The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-09-29
MUCH slLENOE
Il Is Virtue Admired chiefly In the
Abstract.

It's Virtue Admired Chiefly In the
Abstract.
II womaas critics may be thought to
constitute any criterion, the most ad-
mirable feminine virtue is silence. The
laxative woman has furnished the text
for many n song and sermon. Wits have
derided her garrulity, moralists have
groaned over her tendency to gossip
and declared that womans tongue
was always found at the bottom Of all
trouble. your children are pll dumbgH
inquiries that loVable old vagahond, Rip
Van Wrinkle, Of the ghostly dwarf OF
the Catskitis And they are all '6ys?'
MY, my, what a pity! What wives they
would makel"
No doubt there are many occasions
when speech is sllvern, and silence is
golden" as the proyerb has It, We
must all plead guilty To having said
many things that had better been left
unsaid, yet there are times when silence
can seem more appalling than any
freedom OF speech, The most oppress-
i've of domestic tyTants are not those
who say what they think, and are done
with It. They are those who wrap
themselves in an awful silence, under
whose ghastly influence cheerfuiness
withers away and conversation Ian
gulshes and dies.
This Is not often a feminine fault
Women like 90 cry aloud their grieV~
ances, and get kind Of recompense
from suffering by the pleasure OF dis
10 oil &c
orally masculine foiDle. II Is often the
lordly way with which man Furnishes
the women OF his household He de-
sends to breakfast, or comes home to
dinner with face Ike thuRdeT-cloud
Something Is wrong. He eats and
drinks In silence. He reads his paper
with portentous dumbness that
strikes despair and CONSERVATION into
the bosom of his family, In vain they
ask what Is the matter. Is he III? What
has gone wrong? Who has offended?
To all their solic!tous inquiries he re-
spends nothing" In a tone of voice
that implies everything, and is an ar
raignment of the entire household from
the wife to the kitchen maid. Such
man always takes great credit TO him
self for not Saying anything" when he
IL angry, but the average woman would
rather deal with the cheerful sinner,
who swears what Is known as blue
streak" when he Is mad, and then let's
the matter rest. The man who speaks
his mind can at least be dealt with
openly and frankly, and at the worst
gives woman a chance to defend her
self, Against silence one can bring no
h,.s,
1t Is an arctic wall that freezes up all
approaches to an understanding and re-
Cancellation
Too much silence is no less menace
to friendship, than too much speech.
How many misunderstanding and how
many heart-burnlngs could have been
avoided IL only there had been a little
more candor. One fancies a slight; ohe
imaglnes friend Is a little less cordial,
or something occurs that one does not
quite understand. Often, almost al
ways, the trouble could be set right by
a slight explanation, and II is one of the
tragedies OF friendship that we trust 1t
so little we dare not ask II what hurts
us is of Intention or by accident Pride
counsels silence, and SO we go our
lonely way on either side of a chasm
that word might bridge.
Perhaps, after all, silence Is n virtue
we admire chiefly In the abstract. The
taciturn and moody woman is never the
one we voluntarily choose as compan-
lon. Better the one who chlrps as blithe-
ly and as meaninglessly as a canary,
than the one who is dumb in the face Of
our Joys and mtsfortHnes, and knows
not how to say the right word In the
right place. For there Is duty OF
speech no less than'a duty of Silence
New orleans Picayune.