ung men, is so deep, that they shun
the mention of any thing closely connected with their _home_ as a sort
of profanation, a desecration of things sacred. With others, this
feeling takes the opposite direction, and leads them--_celebrare
domestica facta_--to introduce the concerns of their own nearest
relations into the conversation of a mixed party. Take care that you
never are guilty of such a violation of good taste and correct judgment.
Interesting as your home and its inmates are to _you_, nothing can well
be less interesting to those, who are unacquainted with them. It will be
a stretch of courtesy and good-nature, if they tolerate the mention of
them without some expression either of ridicule or of distaste. If you
speak of your home-concerns at all, let it be only to one or two
intimate friends, who, from the regard which they feel for _you_, may be
supposed to take an interest in all belonging to you.

Be on your guard against getting into the habit of telling long stories:
they generally are tiresome. Many circumstances, in addition to the
feeling that you have them to tell, may give them a consequence in your
eyes, which they do not in reality possess. Lively anecdotes, or short
narratives, told with spirit, are among the most amusing ingredients in
conversation; but even with them, if you often meet the same company,
there is considerable danger of falling into repetition.

Never be guilty of falling into the too common practice of indulging in
scandal, the practice of talking of men disparagingly, of running down
their character behind their backs. I by no means wish you to flatter
any man, whether present or absent, or to speak favourably of character
or of conduct which does not deserve it. But beware of _detraction_.
Nothing is more unamiable in any man, especially in a _young_ man; and,
what is of infinitely more consequence, nothing is more opposite to the
spirit and the precepts of religion, which repeatedly enjoins us to
_speak evil of no man_. Bear in mind the advice of one of the most
sagacious and penetrating observers of human nature:--_Whether it be to
a friend or foe, talk not of other men's lives; and if thou canst,
without offence, reveal them not[34:1]._ _If thou canst without
offence_;--circumstances may require that the truth should be
revealed,--that the real truth should be spoken and made known, even
though it should be injurious,--though it should be absolutely fatal to
another man's