about the affairs of a friend, something concerning which the friend has
said nothing, respect his silence. Much harm is done by indiscreet
speech. Little trouble comes from discreet silence. Silence is golden.
Again, if you are a guest in a house, you must remember that to no one,
not even to your very nearest and dearest, must you reveal anything
disagreeable or unfortunate which may come into your knowledge. This
rule has no exceptions. Only a dishonorable person goes away from a home
in which she has been entertained, observing that the family quarrel
among themselves, or that the daughters are disrespectful to their
mother, or anything else of the kind. Here silence is golden.
Silence is not golden, though, when you hear the absent accused
unjustly. Then you must defend him or her. Be brave in standing up for
the absent, and never speak ill of them. The ancients made it their rule
to speak no evil of the dead, because they were helpless and at the
mercy of the living, and it is a good rule for us to follow. It is
surprising how much that is true and loving and beautiful we can find to
say of all our friends, if we determine that we will be like the
princess in the fairy tale, out of whose mouth, whenever she opened it,
pearls and rubies dropped.
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[Illustration: Thompson's Eye Water]
LINCOLN AND HIS TIMES
* * * * *
Recollections of
President Lincoln and His Administration
By LUCIUS E. CHITTENDEN. With Portrait. 8vo, Cloth, $2.50; Half Calf,
$4.75.
Abraham Lincoln
By CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN. Profusely Illustrated. Square 8vo, Cloth,
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_A History of the Rebellion in Four Volumes by_
_CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN:_
DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION
MARCHING TO VICTORY
REDEEMING THE REPUBLIC
FREEDOM TRIUMPHANT
Profusely Illustrated. Square 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $3.00 each.
* * * * *
Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York
AN OBLIGING TRAVELLER.
There has been a great deal of complaint both in London and New York of
the way in which a certain class of shopkeepers try to force their wares
upon passers-by. One man, a traveller, has managed to get the better of
one of these shopmen, a clothing-dealer, who had a way of almost
dragging people into his place. One day shortly after his arrival in
London the traveller stopped for a moment to examine a coat hanging in
front of a clothing establishment, when the shopman rushed out and
asked, "Wouldn't you try on some coats?"
"I don't know but I would," responded the traveller, consulting his
watch. "I've got some time to spare. Yes." And he went in and began to
work. No matter how often he found his fit, he called for more coats,
and after he had tried on thirty he looked at his watch again, resumed
his own garment, and walked off, saying:
"I won't charge anything for what I've done. I believe in a man who'll
oblige another when he can do it. If I'm ever this way again, and you've
got any coats to try on, I'll do all I can to help you!"
What the shopkeeper said we are not told, but it is not hard to imagine
what he thought.
* * * * *
The other evening Toddletums called his papa to tell him that he
couldn't get to sleep for the mosquitoes.
"Never mind, Toddle; just put your head under the clothes, where they
can't get at you."
Toddletums did so, but in a little while he peered from under the
clothing. A firefly happening along at the moment set him yelling:
"It's no use, papa. I hid under the clothes, and now they've gone off
and got lanterns to find me with."
* * * * *
[Illustration]
WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY IN THE SCHOOL-ROOM.
"EF GEORGE HAD BEEN A GIRL, AND HAD DRESSED IN FEMALE CLO'ES,
WOULD HE HAVE BEEN THE MOTHER OF HER COUNTRY, DO YOU S'POSE?"
* * * * *
[Illustration]
THE BULL-FROG DANCE.
It is lovely when the moonlight is a-shining on the bog,
To watch the lively antics of the agile-legged frog;
When the moonfay boys are playing on their long and limpid flutes,
It sends a thrill of pleasure down our spinals to our boots.
On a mushroom seat,
With the grasses at our feet,
And the lightning-bugs a-flashing here and there beneath the trees,
'Tis a very pretty sight,
In the pale moonlight,
With an undertone of humming and a-thrumming of the bees.
You can talk about the pleasure that you mortals find on earth,
You can crack your funny jokelets, we don't envy you your mirth;
For you've never had the laughter
That we moonfay boys get after
We have watched for forty minutes three long-legged bull-frogs dance!
* * * * *
A WONDERFUL SEA-TALE.
A lad was found begging in Plymouth, England, some years ago, who told a
most wonderful tale of woe. According to his statement, given with a
straight face and an apparently clear conscience, he had been a
cabin-boy upon an American steamship. For some misbehavior, as a
temporary punishment he was headed up in an empty water-cask, and left
to reflect upon his wickedness, with only the bunghole of the cask to
breathe through. On the following night a terrible storm came up, and
the vessel went down with all on board, excepting himself, the cask
having rolled over into the sea at the first lurch of the sinking ship.
Fortunately for its unhappy occupant, the cask floated with the bunghole
free from the water, and in the course of a day or so was cast upon the
coast, where the lad, after making numerous vain attempts to release
himself, settled back to die. Some cows, however, he said, came
strolling along the beach, and one of them, while switching its tail
about, accidentally let the end of it into the bunghole of the cask. The
boy immediately seized upon it; the cow, electrified, jumped, stood
still, and jumped again, and then rushed bellowing down the beach, the
boy hanging on like grim death, and the cask, consequently, bumping the
hind legs of the frightened bovine as she fled. Finally, as the boy had
hoped, the hoops of the cask were loosened, and striking upon a rock,
the whole thing was shattered, and the boy, letting go of the cow's
tail, found himself free once more. After wandering about for several
days he hailed a vessel, and was carried to Plymouth, where his
wonderful experience first became common talk.
* * * * *
A LITTLE TOMMYTHOUGHT.
The coal-man on the wagon sits,
And shivers in the storm.
I don't see why that load of coal
Won't keep the driver warm.
* * * * *
HEREDITY.
FREDDY. "I think papa takes more after my little baby brother than he
does after me."
MAMMA. "Why, Freddy?"
FREDDY. "Because all his hair is at the back and sides of his head, and
it won't come to the front."
* * * * *
THE FINEST KIND.
"I tell you, mamma," said little Herbert, when his mother gave him a
chocolate éclair for the first time the other day, "this is the finest
kind of a banana I ever tasted!"
End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, February 11, 1896, by Various