Evening star., 1897-07-31
KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT.
That Would he Useful to a
Young Man in Any Station of Life.

From Harpers Rourd Table
1t is an old saying among schooboys and
college men that the fellow who keeps his
mouth shut is always the big man-that he
who deliberately says little quickly wins
for himself the name for wisdom. Such
statements are quite as true in the outer
world to a certain degree as they are in
college and school. The pith of the mat
ter is that If in any way you arrive at a
position of any Importance, the less you
talk to every one the more credit you re-
serve for care, for thoughtfulness, for
sound. well-considered opinions. Here Is
nothing which urges boy to have no opin-
ions or to never express them, and In fact,
this wise silence at school and college as
often, perhaps, covers up empty mind
as it does the wisdom Of Solomon. There
is. however. good rule to follow. which
may be given briefly, to the effect that ii
Is well to say little until you have thor
oughly made up your mind, and then not
to hesitate in your statements. The temp
tation Of the average man is to express
some opinion at once, but if that is
changed later the full force of the final
opinion is lost.
Let others do the wrangling. Your opin-
ion will have all the more influence if you
come out strong with it at the close of the
discussion, when not only are the others
considerably in doubt as to what they do
want, but you have also the advantage of
hearing many sides of the case.
That is to say, that in your daily be-
havior toward the others in school 1t is
well to keep your talk in reserve. 1t is a
habit easily acquired, and one that in the
end works both ways. 1t adds both to the
value of your advice, because the advice is
better considered. and it gives the advice
an added value SO far as others are con-
cerned because when you only say little,
that little has the more consideration.
In the course of athletic games there arc
furn IF frna finer fri AS
nents. One way is as easy as another, for
both are merely habits. Many good chap
at base ball or foot ball is constantly grum i
bling whenever the umpire or referee gives
decision. He objects to the decision on
principle; he goes back to his place in the
field, criticisiEg the partisanship of the Of
fcial, and makes himself uncomfortable as
well as disagreeable to the umpres and
the other teams. If this young man should
be asked some day-off the field of course
whether it were sportsmanlike to criti-
else in the midst Of a game an umpire
properly chosen, he would, no doubt, main
tain in strong terms that such criticism
was the most unsportsmanlike thing pos
sible, and then he would promptly deny
that he ever made such criticism. Yet
there are many such, and it is unfortu-
nately one of the most common sights on c.
school athletic field today to find the two
teams wrangling with the umpire over a
decision he has ade, and this, too, after
he has been asked ten minutes before to
oeciue dil sucn questions Tor them. 1t IL
only another form of the same lack of
habit in courteous behavior and it causes
most of the hard feeling between schools
and colleges today.
So one might go on by the hour speaking
OF the different questions in school and
college life which are examples of lack If
behavior of the most ordinary kind, but
the root Of the matter Is that each how
should say to himself that he will be con-
stantly reserved and that he will wait for
the proper moment to speak and act, and
that he will then act vigorously if he is
convinced the time has come