The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1878-07-13
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Art Of silence.

1N'S~Atf
cannot is to be master Of Tie situation
It is to weather difficulties and keep clear
Of scrapes, to live, as ii were, on a watch
tower In the effective language Of a
Proverb lately much in vogue, such silence
is golden; higher discretion knows when
to speak as well as when to be silent, but
silence is often the best discretion people
are capable of. They do very well to fol
low Priors rule before strangers
It railways has been thought discreet
To know the company yon meets
nd sure there must be secret danger
In talking much before stranger. ss
Now life habitually spent in silence is no
preparation for silence of this sort, Soil
tude is aptto unhiHge reserve. No man
is quite the same under long spell of ST
lcnce that he is ia. natural intercourse
with others The unspOkcn talk in which
he has allowed himself to make so many
revelations to an imaginary hearer win
have induced a habit through which he
exhales in unwise confidence to living ears
as soon as be has the chance; or, if he es-
eapes this temptatiOu, he may having
yielded 70 the calm Establishments of
seifesteem swollen by long practice in hav-
ing the best Of it. We shall generally
find people Who are ostentatiousIy content
ed With silence, aud wie can bear the
strain Of solitude, extreHiely well satisfied
with themselves, aud persuaded that they
are exemplary. People who talk so per
haps betray effort; for really silence is not
congenial TO man, except as alternating
with sound. tSouthey in his early days
wrote to his friends good deal about his
taste for silence s.--''I was, as always in
the company Of strangers, thoughtful, re-
served, and almost silent, God never in
tended that ! should make myself agree
able to anybody / want my books and
nothing else; have been told / never
thanked anybody for CiEilty, and there
are very few in this world who can under
stand silence" He speaks, too, of stthe
temper which makes me prefer silence to
contradiction" This sort of silence is in
most people the very reverse Of compan-
ionable. It is great thing to be silent
in company and not offensive, as silent
contradiction mostly is. There are people
TO whom silence seems so natural that we
never think of reseBting it. They can be
silent, and yet look at ease. attentive, ap-
prcciatiye, showing by postare aOa eoun-
tenance that they are oae of the party.
On the ether hand, there is sort of 81
Aencc that oppresses, that creates an at
uosphere, that makes US avert the eye,
and, if possible, the thoughts, from the
presence of it-a protesting silence, a
breathing silence, thinking in opposition.
Whea Seathey, later in life, complained
Of cards as sileaeing the merry voices, he
was in a more sOciahie mood thaa 10 his
youth.
Certain periods of silence are essential
10 the intellect, and it is good to have
them even in company, when familiarity
allows it. It Sydney Smiths family circle
there were long periods of silence-"each,
as a visitor describes, "with an armchair,
lamp. aad book" But such silence, long
imposed, becomes a burden, and weighs
down all natural buoyancy. Talk was the
rule at Abbotsford, Scott seems always
ito have talked when be could. Yet he
liked to think himself independent of
speech, and, ia talking of neighbor Cor,
woodlee) who was tit to hang himself after
five days seclusion, was sure that he would
know how to amnse himself in the Bastilc.
1t implies a certain amount of cultivation
to be able TO carry on any train of thought
in solitude. In mind perfectly untrain-
ed, as in the more ignorant rustic class,
We cannot suppose the inner voice to be a
very audible one. Again, to people who
haze lived life of rude cIamor, who have
had no experience. of silence, enforced ST.
lenee is often uncomfortable aThe single
waat of nOise" stirs them into mutiny.
Thus women Of the criminal class often
break out into fits of tumultuous noise in
their solitary cells from experiencing a
sense of agony in silence which may sug-
gest to them-what is indeed one of its
main terrors-the silence of the grave.
Next to clamoring for noise there is,
however, the clamor for silence, familiar
to all ears in some way or other The
dietatorial domestic ealis for it, stilling the
din of childish voices; it is loudly pro-
claimed on solemn occasions; and most
people have heard that bawling for it which
has drawn the memorable reproof
He who. IN quest Of silence. silence hoots
Is apt to cause the hubbub he impuses
The love of silence can only be acquired
through its opposite. We must have had
noise enough before mere void can be
welcome. The brain likes quiet for its
workings, but the spirits are apt to rise
when a elatter sapersedes it. Not till the
ear has had as much sound as it can we'll
hold can it take in the sense of silence,
give it meaning, aud realize the solemnity
of mere pause from sound, ''the big bell
gone STILL
Men, like books, have at each end
blank leaf-childhOOd and old age.