The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1904-02-12
SILENT FAMOUS MEN
CELEBRITIES THAT HAVE BEEN NOTED
AS mlsERs OF WORDS.

acter- Have Been ns spnrfng o
Language ss They Have Been Prod
tgnI of Deeds of Renown.
lt Is a curious and interesting fac
that many n the worlds greatest mer
have been as sparing Of words as they
have been prodlgal Of deeds.
II Is doubtful If there ever lived a
more taNturn man than Wallensteln
The famous commander Of the Austrian
army during the thirty years war. II
IL said Of Wallenstein that he lived in
an atmosphere OF silence" and never VT.
tered word that was not absolutely
necessary, nor would he permit others
to speak In his presence more than was
essential One Of his chamberlains was
hanged for waking Wallenstein with
needless noise. His servants were so
many mutcs, not daring TO open their
lips in his presence. and he was sur
rounded by patrols, and the approaches
10 hs house were barricaded by chains
10 preserve him from the least disturb
ancc. In comparison with Wallenstein.
have been chatterbox and William
the Silent brawler.
But silence Is chara cteristic OF many
Of the wsrd's most famous soldiers
Napoleon bOasted that i'm his dealings
with men he never wasted n word and
made monosyllablcs answer most pur
poses. But nothing escaped his eyes
and he could compress more within a
sentence than most men could convey
In quarter Of nm hour.
The great Duke Of Marlborough when
receiving reports from his generals
would produce his watch and say, IL
will give YOU minute" And il was
likely to 20 hard with the officer who
did not observe the limitation To his
staff the Duke Of Wellington was al
ways more or less n sphinx. 4 nod or
a shake Of the head was often the only
response they could get from him. and
whcn.oncc he was asked what he con
sidered the best equipment Of a com.
mander he answered, "A long head and
a silent tongue"
Won MOltke almost rivaled Wallen-
stein i'm taciturnity. He never opened
his mouth If n gesture would suffice.
and when the news was brought 10
him that the French had declared war
he simply said TO the aid-de-camp. "Sec.
ond pgeonholc on the right, first tier"
and turned round to sleep again. But
he had said all that was necessary, for
i'm the pigcOnhole indicated were com.
plete plans for the campaign which
closed in brilliant victory. Won Moltke
used to say that one verb in the Ger
man language was worth all the 9th
crs put together, and that was "thun"
ITO do"
The worst thing his enemies could
say Of President Grant was, lie won't
talk because he has so much TO con.
ccal," and yet it was precisely in this
silence that Grants real strength lay
His orders and dispatches were the
bricfcst ever penned, and when once a
charming young lady playfully asked
him why he would not talk to her lie
answered, "My dear, don't you know
that silence is one of the greatest arts
of conversationT
But IL has been the same in all ages.
Charlcmagne was n perfect miser of
words, holding, with Confucius, that
''silcnce is Il friend that will never be-
tray" Hannibal was 'man Of rAono-
sylabcs," and Julius Caesar was Nick
named by his soldiers The oracle"
Even great statesmen and writers
who cannot suffer from any lack Of
words have often been among the most
reserved of men. OF Addison, John
son SAYS, "Of his external manners
nothing Is so often mentioned as that
timorouS or sullcn taCiturnity which
his friends called modesty by too mild
a name" According to Chesterfield,
he was 'thc most timOrous ana awk.
ward man | ever saw and even Ad-
olson himself, speaking of his own
deficiency in conversation, used to say,
Il can draw bills for n thousand
pounds. though | haven't Il guinea in
my pocket"
Dryden was unutterably drcary as
companion. MY conversation is slow"
he once wrote. my humor saturnine
and reserved, and am none of those
who cndcavor 60 break jests in com
pany and make rcpartccs." And Shad-
we'll tells how he once dincd with Dry
den. aud from The beginning to the end
Of the meal the poet "ncvcr opened
his lips except to cat"
Thomas Carlyle was "hoardcr or
the gold of silence" and would sit for
hours, putting away ut his pipe with
out uttcring more than grunt or a
grufr monosyllablc. Leigh Hunt his
ncighbor and intimate, once wrote 10
a friend: "Ilave just spent pleasant
hour with Carlyle. When | went in ht
growled, 'Halloa; here again" and ut
parting he snapped out, Good d.
and that is the sum of the conversation
he honorcd me with. But how elo-
uuont his silence is. just sat ana
looked at him and camc away strength
ancd for fresh struggle