The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1881-11-17
Put q Check-latch on Your
Tongue.

~ hat an a nOlnt u oHeFe non~eH-
all Of u talk at times Suppose tn
tongue had a self-acting monograph
attachment which would register ever,
word uttered by Us 50 that at the ent
Of the year we might each unfold q bi,
roll OF parchment, and coolly revies
orr remarks during the year, l. Their,
man i've leave out the ladies'. a
privileged i talk a, they pleasel VIII,
would not tie ashamed of nine tenth- o
his speech? Aud the one tenth wh,
felt no reproach. would they not cousis.
Of mere intellectual an moral sticks,
with 40 blood in their VEINS and shall
low rated fellows without sense enough
10 know where they talked nonsense?
The trouble with ordinary converse
ton is that we do not express OUT
moughts, but merely our vagaries. A,
the talk proceeds, each person engaged
in il launches out his remarks at ran.
dom. following the first notion that
flashes upon his mental mirror, and
boldly uttering my opinion, or THE
view | take when, In fact, il is not
his opinion, or view II all because he
has never given the subject a moments
thought. aud has no fixed and settled
belief in regard TO il, This i proved
bv the difference between talking and
writing. Ask a man his opinion, and
he will rattle off his impression as glib
" as if he bad spent a life time in
studying the matter. But meet him a
month later when he has forgotten your
question, and ask him to give you his
idea Of the subject In writing, aud you
will find quite another thought, or sen
tlment.
Much idle AMI nonsensical utterance
would be avoided il we could train our-
selves to decline giving an answer.
That is, If, when asked our opinion, we
had strength and honesty TO say
We'll, I'm afraid | don't know much
about it, or Il must confess We ney
er given it a thought, aud have no
clear opinion about 1t. The power Of
declining an answer is as important So
ciaIly, as intellectually and much more
important morally. One half the lies,
both white and black, Gas well as one
halt the failures IN business, and life
generally come from Inability to answer
MOP or, Il don know Children,
and young girls, in particular, need to
be trained 10 decline answering, instead
of attempting an answer which must be
either false, or foolish. or both. Far
better let the child remain rudely u
when questioned, than TO force re
spouse which tempts her to tell au III
truth. or to evade, or preysricate. We
knew a boy once TO be frightened into
a lie though ordinarily frank ana
truthful. Coming one day into a room
he foun =! a stove pipe fallen, and some
of the SCOT smuttei over the bald pate
of a person present. lie would not
have been a bright and mlrthtul boy,
if he had not laughed at the ludlcrous>
ness of the spectacle. But III a second
he was caught by the arm, aud %sternly
interrogated- What are gou snichcr
tnq aLout5' He stamnered, and
tremb!ed, and when the demal I'd was
repeated, with increasing severity, he
whimpered-''I, IL was thinking
about a little dog hat run over a cart ;
tail, and smashed it."
"A dog ran over a carts tail PIN
thunder tones.)
'Ye-ye yes, sir! | mean a dog
tail an a cart got smashed
''Stop!-(still louder) where did
this funny affair occur?'
Trembling and embarrassed, the child
started to say he had seen it up street
then that he had read Of it in a book,
and finally he broke down, burst into
tears, and stood a self-cJnfessed fbber.
No supper, a whipping, and a long lee
ture resulted. Yet the boy was not
alone to blame. Some allowance for
the lack of self-control of a child should
have been made when he was seen to
laugh at the mishap' aud he should not
have been pushed into a corner, as it
were, with no escape save through a
transparent lie. Now and then there
may be a prodigy of honesty like the
hero of the Ratchet story but we sus-
pect ever little George Washington
was very much like other children.
Doubtless if the truth were known it
would be found that the little chap
either saw that the mark of his new
ratchet would be sure to tell on him.
and that confession was bis only escape
OF he may have been one of those only
sons" who are as big as their ''pappys,
and was not afraid of a 1oggIng even if
he did own up to chopping at the cher
ry tree.
Be that as 1t may, all children have
not an equal amount of mental and
moral courage, any more than all have
an equal amount Of physical strength;
and the parent who endeayors to mould
his child into the iron armor of what
is Right instead of gradually training
him to do right by custom and instinct,
will not only be apt to fail, but will al
most certainly do harm.
In conclusion, we repeat, teach your
child to muster courage to decline.
Teach him that many questions are
best answered by two letters--"No!'
Don't crowd him into a corner, aud
brighten him into a lie, to escape pun
ishment for his naughtiness. Better
let him say politely-'I would rather
not answer, if you please, than to
force hun to prevaricate, or falslfy, or
to confess as the last resort. A COMES
sion extorted through fear of the rod is
no honesty in sight of God. and does no
good to the child. Some boys learn
the trick of confessing to cover their
pre- indulgence.