The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1908-03-24
THE OPTIMIST.

The common things Of life, the things
that come TO us naturally. as much a
part Of US, it seems. as our limbs or our
senses. we are most of us likely TO take
too much as a matter Of course and 20
hold too lightly. One OF these gifts OF
lie is words. which a cynic philosopher
said once were given 70 man 10 conceal
his thoughts, but which were in reality
given US TO express them. The trouble
with too many OF as is that we abuse our
faculty Of words and there are many like
they OF whom Seneca speaks: who by
their fondness OF some dne-sounding word
are tempted to something they had no
intention to treat Of" Most Of US re-
member the old smart" retort of school
days: Sticks and stones may hurt my
bones, but names'H never hurt me-" It
takes, indeed, some years Of experience
TO learn that a much more cruel blow
can be delivered with spoken word than
with the fist. Wilde put this finely in his
pathetic Ballad Of Read Gaol:"
For each man kills the thing he loves,
BY al let this be heard
The brave man does Il with sword;
The coward with 4 word.
Or as Shakespeare had Il:
One doth not know
How much III word may enpoison liking.
So often. in the age Of universal educa-
tion-in-lttle, when words come easily.
does the use Of words degenerate into
mere babble. There is little Of the sue
cinct ''Yea-yea and nay-nay'' IN cOaver-
sation. but instead that abomlnabIe
plague Of thOughtless. inexhaustible YER
bosity, careless outpouring OF mere
words, covering I'D with sheer talk of
the fact that r5-:le do not know the sub
jet about which they would talk
And il is all so foolish, this much talk.
when silence would become us so much
better, for nobody speaks much that does
not utter unwise things-things he did
not mean to say. and once said the spok-
en- word has taken wing. can never be
recalled; for
The Moving Finger writes and having writ,
Moves On Nor All your riety OF VT
Shall lure II back 10 cancel half a line
Nor al your tears wash out a word Of Il.
Even when words are used with ,he
very best intention they need 70 be guard
! ed, hedged about with careful thought
lest they give offense where none was
intended. or work an evil influence where
/ only good was meant. How much worse
is 4 then when words are used deliber-
ately as weapons, aimed TO do deadly
/ harm. pointed In malice and sheathed
/ in uncharitableness. As Charles Lamb
wrote:
That God should give his faTorite children. men
mouths 20 speak with. 10 encmnge warmly-tr
counsel wisely, and TO kiss with. and thar thel
should turn them into mouths Of adders
/ and emit breath through them Ike destinations a
aoors Of their feiloWcrestuTes who are DESTROYS
please them-
] Words, after all. are but a means L
an end. They are TO serve a mans pur
pose, not that man should be a slav,
/ % them. Montaigne tells US that Their,
are some so ridiculous as 70 go a mil,
ont OF their way TO hook in fine word
/ And Quintilian held up 70 contempt thos,
I who do not At words 70 the subject, bu
/ seek out for things quite from the pur
I pose 10 NJ the words:
Words are but pictures true or false designed
| To draw the lines ard features of the mind;
l The characters aEd artificial draughts
/ 70 express the inward images Of thoughts.
/ And artists say the rictlIre may be good
] Although the moral be not understood.
! Whence some infer they nay admire a style
Though al the rest be e'er 50 mean AID vile;
/ ArpIHud III outsides a words bit never mind
/ With what fantastic TaWdTy they are lined
And when all is said. one must recog
nize that there is a world Of truth II
/ the comps nson between words and ST
lence. gold and silver; for. as MEREDITH
/ put IL:
There are moments when silence prolonged an,
I unc7oSen
More czrressiye nav b than al vropss eve- SDohs