Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-25
FEW PEOPLE CAN
KEEP A SECRET
BY MARGARET E. sANGsrER.
Copyright. 1906, by Joseph b. Bowles }

| passed your lips. Two persons may per-
haps safely share 1t, but IL it be confided
| to the ear of third the probability is
| that it will before long be common prop
| erty. BY some strange fatality few peo-
| pie can be trusted with secrets, the de-
| sire TO reveal them overcoming the de-
| termination to be silent
OF course, there are innocent secrets
| and harmless mysteries that belong to
| the joyous and peaceful conditions of life,
| such as the happy secrets that make our
| homes so delightful at holiday times, or
| the forecasts of coming events important
1 in the annals of family. These may be
| and commonly are preserved intact for a
| time, or If they are told the telling does
no harm But on occasion there are Sc
| crets affecting the honor and weIl-being
| of individuals or household, and these
should not so much as be whispered In
! the privacy of a closet to ones most In
| innate friend. If there is the slightest
danger to be incurred by spreading them
abroad.
| For example, a man in the prime of life
suddenly shows symptoms of mental
breakdown. They are not so pronounced
| that his business associates or the neigh
bors perceive anything out of the ordi-
nary, although his wife and children are
aware of "a change and the family physl-
| clan looks grave and sends the patient to
! a specialist. The thing may may not
prove serious. Rest, medical treatment,
| Journey the dropping of certain cares
and burdens, may result favorably. 1t is
| to the last degree unfortunate If some
member of the family, in strict conf
dence, tell an outsider about the solicit
| tude felt adding the comment that there
! is a shadow over the house and every
| body has the sensation of q sword sus-
| pended in the air by a thread.
| The friend is deeply sympathetic and very
| much impressed. She watches the man
| thereafter with a new and peculiar vigil
| lance, detects signs of oddity In his con-
| duct that once never would have occurred
| to her, attaches a meaning much too great
| to unimportant trifles, and finally thinks 1t
| no harm to whisper the matter under the
| rose to her sister, her cousin, or some one
| else to whom the parties concerned are
| known. Sometimes this Is done IN Veled
| and vague manner with hints and innuen-
! does and sometimes the story is related
| under pledge of silence to a third person
| who is supposed not to be acquainted with
| the people mentioned, and who on that &C
count may be trusted. However, it is
! done. the secret is out. 1t is as If that
which has been told in a closet Is proclaim
| ed from the housetop. 1t may ruin the man
| in business precipitate disaster that
| might have been averted Secrets that
| have to do with peoples sanity, even
| though they merely Craze the edge of con-
| lecture, are not nor liley
be risked to the discretion Of weak human
| nature.
Physicians and lawyers are the custo-
dams of many family secrets. and these
are safe because the honor of both profess
sions is pledged and guarded by vows and
traditions that keep secrets inviolate. Other
good men and women supposed to be wise
In, nod hx- he lodi
and wearied among their friends and are
asked for advice and sympathy. Often
| they give it; sometimes they find 1t difficult
to restrain themselves from gratifying the
curiosity of inquisitive folk who are sure
they could speak IL only they would. Few
| indeed are the unofficial counselors in this
| world who have the strength and goodness
| to lock secret forever behind closed lips.
In certain families there are secrets sup
| posed to be buried under the Accommodations
| Of long years. Twenty or thirty years ago
| something happened that made stir at the
time but the memory of 1t has been swept
away in the rapid course OF the seasons,
and 1t is supposed that no has the
| faintest knowledge of 1t now. Something
| happens that reviyes the old name or the
| old story.
| Somebody tells It quietly to a frlenu,
| somebody else tells 1t to another. Present
| ly it forms the gist of an interesting half
| column OF gossip in a local paper, the old
| scandal is revived and hearts are made to
| ache and trouble that never need have
| taken place springs up in crop of evil
words and thoughts.
A man or woman may be eccentric and
queer, may fall under the dominion of
tyrannical habit. 1t may be alcohol or
morphia or cocaine. Why speak of it2
Why tell about the distressing circum-
stances that accompany lapses of disease?
If it be a woman who is the unfortunate
subject 1t is q thousand times worse for
her than for man to have the comments
of unkindiy tongues fastened on her con-
duo ar ai1a anta ha
secrets about people of good character and
reputation. But If there are, let those who
possess them lock them in their own breasts.
4
81 could tell you, IL chose" said a gar
rulous old lady some things about the
grandfather of a certain family in town
things that would make your hair rise with
horror
Why should she? Why should anybody
listen? Her tales might be true they
might be false. Why should any one spend
time In gossip that is purely malicious?
Stories about people are like snowballs
that gather size and weight as they roll
along Should q story begin at one end
of the street and be told from house to
house along the entire length of the village,
by the time 1t reached the outlying suburb
1t would be essentially different from the
original version
In fit of anger or caprice man may
twenty people have repeated it it has as
sumed proportions of astonishing magni-
tude. Secrets are equally prone to grow
with every repetition.
Society is bound together by thousand
cords. some of them slight as threads,
others as strong cables. but all important
to the fabric, and none without q conference
on the strength OF the whole. The old say
ing that speech is silver and silence is
golden applies with great force to our
social intercourse. We do not often regret
our silence. But frequently We regret our
speech.
A delicate sense OF honor should be culi-
waited by those who In any way become
aware of secrets relating to the contents
ment, tranquility and domestic stability Of
their friends. Secrets are not always told;
they are sometimes seen. To witness what
was not meant for one and then to reveal
1t is to display despicable and unworthy
lack of reticence. Most people enjoy carry
Ing tidangs and like to be the authors OF q
sensation. To repress this wish whenever
ones better feeling and good breeding show
1t to be essential IL the only course for a
person of honorable instincts and Kindly
nature.