Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1852-02-18

has not been rudelY shaken from some
good opinion-some opinion he had be-
lieved roek.based, Ihigh-reaching, tower
of strength-hke the Peruvian temple OF
the Sun, glittering in the light of all glo-
rious things? How few weigh the testi-
mony which G,16lemns; how few pene-
trate the So be 'tale.bearer' to asoer-
tain whethei ere may not there exist
Ijealousies, malignities. envyings-one or
more of the thousand possible motives for
detraction OF for slandert Do any sufi-
GENTLY search their OaOn hearts to find if
there may not there be some bad feeling
of some kind which makes the injurious
whisper pleasant.
We are called upon by every principle
of common justice to establish in the
depths of our own souls a spiritual, i'm
maculate, invisible but fearless court,
where the tale-bearer must be brought to
trial-where the traitor must be confoun-
ded-where the hypocrite must be un-
masked-where the migrate must be put
to shame.
We are bound by the laws of self-inte-
rest as well as of self-protection, to set
our hearts against liar-that strange
beast of prey, which loves best to crush
beneath the teeth of its wrath all mental,
external, or moral beauty in woman, all
of those God-like attributes of true man
hood, that sting or oppose. A word spo-
ken or unspoken an accomplished liar
knows when to be silent, may destroy
forever friendship which nigh have
been of incalculable value all your days
may dash forever reconciliation which
would have cast light over all your life's
ways-may drop prejudice between
you and one every way worthy of your
respect-yea, may fire prejudice alrea-
dy existing into inextinguishable hatred
against those who, perhaps, if you had
been permitted to know them well, would
appear in very different characters from
those you had built up for them; indeed.
it is quite worth the trouble to pause and
inquire if the restrained, unattractive mien
of those whom our fastidious instincts re-
pei and accuse, may not arise from the
cruel, meddling, counterfeit word, which
united with our names, has been cast in
to the deep of sensitive hearts.
Perhaps it is not true" is the Ian
guage of calm. largeminded justice, even
when it is distasteful little anecdote,
pregnant word or sentence, perhaps only
nod or significant smile, which falls like
an evening shadow over the brightness of
the shrined image in the soul.
So long as we are not above the human
frailty of being impressed by what we
hear, we should be certain that that which
Injuries our friend even little is true,
more especially as on small causes the
harmony of village and domestic life de-
pends, and on little things; even on the
least, sometimes, our opinions ofeach 9TH
er turn.
If the high mind and upright heart
would only be guarded, the liar would
lose his or her power to afflict-since it
is never TO the debased the suffering spirit
turns for sentence-it is the silent mani
festation dislike in those we respect which
wounds in ordinary cases-in more i'm
portant cases it has been the denouncing
voices of those who "eschew evil'' which
have condemned the victims of SANDER
to be borne down by the chain
(which CALLED forever, lettering though unseen,
And heavy though it clanked not"
in all ages and in all lands. A. NJ,