THE ELOQUENCE OF SILENCE.
a OOON after I had commenced the <J practice of my profession in Boston," said Mr. Webster, " a circumstance occurred which forcibly impressed upon my mind the sometimes conclusive eloquence of si lence, and I wondered no longer that the ancients had erected a statue to her as to a divinity. "A man in New Bedford had insured a ship, lying at the time at the wharf there, for an amount much larger than its real value, in one of our insurance offices at Boston; this ship had suddenly taken fire and been burned down to the water's edge. It had been insured in the Massa chusetts Insurance Company, of which General Arnold Wells was president and myself attorney. "General Wells told me of the misfor tune that had happened to the company in the loss of a vessel so largely insured, com municating to me at the same time the somewhat extraordinary manner in which it had been destroyed. "' Do you intend? ' I asked him, ' to pay the insurance?' "' I shall be obliged to do so,' replied the General. "' I think not, for I have no doubt, from the circumstances attending the loss, that the ship was set on fire with the intent to defraud the company of the insurance.' "' But how shall we prove that? and what shall .1 say to Mr. Blank, when he makes application for the money?' "' Say nothing,' I replied, ' but hear quietly what he has to say.' "Some few days after this conversation Mr. Blank came up to Boston, and pre sented himself to General Arnold Wells at the insurance office. Mr. Blank was a man very careful of his personal appearance, and of punctilious demeanor. He powdered his hair, wore clean ruffles and well-brushed
clothes, and had a gravity of speech becom ing a person of respectable position. All this demanded civil treatment, and whatever you might think of him, you would naturally use no harsh language toward him. He had a defect in his left eye, so that when he spoke he turned his right and sound eye to the person he addressed, with a somewhat oblique angle of the head, giving it some thing such a turn as a hen who discovers a hawk in the air. General Arnold Wells had a corresponding defect in the right eye. "I was not present at the interview, but I have heard it often described by others who were. General Wells came out from an inner office, on the announcement of Mr. Blank's arrival, and fixed him (to use a French expression) with his sound eye — looking at him seriously, but calmly. Mr. Blank looked at General Wells with his sound eye, but not steadily — rather as if he sought to turn the General's right flank. "They stood thus, with their eyes cocked at each other, for more than a minute be fore either spoke, when Mr. Blank thought best to take the initiative. "'It is a pleasant day, General Wells, though rather cold.' "' It is, as you say, Mr. Blank, a pleasant, though rather cold day,' replied the General, without taking his eye down from its range. "' I should not be surprised, General,' continued Mr. Blank, 'if we should have a fall of snow soon.' "' There might be more surprising cir cumstances, Mr. Blank, than a fall of snow in February.' "Mr. Blank hereupon shifted his foot and topic. He did not feel at ease, and the less so from his desperate attempts to conceal his embarrassment. "' When do you think, General,' he re plied, after a pause, 'that Congress will ad journ? '
