The Irish standard., 1889-02-23
THE GIFT OF SPEECH.
Why Men and Women Grow
wrinkled and Care Worn.

Why Men ana WOMEN olO~
Wrinkled and Care Worn.
A Lady Writer'S Astonishing Theory-Shs
Tries to Prove That the Power OF
Speech Is at the Bottom OF Most
Human Misery.
Not long ago our old cat passed through
severe domestic affliction, writes Amber"
in the Chicago Tribune. She lost hve as
handsome offspring as cat ever lay claim to
within the sixtieth fraction of an hour. Yet
there she lies upon her cushion, as sleek, as
placid, and seemingly as happy as thougn
her departed babies we're by her slde'
There is not day but some creature OF
the brute creation endures trouble Whlcn,
If borne by men and women, would reduce
endurance to it's ebb. Horses are weighted
with heavy burdens, lashed with cruel
whips. left standing hour after hour by un.
sheltered curbstones. They are sutfocated
in nose-bags, tormented by rude boys,
starved by stingy masters and overcheckeo
by wanton dudes. And yet who ever heard
of wrinkled and haggard horse9
Innocent and addle-pated chickens are
cooped in close quarters, carried head down
ward by the legs, thrown into vile-smeuang
and airless underground holes, jostled over
STONY roads and vet set them free and i've
minutes after they are as placidly amazed
and as idiotically consequential as though
their life had yielded nothing but ripe oat
fields and moist chicken feed
If any thing created ever knew anguish
the sheep has sounded the plummet OF pos.
sible despair Worried by dogs, caught and
sheared by clumsy hands, turned loose upon
the hillside in it's shorn condition TO prove
the fallacy that any one up alott tempers
the wind for such poor creatures; decoyed
to the shambles and hit in the head by
bungling butchers1 and yet who ever knew
sheep to bear Ill its face the token of hte's
many vicissitu7es2 Are they not veritable
types Of serene and lovely composure anu
supernatural equanjmity?
Che average woman begins to show lines
about her mouth before she is out OF her
teens. At thirty she is hollow-eyed, at
torty wsinkled, at fifty haggard, at sixty
crone A man to whose lot falls little
more than the average share OF earth's
trouble. is broken down and ready for tue
grave before he is fifty, and ten to one goes
out of life in the wind Of his own desperate
bullet In thinking the matter over have
como to the conclusion that the reason why
humanity bears marks Of suffering un-
known to tbs brute creations greater ex-
perience of suffering lies Ia the gift OF hui
man speech. Bestow upon the afflicted cat.
the tormented horse, the long-sutferlng
chicken and the innocent sheep the power to
voice their complaint and ret all it to listen
ins ears, and the wrinkles, the white hairs
and the slnken cheeks would follow sure as
tate! Ii is because they can not talk things
over that they escape the branding-lron OF
special torment. Something happens to US,
and we give ourselves no rest until every
friend and distant correspondent knows 1t
and drops in to condole with us. Ii 5hes
darling baby dies we feed OUR bitter sorrow
with contributions from every outside guar
ter. The minister keeps The knife farming
III the wound by dropping in occasionally TO
comfort us and pray with us. Ii sick
ness enters the homo, be il trivial or Sc
rious, it becomes the absorbing subject of
conversation with every one we meet. Ii 1t
is cold we tell over all the symptoms; if it
is q fever we dalate upon the suffering; if it
is a broken limb or q terrible accident we
gloat over the details.
If special disaster oyertakes US and we
are bankrupt either in gold or faith we
talk, and talk, and talk the matter over
with every friend we have until every rep
etition leaves wrinkle. When we salute
ono another in the street it is always:
s'How do you do2'' referring to the body
and not to the soul. The leading idea Of tho
ishing part of yous Have you any aches
about you today? just as Simple Simon
asked the pieman for taste Of his wares we
say: s'Now's the time to trot out an ache
or a nice ittle attention OF the lungs or
liver il you have them about you" Our
salutation should be as to the spirit. We
should be more concerned with the Welfare
of the immortal part OF lis than with the
welfare of our bowels and Of our digestion,
am hardly prepared to say that the gift
Of speech is g curse but think that am
justified in saying that the misuse Of it re-
bounds to our everlasting confusion and
distress. A backbiting tongue certainly
Goes more mischief in the word than sealed
lius could ever work. The man or woman
who assails the fine and delicate fabric of
character with brutal speech is more to be
dreaded than the tough who sandbags his
victim. Any of us would rather be
knocked down than to dwell perpetually
with q nagging tongue. A brawling wom-
an can make more contention than any
other created thing unless it is q guinea
hen or peacock. A brutal word hurts
more than q blow. You can heal a physical
hurt, but there is no balm for heart
brujse A word is not like kite. You
can't draw it back with string; once
spoken it is like a bird let loose from a
cage it will never come beck and be
locked behind the bars Of forgetfnlness
again. Would it not be a good idea, then,
so much as is possible, to forego idle gossip
about troubles that can't be helped and to
resolve to be mute where we can not say
pleasant things2 Sympathy is necessary
to us all, but sympathy carried to an excess
is like the overuse Of opium, it weakens
the fiber and dulls the spirit Too much
chattering about troubles that must be en-
dured rather than cured will end in making
weaklings of US. The way to get along in
the world is to keep our breath and our
strength for the battle field and not waste
it in idle chat about the campfire. The
man who talks is never the man who does.
The time that the gallant Sheridan put in
in riding down to Winchester would never
have immortaized his name had he de.
scended from his horse and talked the situ-
alton over with every straggler he met.