The Red Cloud chief., 1881-01-13
Silent People.

which compares ta~lkativeness with re-
serve, and the utterance of opinions
with the rare power of withholding
them. The precious metals have been
called in TO assist 3 simllc which esta"-
fishes the relations of speech to silence
as hat o fsilver to gold. The authority
of the Swiss proyerb is supported by
the well-known dictum of Napoleon,
that the world lies at the feet of tho
man who is able to hold his tongue.
Things that are highly priced are gen.
orally rare, and from all that is said in
praise of reticence it might seem that
silent people are seldom 10 be- met with.
And yet the least reelection proves that
they are common enough, and certainly
more plentiful than agreeable. The
German proverb and the N%apoleonic
dictum must both be taken with a GER
tain degree OF reserve, and it is safer to
trust to general experience than to pin
ones faith to an aphorism. Still waters
do indeed run deep, but man is tho
only animal-except a mOnkey-who Is
not born a swimmer, and q noisy
stream is often better than q treacher-
Gus pool.
The point. however, which requires
to bu more insisted on is that Napo-
Icons helmet has a truth which people
do not suspect or admit. Talleyrand,
in comparing Metternich with Mazarin
as a diplomatist, said that the Austrian
told lies without deceiving people,
whereas the French statesman circum-
vented his opponents without telling
any lies. And so it is with silent peo-
Pile. They often get a character for
wisdom by not announcing their folly.
The depth of these still waters is moral.
not material. 1t consists in their Ca
pacity to seem deep by being merely
turbid. Aripple ON the face of them
might show how very near the pebbles
at the bottom lay to the surface.
Silence with them is golden. not be-
cause speech would reveal them to be
~silvern, but because it would show
them to be zinc, or at least pinchbeck.
The lions skin did well enough on the
donkey till he began to bray. From
this point of view the silent man takes
his rank. and that a high one, amongst
the classes who govern not by their own
merit but by the credulity of their OPP
ponents. 1t is easier for them to say
nothing than to say something wise or
to unsay something foolish.
The truth is hat language has a use
beyond the mere representation of the
ideas it conveys. There is a desire for
interchange of good fellowship and a
necessary outcome of heartiness and
friendliness which ranks. perhaps, ave
a little higher than the communication
of mathematical truths Dr. the most
erudite commentaries on the most alb
struse classical difficulties. This idea
of language, as q means of expressing
a general phase of mind, and not =
special sentiment, will be very intelli-
gible to a person who may have walked
through a country the language of
which is unknown to him. A traveller
in Norway or Sweden will find that the
peasants salute him on the road. and
that he invariably wishes them Good
speed" or Good day." The IDEA is
very general. and his own language
serves for its expression, though he
knows that. SO far as the language goes
(as distinguished from the intonation
and the gesture), it conveys no intelli-
gible idea. Light conversation has its
uses, and every foolish remarks" often
have more wisdom in them than savants
think. At least, they certainly have
more nature. 1t is well in these days
to consider what may be said in prsise
of loquacitv. and not to allow the affec-
tation of silence to carry of all the
prizes of wisdom. We may some
times learn things from nature
that we cannot find in books, and
her teaching has at all events the merit
of having been tested by the centuries.
II silent men are generally introspect-
i've. and il this kind of introspectioa
leads to gloom. there may be a wisdom
after all in talkativeness. Stearne de-
scribes how he wanted to get 3 pass
port to Paris, and describes himself as
the Yorick who figures 20 pathetically
in "Hamlet." The French nobleman,
getting q little confused IS to the differ
ence between real life and dramatic
literature. at once applied TO the Min
lister and got the passport made out in
terms as for "Mr. Yorick, the Kings
Jester" the Minister observing at the
time that q man who talked and
laughed could never be dangerous. We
feel instinctively the truth of the OBJ
servation, and when we meet q chatty
man, We set him down as good-natured
and kind-hearted. And yet most Of
what he has said might take its place
under the alarmingiy long list of what
are truly called "foolish remarks"
But for him they have not been foolish
They have supplied him with credep-
tials d effective as those of the King s
Jester. and have sent HIM forth on his
journey through life with 3 concilia-
tory ann and the reputation Of >