trouble. They
exact the utmost service. but make no
fuss about il. They arc painfully regu-
lar aud punctual, bat never seem pat out
by other pconle's want of order. They