third time, that all of this advice--no, let us say
suggestion--is made only as a matter of practical help to _young_ men
trying to get on in the world.

It is the mere business side of the question at which we are looking
now, for it is business itself that is working this change. People do
not want a lawyer whose brain is not clear, a doctor, dealing with
life and death, whose perceptions are not steady and natural. People
refuse to ride on trains hauled by engineers who may be drinking, and
so on. It is all a matter of cold-blooded business.

The conditions and requirements of modern society are coming to demand
greater and greater sobriety from those in responsible places, no
matter whether at the head of a party or a railway train. The
spiritual phase, the medical view, the moral, social, and economic
sides of the question I would not, under any circumstances, assume to
deal with. On all these there are various views, none of which would I
undertake to weigh or judge.

And excessive talking! Don't indulge in that either. Politicians are
not the only ones who think interminable talk an indication of
weakness. I knew a liveryman who was also a great horse-trader. Said
he: "I shy clear across the road when a tonguey man tries to deal with
me."

Of course, reserve in speech, particularly in conversation, is so
ancient and favorite a subject of the giver of advice that it is now
commonplace. Literature is full of it. Shakespeare nearly reaches the
crest of it in the advice Polonius gave to his son. But here, as
always, the very climax is the Bible.

"Let your communication be Yea, yea; Nay, nay; for whatsoever is more
than these cometh of evil."

This is not advice to taciturnity. It is not a suggestion that you
should be stolid and wooden in manner and speech. The reason of it is
to prevent you from making mistakes or betraying yourself by foolish
and unnecessary utterance. My suggestion to young men that they
practise reserve in speech is merely a practical and almost a
commercial matter. Do not be "a man full of talk," as Zophar cuttingly
puts it.

There is a loss of authority that comes from incessant talking. There
is a surrender of dignity, which is one of the most influential things
in man's attitude toward and in connection with his fellows. Silence,
or rather reserve, gives a kind of emphasis to what you do. To a great
many, also, there is an index of your character in the quantity of
your speech. It