The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1855-09-28
SCANDAL AND sCANDAL-MONGERS,

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There are some people who seem born to
talk scandal. il is as impossible for them
not to gossip.about the affairs of theirneigh.
bors as It's for water to run up hill, or moth.
ers not to boast of their babies, If new
conner moves into the block they cannot
rest satisfied till they nave picked up some
tattle about his antecedents, his wife, the
amount of his income, how he brings up his
children, and other affairs that are none of
their business. Ifa party is given In the vi
cinity, they are uneasy till they wheedle from
some guest an account of all the sayings and
doings of the entertainment This habit Of
intermeddlng with the tongue is not confin-
ed to females. Men chatter almost MS much
ABOUT the fast horses of their acquaintance,
the money they spend, or theinanner in which
they conduct their business, as women do
about the new bonnets, the servants, or the
extravagance Of their "dear friends" There
are old women out Of petticoats as well as in
that busy themselves about matters that are
no concern Of theirs. All the scandal is far
from being talked by the ladies'. There is
often as much gossip over cigar as over a
bit of crotch,t work. ~.
Yet it is cruel and cowardly thing to
whisper away regulations in such a manner.
Many merchants credit has been undermin-
ed by sly inuendoes, which, exaggerated on
repetition, have grown at last to be serious
charges, though they have never assumed,
until too late, shape sufficiently tangible to
give him the opportunity Of refnting them
Many an innocent woman has been secretly
maligned by the dastardly insinuations of
some one who was Sighted till dear friends
have been alenated, and sometimes her fair
fame injured irreparably. For scandal mon.
gers, like moles under ground, work out Of
sight. They do not dare breathe their foul
hints where there is danger of the victim
hearing of the SANDER. They rehearse their
vile abuse under solemn injunctions Of secre-
cy. They sometimes even shrink from
direct accusation, but deal in hints, in guesses
in suppositions. They do not even always
pretend to be certain of what they tell, but
say that though they have heard SO, they
hope it is not true; yet the tone in which they
speak, and the look which accompanies it,
contradcts their hypocrtical charity. Like
treacherons assassins, they strike. in the
dark. Like cravens, they stab from be-
hind.
The scandal-mongers does not always deal
in serious charges. Hundreds of persons,
otherwise estimable, talk carelessly about
their neighbors, censuring them in little
things, and prejudicing strangers against
them. In such cases, the offenders forget
how small their chance is of knowing the
full truth, and therefore how much crcum-
stances may have paliated, if not justified
what they blame. The gossip of servants or
Of children, and this frequently magnfed, is
thoughtlessly rehearscd, and the very respec-
tabuity of those who now endorse 1t gives
currency TO the tale. In this way idle tattle
swells into Islander. Often the whole story
originates iu some prejudice Of which the
tale bearer himself is scarcely aware. A gay
man of the world is too apt to think church
goer mere Pharisee, as the latter is too ready
to suppose the former prohigate. The pru-
dent house keeper is tempted to think more
generous liver a spendthrift, as the latter is
TEMPTED in turn to sneer at the former as n
miser. All! If we could all Judge justly
But since the infirmity of human nature for
bids this, the wisest thing we can do is to
mind what we think and say.-BaA. Sun.