Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-03-05
"Silence is Golden. +"

Words spoken in season are of the
greatest value; but now and then, even
with our best and dearest, there come
seasons when the gift of silence is far
more to be desired than the most royal
gifts of elOquence.
With almost every one there will
arise something that tempts to dispute;
when to refrain from reply would be
the better as well as the harder way,
when even ga soft answer" has not
half the power of perfect silence.
With the ignorant and passionate it
is not only useless, but the widest folly
to dispute. We doubt if Solomon, with
all his wisdom, was in the most trust
worthy state of mind when he advised
to "answer a fool according to his
folly" With great self-control sensible
people may dispute or disagree over
points of interests, and yet not forget
the laws of kindness and common sense.
But to attempt to answer "a fool ac-
cording to his folly' is to descend to his
level.
In the household there are many
things which demand forbearance and
good stock of patience. In large
family hardly an hour goes by but little
shadows cross the horizon which tri-
fling irritation might change into dark
clouds, threatening a storm; yet by
"setting a watch over the door of the
mouth," they pass over without falling
shower.
The wife, more than anyone, should
have full possession Of the crowning
household grace of silence. Men are
so unlike women in this respect that
while they love strongly and faithfully
they do not depend on the daily out
ward expression of it as much as women
do. A loving wife can forget her own
bodily need to cater for the taste or
minister to the comfort of those she
loves. But these expressions of affec-
tion and tenderness she cannot dispense
with without suffering loss. They are
her life. With them her nature ex-
pands, brOadens, becomes richer and
nobler; without them she withers and
becomes greatly impoverished. Some
husbands little know how quickly their
wives may deteriorate and become
mere cold machines if they pass heed
lessly on their way, forgetting the heart
famine they leave at home.
But no matter how much a wife
Graves gentle attentions and loving no
tice, it Is better that she should teach
herself to know the great strength she
may command by silence-not unamia-
BILE silence, but that which gently tends
upward toward peace, and its patient
continuance will sometimes open hus-
bands eyes to his unintentiOnal neglect
and make him love and honor his wife
all the more for the quiet lesson she has
taught him. There are times in q mans
life, far more than in a wOman's, when
any reply to careless remarks, or com.
plants of inattentiOn or seeming neg
lect, would be unwise and threaten
trouble
Can you effect change by constant
repiningp Does not that mood enhance
the evil and risk, changing carelessness
now and then into a settled indiffer-
enceP And by expOstulatiOns, com
plants and perhaps reprOaches, does
not a wife endanger her own lOveF
While that shines undiminished there is
always hope that the "doVe of peace
and promise" will yet fold its wings
and take up its abode there, and the
last days of that household be brighter
and more lovely than the first.
Try the virtue Of silence, when tempt.
ed to "last speeches." and see if it will
not do more to lift the cloud than the
bitter invectives which wounded pride
and irritated love are sure to utter
The first. faithfully acted upon, brings
hope of better times; the latter, If not al
once and forever dismissed, is sure de.
structiOn of all true love and domestic
peace. e.-Baptist Weekly.