Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1878-10-10
QUIET PEOPLE.

QUIET PEOPLE.
Tho m;sgovernnent of the world is car
~;od o., with such al amount OF talk that
.ao has seldom time to think how little
,o,ld suffice. Half-a-doZen well-chosen
cords would generally be better than whole
conferences ana debates. Both wise and
foolish people have broken much silence in
,raising il. The silent man is often enabled,
hv the value attached to his rare utterances,
10 say more by his silence than a voluble
talker by a string of phrases. There is a
kind of silence which is the reverse of talk
and is in itself eloquent. A prisoner who
reserves his defence, a witness who refuses
to answer a question, a man who holds his
tongue when his character is assailed-in
abort. all the cases in which silence gives
CONSENT are rather silence as the negation
q; speech than as a positive quantity. 1t is
quite easy to immagine loquacity in @ deaf
mute. He may not have power to utter a
oud, yet, in the strict sence, he is not per-
haps a silent person. And silence kept on
purpose to express, by its very existence,
All emotion of the mind, is only a substitu,
ZION of signs for speech. Such is the reti-
eence displayed by the well-known epitaph
on a tombstone in Fulham churcllyard,
where, after the name, age and date OF death
Of the lady buried below, three words only
are added by way of epltaph-''Silence is
best.'' The estimation OF the deceased
by her surviving relations could not be more
fully expressed had the whole tone been
covered. When a character is to be given
to drunken or dishonest servant, the omis-
a0n of the words honest and sober is suftic-
lent. But this is not the silence of quiet
people. Too often they resemble rather the
chinpanzee than the parrot, and are not
talkative because talk may involve them in
further exertion. But it is not easy to pry
into their motives of action, or rather of in
%inaction. The Ulster folk have a proverb,
Nobody can tell what is in the pot when
the lid is on" 1t is not the most unseltish
people who talk the least about themselves.
10 some the facts which relate to their per-
sonal history are too serious for words.
UaSpeakable are the emotions OF silent
people; a sense of personal dignity or shame
keeps them quiet; but to most Of them is
vouchsafed a single confidential friend, into
whose ear all pent-up feelings are poured
from time to time.
This is especially the case with quiet girls.
what they say in their m of conf
sehce we cannot pretend to know. wheth-
CT they are really quiet or only shy is equal
~ beyond the superficial observer. That
they are not found to impede the pleasant
now of soul in ordinary society is because
t'ey are e%minently good listeners, and do
NOT yaWn at the utmost ~commonplaces.
1hat another should commit himself to
speech with or without anything to say, is
oaough to Interest them. They are thought
sympathetic, and often draw forth the tale
81 woe long hidden. Men begin by telling
e'em OF other loves, and often end by loving
'hem for themselves. In this they have adj
vantage over the more gushing sister. They
lake no notice of a foolish speech, and a
"'ah imagine he is safe in their hands. He
can say things to them, which said to any
'"e else, might have serious nsequence
q qVlet cousin is thus often a great blessing
"a man. He talk a matter out as if with
A'"self, and immagine afterwards that he