The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1891-09-26

Theughtfslly Discussed For Careful
Readers.

ThOughtf1lly Discussed For CAreM
Readers.
There is famous picture that hal
10 it such a mournful beauty that /,
saddens, as it appeals to every hear
into which the sorrow OF death has
entered. 1t is a corner in a library
A velvet curtain falls in heavy folds
behind desk, on which are vase
of flowers and an open ink stand, in
which pen is resting There is q
chair before the desk with high,
carved back. and a fur rug spread
beneath it, and slender, graceful
woman in a trailing black robe is
resting her arm on the back of the
chair and her head is bowed on her
hand. Leaning against the arm OF
the chair and looking down sorrow
fully is an old dog. The picture is
called "The Empty chair,p and the
dog is grieving for the kindly touch
that has failed him, and the woman
feels that the pail of death is over
the earth as she fingers alone in the
vacant room.
1t is sad picture and there are
few of us to whom it is not more.
There are few who have not felt that
death has at some time laid upon
them weight of sorrow well nigh
insupportable. and to them the pic
ture speaks of an aching heart and
a loneliness that is inexpressible.
50
In place as small as this people
know each other more intimately
than either in the country or larger
cities. Know more accurately where
in each one falls short, and know, too,
the strength and purity and earnest
ness of the lives among which We
live our own. So that when a sorrow
comes upon one household. it is a
sorrow in which we all share, and a
vacant place by one hearthstone is a
vacant place in all our hearts.
Even stranger is saddened when
the Grim Reaper strikes one in the
first bright flush of womanhood, and
with a far deeper feeling we see him
cut down one whom we have watched
grow from prattling babyhood into
maturer beauty.
Death must always come myster-
iously. Even when we watch for him
he surprises us, and it perhaps is only
when he brings such sorrow as that
in which Morgantown has recently
been plunged, that we realize he is
indeed no respecter of persons; that
Young loveliness must fall before
him, and strong, useful manhood is
not spared. We cannot know why
lives SO promising should cease on
earth, We cannot know why the light
ofa home should be put out, nor why
an earnest, noble career should be
stopped at the starting, but we can
know that those that go away are
safe from ingratitude, injustice, envy
and ali unkindness, and that never
can their hearts know the pain and
and their lives the desolateness OF
those they loved who stay behind
them.
So
Perhaps the most impressive men
in the world are silent ones. Not
those who cannot talk, but those who
can keep themselves quiet. No an
swer can be so effective to an imperti-
nent question as masterful silence.
No words can so emphatically speak
contempt as the absence of words.
No explanations can equally with it
soothe an irritated temper. No quar-.
rel can progress very satisfactorily
if only one man does the talking, and,
afterward, the man to be ashamed OF
himself is not the one who was silent.
~
OF course there are times when it
is cowardly to keep silence, but it is
not of such times l am speaking. 1t
is not cowardice to oppose such an
impassive barrier to ill-bred imperti-
nence, undeserved ridicule or boorish
impoliteness, and the man who Guilt
Yates the ability TO hold his tongue
is laying up reserve power that will
make him ruler of men.
~
l heard bright woman say once
that SO long as her husband raved
and ranted and stormed he was en-
tirely manageable, but when he quiet
ly and serenely put his foot down."
she abandoned all effort to move him,
for he and the foot were immovable.
We all know that it is not our
scolding, contending, fault-finding
men we respect, any more than we
do the women who entertain these
same characteristics.
And these men exist, and there
are great many Of them, and they
certainly forget that they are infring-
ing upon rights that from time i'm
memorial their own sex has decided
to bestow upon women.
Such men are usually ashamed to
pour out their perturbed spirits upon
their men associates for no man cares
to obtain among men the reputation
of a scold. but they indulge their
disagreeable tempers among the wo-
men of their households, who know
that answering back does not i'm
prove the condition of things, but
who usually find keeping silent very
difficult.
| really believe that a scolding,
fault finding man is as frequently as
anything else the original cause OF
an unhappy home. OF course if his
wife suffers in silence she is the only
one unhappy, and if she is not silent
they are both liable to suffer togeth-
er. This is not intended TO insinuate
that women are not responsible for
home unhappiness. 1t merely means
to say that they need not feel over
whelmed by all the responsibility,
for the facts indicate that it may
with justice be evenly divided.
~.
was reading recently descrip.
ton Of Frau Won Bismarck, who, ii
is said, cares more for the price OF
her butter and eggs in the market
than for all the dignity of her station,
and who always has done SO, if we
may judge by the saying of the EN-