DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 34, 3 May 1927, Page 16

DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

KEEPING STILL (Copyright , 1927.) "PRESIDENT COOLIDGE seems likely to rival the reputation which General Grant enjoyed, of whom it w r as said that he could keep still in seven languages. Conversation is an art. It takes training and experience as well as natural gifts to be a good talker. But we forget that silence is also an art. It takes training, experience and natural talent to say nothing. I can recommend silence as the best of all weapons. You can hurt a man more by just keeping still and saying nothing at times than you can by any roar or bellow or pop. The idea is that when you say or do anything at all, it can be answered, but when you say and do nothing there is no way to answer. I have always been entertained by the story of the three Canadian trappers. One morning at breakfast in camp one of the trappers asked, “Did you hear that dog?” Nothing was said, but the next day at breakfast another man replied, “What dog?” The next day the third man was observed packing his things, making ready to leave. On being asked where he was going, he said, “I am going away. There is too much rag chewin’ around here for me.” The conversation had reached a tumultous apex that was too much for the silence-loving brother. There are monasteries in Italy inhabited by a kind of monks who never speak. All day and night they go about their rituals and never utter a word. Somehow this kind of performance always seems to me to be more acceptable in the sight of the Lord than many long prayers. Most good work is conceived in silence. Silence seems to be the mother of all great ideas. Y”ou get dexterity and quickness from doing and saying things, and from meeting people; but you get depth from saying and doing nothing, and from being alone. The greatest crisis of your life is death, and you will have to face it alone. It is a good plan to get used to solitude and to find entertainment within yourself in preparation for whatever fate may bring.