Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1904-02-13
SILENT FAMOUS MEN
CELEBRITIES THAT HAVE BEEN NOTED
AS MiSeRS OF WORDS.
Some of the Worlds Greatest Char
acters Have Been as Sparing of
Language as They Have Been Prod
fgal of Deeds of Renown.

tnaC many or the worlds greatest men
have been as sparing of words as they
have been prodigal of deeds.
1t is doubtful if there ever lived a
more taciturn man than Wallenstein,
the famous commander of the Austrian
army during. the thirty years war. 1t
is said of Wallenstein that he Lived in
an atmosphere of silence" and never ut
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 mutes, not daring to open their
lips in his presence, and he was sur
rounded by patrols, and the approaches
to his house were barricaded by chains
to preserve him from the least disturb
ance. In comparison with Wallenstein,
it has been recorded, Diogenes would
have been chatterhox and William
the Silent brawler.
But silence is characteristic of many
OF the worlds most famous soldiers.
Napoleon boosted that in his dealings
with men he never wasted word and
made monosyllables 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 an hour.
The great Duke Of Marlborough when
receiving reports from his generals
would produce his watch and say, "I
will give you minute" And it was
likely to go hard with the officer who
did not observe the limitation. TO his
staff the Duke Of Wellington was al
ways more or less a sphinx. A nod or
shake Of the head was often the only
response they could get. from him, and
when once he was asked what he con-
sidered the best equipment Of a COM
mander he answered, "A long head and
silent tongue"
Won MOltke almost rivaled Wallen-
stein in taciturnity. He never opened
his mouth if a gesture would suffice,
and when the news was brought to
him that the French had declared war
he simply said to the aid-de-camp, Sec
ond pigeonhole on the right, first tier"
and turned round to sleep again. But
he had said all that was necessary, for
in the pigeonhole 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
ers put together and that was "thun"
-s'tO do"
The worst thing his enemies could
say of President Grant was, HE won't
talk because he has SO much to con-
ceal,'' and yet it was precisely in this
silence that Grants real strength lay.
His orders and dispatches were the
briefest ever penned, and when once a
charming young lady playfully asked
him why he would not talk to her he
answered, MY dear, don't you know
that silence is one of the greatest arts
of conversations"
:But it has been the same in all ages.
Charlemagne was a perfect miser OF
words, holding, with Confucius, that
silence is a friend that will never be-
tray" Hannibal was a imam of mono
syllables," 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 sullen taciturnity which
his friends called modesty by too mild
a name' According to Chesterfield,
he was .'the most timorous and aWk-
ward man l ever saw and even Ad-
Olson himself, speaking of his own
deficiency in conversation, used to say,
Il can draw bills for a thousand
pounds, though | haven't a guinea in
my pocket"
Dryden was unutterably dreary as a
companion. MY conversation is slow"
he once wrote. my humor saturnine
and reserved, and / am none of those
who endeavor to break jests in COM
pany and make repartees." And Shad-
we'll tells how he once dined with Dry
den, and from the beginning to the end
of the meal the poet never opened
his lips except to eat
Thomas Carlyle was a "hoarder OF
the gold of silence" and would sit for
hours, putting away at his pipe, with
out uttering more than grunt or a
gruff monosyllable. Leigh Hunt, his
neighbor and intimate, once wrote to
a friend ''Have just spent pleasant
hour with Carlyle. When | went in he
growled, 'Halloa; here again" and at
parting he snapped out, Good day.!
and that is the sum of the conversation
he honored me with. But how elo-
quent his silence is. | just sat and
looked at him and came away strength
ened for fresh struggle"