The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-02-25

only they would. Few indeed are tha unofficial counseliors In this world who have the strength and goodness to lock a secret forever behind etosea lips.
 Tn certain families there are secrets supposed to be buried under the accu-. mutations of long years. Twenty or thirty years age something happened that made q stir at the time, but the memory of it has been swept away In the rapid course of the seasons. and aE Is supposed that no one has the fatntest knowledge of 1t now. Something hap- pens that revives the old name or the old story.
 Somebody tells 1t quietly to n friend. somebody else tells 1t to another. Pres- entity # forms the gist of an interest," ing half column Of gossip in q 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 q woman may be eccentric and queer or may fall under the do- mfnion of a tyrannicaf habit. It may be alcohol or morphta or cocaine. Way speak Of tt? Why tell about the dis tressing circumstances that accompany lapses of disease7 If 1t be a woman who ls tho unfortunate subject, 1t iB a thousand times worse for her than for a man to have the comments of uns kindly tongues fastened on her conduct or character. There should never be secrets about people of good. character and reputation. But if there are, let those who possess them lock them in their own breasts.
 HI could tell you, if chose" said a garruious old lady. some things about the grandfather of certain family in town, things that would make your hair rise with horror"
 Why should she? Why should any body ilsten7 Her tales might be true or they might be false. Why should anyone spend time in gossip that is purely mallcious2
 Stories about people are like snow halls that gather size and weight aa they roll along. shduld a story be told from house to house along the length of the village, by the time 1t reached the outlying suburb 1t would be essen tially different from the original ver- sion.
 In a fit of anger or caprice a man may make a foolish threat. By the time that twenty people have repeated 1t, it has assumed proportions of aston ishing magnitude. Secrets are equally prone to grow with every repetition.
 Society is bound together by thous- and cords, some of them slight as threads. other as strong as cables, but all important to the fabric, and none without coherence on the strength of the whole. The old saying that speech Is silver and silence is golden. applies with great force to our social inter- cc irse We do not often regret our silence. But freqiently we regret our speech.
 A delicate sense of honor should be eultivat cd by those who in any way become aware of secrets relating to the contentment, tranquility. and domestic stability of their friends. Secrets are not always told; they are sometimes sesn. To witness what was not meant for one and then to reveal It. is to dis play despicabie and unworthy lack of reticence. Most people enjoy carrying tidines ana like to be the authors of q sensation 10 repress this wish when- ever one's better feeling and good breeding show it to be essential, Is the only course for a person of honorable instincts and kindly nature.