, 1891-05-17
CAN WOMEN KEEP STILL?
"WomEN's TONGUES" HUNG ON A
TREE IN NASSAU.

80 SSA =
Know How-Does "A Man Really Admire
a silent wife?-A Suggested Expert
ment-rhe Dizziness of Lovers.
Copyright, 1881, by American Press Associa-
toni
One of the most frequent jibes of man
kim against ~womankind is that it can
not hold its tongue, must nave the last
word in a controversy, as note the fa-
nous scissors dispute between a man
and his wife, where he, irritated beyond
endurance, threw her into the we'll, and
she, too nearly drowned to speak, held
n hand above the water and worked
the fingers to initiate a pair of scissors,
and so maintained her opinion not only
with her last breath but after it was
gone.
know l have mentioned before, and
yet L must mention again, my mingled
amusement and indignation at a little
incident of my visit to Nassau. In the
town square of that pleasant little city
stands a very large tree, 1 believe of the
locust species. When we were there it
was covered with long pods filled with
seeds, which being ripe and dry clattered
against each other in every breath of
wind, producing a constant murmur and
whisper, rising occasionally to a perfect
babel of inarticulate voices.
OF course we inquired the name of so
singular a tree, and l shall never forget
the demure satisfaction with which the
consul who accompanied us replied,
WELL they call it Women's Tongue,
because, you see, the merest breath is
enough to set it to talking"
Nnur 1F ,n,,rzn E6,, T. .-s.1s. -
deeply implanted in the masculine mind
that it is quite hopeless to try to eradi-
cate it, but is it a well founded preju-
dice?
My w impression is that the sexes
in this, rs in many other directions,
share the foible about equally, and that
there are as many male as female chat
terboxes.
The public prints some time ago noted
the death of a woman who certainly was
a notable instance of the feminine power
of silence.
Some thirty years ago this fair lady
had a dispute with her husband, at the
close of which he pettishly exclaimed:
"Oh, do hold your tonguel I'm sick
to death of the sound of your voicel'
You are, are your retorted the wife,
hurt through and through in the fashion
only a woman can comprehend. well,
you never shall hear my voice again"
And she kept her word. After a day
or W of silence oil her part the husband
grew uneasy, and finally made advances
toward reconciliation. These were re-
ceived after a fashion-that is TO say, the
wife's face resumed its usual expression,
she performed her household duties and
looked after her husbands comfort: she
was cheerful with her children, and soon
taught them to understand her signs as
well as they might have her language, but
even to them, even to her little baby,
she never spoke, never laughed aloud,
never, in fact, allowed her voice to be
heard, lest to whomever she spoke her
husband might catch its sound. Then
the man, fully aroused to the seriousness
of the occasion, eXpostulated, command
ed, begged, wept and pleaded upon his
knees that his wife should break this
terrible resolution. He brought the
minister to intercede for him, he brought
her nearest relatives, and he taught the
oldest children to plead for him and for
themselves.
But one course was as useless as an
other. The woman had but one reply,
and that she wrote upon a slip of paper
and presented to each petitioner.
Il said he never should hear my voice
again, and he sha'n'tI"
When, after several years use, this pa
per became soiled and torn, the stubborn
creature wrote out another, and never
did she add a word or make any farther
explanation of her course.
At last the buchap1 lou ,,pn, H., 10Th
bed, and as his wife ministered to his
needs he caught her hand, and in the hol-
low and broken voice of a dying man he
begged his wife to forgive him if indeed
he had offended her so deeply, and to
speak to him, if only to say goodby,
and bid him depart in peace. 1t was the
last chance she would have, he reminded
her, and those who needed forgiveness
should be ready to make forgiveness.
h listened patiently, and then wrote
for one of her daughters to read and re-
peat that she had nothing to forgive,
and that she babe him an affectionate
goodby; but she had said he never should
hear her voice again, and he never should.
But, added she, neither should any
body else, for she never should speak
again so long as she lived. And with
this strange comfort she let him die.
Then began a new struggle, for the
children pleaded that they had never of
Tended her; there was no pretence of Il
cause for renewing her vow of silence
against them, and begged and besought
her to set it aside and come back from
her terrible isolation to be once more
their mother.
But still she shook her head, and only
wrote out a new slip of paper:
II promised him 1 never would speak
again, and l won't"
And so she lived another ten years or
so, and finally she died, dumb even upon
her deathbed, in spite of the piteous en-
treaties of the children, who still loved
her.
Now, after such an instance as that,
does any man say that a woman cannot
hold her tongue?
OF course l don't mean this as an ex-
ample, nor do l think such persistency a
womanly or amiable trait of character,
but it surely showed strength of purpose,
and from it we may fairly argue that if
a has determined to hold her
tongue she is quite capable of doing it.
OF course every one knows that a
woman's tongue is far more nimble than
aman's; that she has IA great deal more to
say, and thinks of a reply or a retort a
great deal sooner than a man does; that
her thoughts or fancies formulate them
selves more readily, and she has a great
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