San Andreas independent., 1857-10-17
Have We a Slanderer Among Us?


How easy reputation is blasted; how
drffrcult to repair an injury once DONE
Every one who has arrived at maturity,
can look back upon the past and refer to
more than one instance within his or her
knowledge, where reputation has been
injured and a heart stepped in sorrow, by
the careless word, the thoughtless express
sion, or the dark hint, or the still darker
insinuation, and the idea is caught up, it
passess from mouth to ear, it moves slow
ly, sluggishly, it is true, like the motions
of some unwieldy body; it moves, never
theless it is whispered from one to an
other, it forms an undercurrent and gains
strength as it travels, it swells into greater
Importance as it moves from it's ORIGINAL
source, it grows in bulk as it rolls on, it
travels in circuitous routes, it finds itself
surrounded and hemmed in by walls
erected from It's own material; it recedes,
rolls back with renewed vigor through
the same channel, it heaves with its own
strength, it glories in its might, it is no
longer mysterious secret, it has risen to
the surface and forms a part of public
opinion, that tyrant before whom all must
bow. Thus q character is ruined, per-
haps that of a young female in the early
part of life, with heart untarnished by
single impure thought, happy in its
present innocence, buoyant with hope for
the future; but, by the foul breath of
SANDER, against which she is powcrless to
contend, cloud dark and threatening is
east over and around her, wrapping her
heart-before so light and happy-in its
chilly mantle, with no consolation for the
present, the future wrapped in perpet-
ual gloom, compared to which the grave
itself would be beacon of living light
The acquaintance, the neighbor, the pro-
fessed friend, all have assisted-innocent-
ly perhaps, houghtIessly it may be-in
disseminating the false report, which
shall cause the eye that shone with the
pride of conscious innocence, to lose its
fire and quail before the public gaze; the
step that was so light and free, to lose its
elasticity; the heart that bounded with Joy
and beat with hope, to sink like 1eaden
weight in the bosom of its possessor,
shrouding the soul in sorrow, immersing
the whole being in sad and melancholy
grief, from which there is no release, for
public opinion has tried, adjudged and
sentenced to the prison-house of public
censure.
If the promulgator of the tale of scan
dal could but lift the veil of quiet pri-
vacy, and behold the victim, with eyes
red with grief and dimmed with sorrow;
the heart filed with misery and rent with
pain could he but appreciate the feelings
of the family circle, see the heart of the
father, the mother, brother and sister,
and the devastation there created, he
would shrink with horror at his own work,
and shudder at the thought of the agony
he had caused in the breasts of those who
were once joyous and happy.
The person who would originate slam
der against youthful innocence, deserves
to suffer the distress and misery of the
unhappy victim, and be punished with
the torments of a conscience Ill at ease,
and a brain racked by lasting convictions
of inward guilt. He who assists in dis
seminating the charge, and adds thereto,
is equally guilty with him who first con-
cocts, as deserving of no more consider
alton, and both should suffer the wither-
ing rebuke of a justly indignant commu-
nifty. All communities have been cursed
with their tales of scandal; we fears our
own has not escaped; but, let those who
feel the conscious guilt of having uttered
the blghting word, endeavor to atone for
the past, if in their power, and avoid the
like ofense in the future.