Golden Silence

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Jan 19, 1905

AMONG the heedless brutalities of daily life is a habit of brusque and indiscreet candor. “What a hideous bonnet you have! pray, where did you get it? You look like a fright!” I heard one sister say to another, and I felt most indignant. The bonnet may or may not have deserved the comment; that was a matter of preference; but the young woman capable of so rude a remark should have been made to wear a penitential sheet, with holes for her eyes, until she had learned better manners. “You are looking very ill,” if repeated often enough, will make even a well person a temporary invalid; and where disagreeable truths will do no good, and no principle is involved in their expression, it is best not to utter them. Silence is sometimes—not always, but often—golden.— Selected.