Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1881-06-22

llUt-Nsli bt lllstl lNlos "hpoC
the cause OF a once popular truth shall
fill future generations with pity and sOr-
row, with gratitude and admiration com
bined. Few of us again, happily, have
the temptation to be great criminals !;
but all of US have in our power the small
charities of daily life, the minor social
graces and the quiet domestic virtues; !;
and by consequences all of us are capable
of committing the minor social sins, and
those undeclared but most disastrous
domestic vices which mar the happiness
and the essential purity of home. And of
these most social sins, one of the most
fatal to the peace of honor is that habit,
so much INDUCED in we are sorry to say
mainly by wOmen-of little treacheres
and ill.natured betrayals.
THE vvIspoM ov RErtcExcp
We all know that many, nay, the ma
iority of women, fail in the wisdom OF
reticence; and that they speak too openly
to each other of things of which they
certainly do not wish 10 make the world
at large present. They will even tell on
slight provocation those graver secrets in
their own lives which would ruin them
forever if made known to the general
public and which are known to many in
an underground kind of way, like mole's
run or rabbits burrow. And if they will
do this they will do all that lies below that
line. On the very thinest chance of safe
ty they will pour out their unortho0ox
thoughts on politics, morals, and religion,
their opinions of people, their doubtful
family affairs in general, believing that
the luditv which could not hold these
dangerous matters in their own safe
keeping find adamantine hardness and
soldIty in another who has no interest in
holding them ut all. Granted then that
the first link in the chain is weak and
unSound, and that women are llnnitaby
sillv in the readiness with which they
betrav themselves, still that does not eX.
cuse what follows. 1.-TWO wrongs do not
make one right" according to a quaint
old saying; and because A is fluid, may
not be treacherous. A person has no right
to accept a confidence that by his or her
constitutional want Of reticence the secret
cannot be kept. We all know ourselves
well enough for this; and we all could ii
we would, exercise so much self-control
and so much finer sense of honor as to say
"Do not tell me your secrets. | cannot
Keep IutIl lOI NOu DtllCl tOu Cull
keep them for yourself, and what you
confide to me | shall he sure to pass on to
others" This would save a vast amount
of suffering and wrong doing in the future
but, alas! it is Just these brave begin
nngs, these honorable precautions, which
are so difficult to practice and almost
impossible to enforce. People who think
they will not when, if they would but be
honest to themselves, they know they
infallbly will. For the mere pleasure
of appearing to sympathize for a moment
or the less respectable qualification OF
their curiosity, they will allow others tc
put themselves into the very jaws of what
is in one sense death, by giving them to
keep safe and hold fast those dangerous
condolences which are sure to be squan-
drred abroad to the world-in whisper
because natural love of gossip has made
them too burdensome to hold.
sTABBING IN THE BACK.
If the sacrcdness of absolute confidence
is violaled-if grave and dangerous Sc
crets are told-what is not done by al
that mass Of merely implied confidence
which passes current in society rs private
conversation? How few people have th'
principle of honorable loyalty so fal
developed as to make the small treacher
les of repetition, exaggeration and un
friendly comment impossible. They viii
sit quietly and listen to all sorts of thing
with which they do not agree, and whict
may be they actually condemn, but neve
give a sign of their disiavor. They will
not combat your views nor declare thei
h.,t mill a IN h.
cause of sincerity is not to activel,
ndorse what you say; but they will no
run the risk of offending YOU by fghtin!
on your own ground, and thus defending
their own. They will only stab you in tn
back as soon as you have turned ava.
you face They will run about among a
your friends and say from one to the 9th
er, " What odd opinions Mrs. Fourstar
holds and what dreadful woman sh
must be to think as she does" The
themselves, accustomed to the broat
smooth plane of orthodoxy and conformit
from abstruse theological doctrine TO tn
exact width of rutlle on Il skirt-unat
customed to the freer fields of discussio
and to the deeper trench of examination
think that everything which is unusual
them must therefore be improper or III
true or odd in itself. Their knowledge
human life is more limited than yours, bu
if you say that you have seen such type
and have learned to draw such and sue
differences from certain class OF fact
they will hold that you have commltte
that greatest crime of all-blasphem
against humanity-and that you youTse
are responsible for the very defects, Il
very sins, of which you declare you st
the outline and the resting-place.
SOCIAL HYPOCRITEs.
But if they would say so to yourse
you would know then where you stoo
and you might protect yourself again
misrepresentation, or justify your opinit
by proof of its soundness. They will {
this They will sit there quite calml
and as if greatly interested say, 81
deed!n " Really! - Is it trueP' al
all the rest OF it; and only when you ha'
left, and they have secured new a
dience, do they launch their indignatit
and proclaim to the world, What
awful man that Mr.. Blank is; really n
fit to be known by any self-respectir
woman!n Or, -" " hat IA horrid womi
that Mrs. Blank has shown herself to b
such hypocrItc, too, lor no one Wou
suspect her of being such wretch as s
has Just proved herself by her disgracei
opinions" Now, This is Il small 'reac
cry that is enacted at all times and
almost all persons. For one honest al
outspoken opponent content to grapE
with you there and then, and to leave y
alone when you cannot defend yourse
we find hundreds who make no sign
dissent to your face, and only walt 1
your absence to betray all you have 50
and to rend your reputation into ira
ments so small that they can never
piecCd together again.
A DIRECT CUT.
You are stupid enough to say sharp a
bitter things Of common friends, or m
be Of only acquaintances. You are in
irritable mood, and have seen certa
matters which seemed TO you more dou
full. and you have ''let fly with me
force than discretion. We all do 1t.
all know we are handled by our frien
at times with less love than might