The Penn's Grove record., 1891-05-01
A SOFT W

Tho soft answer turneth away wrath,
and the meek OF spirit Inherit where the
contentious are cast ont
There is no greater cause OF unhappi-
ness in married life-in all home life,
ipdeed-than the snappy answer to the
snrlv word. III Fate and a cross-cut
Fortn,,e have decreed between them
tbot we are TO be mated with q Snarley
Vow. or set down by the side OF a hu-
man Stromboli, or o never cooling gey-
ser. we ought in common n to mike
the best OF our bad bargain, and to slip
round the pointed angles which we cam
not rub down into smooth planes. If
we are bent on giving onr TIT for that
others tat, and letting loose a savage
Rolani to meet an cooperating Oliver,
we shall ngyer come to good ends, and
meyer know the blessing of domestic
peace. The gentle acceptance OF injus-
tic which in Il nation would be self
destruction is in a housemate general
preservation. The soft answer, which
with a body of men would encourage
insubordinat!on and send tie whole
affair TO ruin, in the homo makes only
for the better accord of eisewise jar
ring notes and the better fitting in of
elsewise misitting1 bits. The CANCEL
OF the House" is Always the peacemaker
because of her gentleness. She uses
the soft answer and not the hard snap;
and when other are sore and rasped,
takes care to apply anodynes, not ir-
r,tants. after the ann OF SO many.
The soft answer is often the measure
Of a woman's wisdom. Shesmay not be
of good in active couusel-she may not
have the initiative which belongs to
energy and courage: hut if she has
the wisdom of g~entleness and the power
to keep silent when provoked, she is in
very deed and truth wise and blessed
among her sex. She who has this
power brings the whole Temple OF Con-
cord tumbling to the ground. Do we
know them, those tnrt-tempered, sharp
tongued, porcupine quilted creatures,
who never let an occasion pass when
they might, if they would, bring the
blessing of peace by silence or sweeter
soothing, and do instead make bad
into worse by their bitter words and
sharp retortsl Say what You will to
them in the hours when You think to
find them unrufled and amenable to
reason-say what You will by way of
counsel and exhortation-the next time
the same circumstance occurs SO will
they use the same method of angry
and the soft answer that would
have tnrned away wrath is as little to
be found as last years SHOWS.
Such o woman calls her brusque un-
wisdom, having q proper spirit, and
when demonstrated with, asks, dis
dainfully if she is to be a slave and a
creature? In all probability
she is q Christian by convict N, and
be utterly abashed if told that
she was a traitress to her creed. 1t
is only when she is called on to put the
precepts into practice that
she fails SO signally-that the crooked
shows itself so far stronger than
The sweet saintliness of her creed-that
what she was enjoined to do by the
Master Himself she refuses to do at the
bidding OF pride and anger.
OF what use is it to fly into a rage
when things 60 wrong? Human beings
ire fallible at the best; and even ma
like sewing-machines, watches,
md typewrlters, get into that state
which many call ''out OF temper"
Much more SO then the machines OF
flesh and blood and nerves and alt the
rest of it called men and womenl But
where is the good of that outbreak of
And suppose Betty and Molly
fire back in return? More than the
original deficit falls then on the Ok
of peace, and perhaps what gen
would have nullified into a mere
breath becomes a living blizzard that
.desolates and devastates all whereby it
passes. The "soft answer stands for
more than itself. It stands for all the
sweetness of woman and all the gentle
ness of man-and without this sweet
ness, this gentleness, the world must go
back to barbarism, and the brute man
become once more the normal type OF
the race.