I have read somewhere the following arrangement for avoiding
quarrels: “You see, sir,” said an old man, speaking of a couple
who lived in perfect harmony in his neighborhood, “they’d agreed
between themselves that whenever he came home a little contrary
and out of temper, he wore his hat on the back of his head, and
then she never said a word; and if she came in a little cross
and crooked, she threw her shawl over her left shoulder, and
then he never said a word.” As it takes two to make a quarrel,
either the husband or the wife might often prevent one by
stepping out of the room at the nick of time; by endeavoring to
divert attention and conversation from the burning question; by
breathing an instantaneous prayer to God for calmness before
making any reply; in a word, by learning to put in practise on
certain occasions the science of silence. Robert Burton tells
of a woman who, hearing one of her “gossips” complain of her
husband’s impatience, told her an excellent remedy for it. She
gave her a glass of water which, when he brawled, she should
hold still in her mouth. She did so two or three times with
great success, and, at length, seeing her neighbor, she thanked
her for it, and asked to know the ingredients. She told her that
it was “fair water” and nothing more; for it was not the water,
but her silence which performed the cure. (Text.)--J. E.
HARDY, _The Quiver_.
(2578)
=Pruning=--See IGNORANCE, THE COST OF; SOUL SURGERY.