Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1917-10-17

discover a way out; through mutual
esteem to reach a truer basis of under
standing and harmony, they would ac-
cOmpliSh wonders and would realize
that the larger part of their suffering
is cruelty wrong because-preventabl
Advertising it to the world publishes,
of course, the competition, but does
not bring a solution. They should
some time stand reverently for a while
before one of those modern engines
that consume their own smoke. and
then heed the moral of this sermon in
! mechanism.
Condolences on vital home matters
are dangerous in proportion to their
! Importance; they imply so much that
| they should be entrusted, if at all, only
| perhaps to one or two, whose tested
love, honor and loyalty make doubt
seem sacrilege. There are friends of
the mind, friends of the heart and
! friends of the soul. 1t is with the last
| only that we have assurance and GER
tainty that open ears viii ever be as
| ISOLATED with closed lips, that any
message committed to them is stored
in the holy of holes of memory, where
| speech can never reach it to reveal it.
In life, usually, the only absolute,
| incOnteStable insurance of secret is
| to tell it to no one. If one does not
want a fact known it is wise not to
| tell any part of il. Partial condolences
are dangerous, because in time the sep
arate pieces retained in the memory
of the listener may be carefully put
| together, like the irregular sections of
a dissected map. Sometimes word,
suggestion, an inadvertent phrase,
meaningless in itself, vitalizes I'M
noted trifes of old memories, which
suddenly combine and stand out, vivid
and luminous in a moment as a COM
plete revelation, such as the speaker
never intended to give. There are
sometimes EXPLANATIONS that are life
revelations in a word, autobiography
confessions in an unguarded phrase.
Sometimes in the desire for sympa-
thy or advice, one is tempted to tell d
home problem impersOnally, or rather
in the third person, as the life-eXpe
rience of some dear friend, with
hazardous confidence in the safety of
the alibi; but the turning of phrase,
q sudden tension of emotion, a fever
ish note of protest or plea may tend
to puncture the frail bubble of decep-
ton The vicarious sympathy may be
forthcoming, but it hardly pays for the
risk. The advice under such circum-
stances is valueless, because it is not
based on the absolute knowledge of
every detail requisite for true judg-
ment and counsel really beneficial to
the one asking advice and help in
some individual crisis.
Circumstances, personality and char
acter are so interrelated that it is diff
ficult, impossible, indeed, for one hui
man being to give an opinion on the
merits of a question affecting two 9th
ers when he knows really little about
them. Such advice might well be not
only worthless, but harmful. Far bet
ter is it to deny even this indulgence
to oneself-for, after all, it is only an
indulgence.
There is unWisdOm in talking too
freely even of happiness in married
life outside the home, walls. 1t may
give new touch of pain to one strug-
Cling with a serious heart problem and
unable to see a way out. 1t may be a
tax on the courtesy and patience of
those who cannot be expected to feel
a deep personal interest in the
vaunted joys of another. Often in the
swift current of speech one may speak
of some little domestic episode that
should be held too sacred for the ears
of others. What may be sweet and
dear, in the words and acts of either,
may seem but silly sentimentality
translated by unsympathetic minds
and repeated with variations by wan
tonly wagging tongues.
Should there be any drop in the
value of the hons stock and one no
longer tells of the pearls of happiness,
the very silence will be construed as
confession and may bring a trail of
humiliation or criticism and gossip. 1t
may entail lying and hypocrisy to sus-
tain the old record.
True happiness rarely boasts; it ra-
dates. If it really exists the little
world that cares at all, the few VINO
have real heart interest in the two, Will
reach it in the eyes more truly than
from the lips, more in the voice than
in the words. 1t will glow and per-
wade an atmosphere of sweetness,
trust, peace and comradeship, mani
Testing itself in hundred little ways
that tell the story without words as
rose reveals its presence through It's
perfume, the sun the light and
warmth it radiates. True happiness
need not advertise; it has merely 10
exist to make itself felt.
When the home problems assume
the acute phase when confidence some